Chai Runhong, a post-80s native of Xiangfen, advances on the wings of her dream
"You should still have dreams - what if they come true!" This motivational quote from Jack Ma has inspired countless entrepreneurs striving for their own dreams. Indeed, having a dream also requires action - didn't Jack Ma succeed? In Xiangfen, Chai Runhong, a post-80s university graduate, gave up her white-collar life in the city for the sake of her dream and returned to her hometown to become a farmer... A few days ago, the reporter met Chai Runhong at Longrun Manor in Zhaoqu Village, Xincheng Town, Xiangfen, where she was tending the nearly ripe strawberries in a greenhouse.
Chai Runhong graduated from Shanxi University of Finance and Economics in 2009 with a major in Business Administration. After graduation, she worked for 5 years, but she always harbored a dream of starting her own business. In 2014, by chance, she met a benefactor at the Beijing Agricultural Expo - a fellow townsman named Hou Zhiguo. Hou Zhiguo is 10 years older than her, but he also had a dream of starting a business. After talking, the two hit it off immediately and decided to return to their hometown to realize their life's dream.
"At the time, at the agricultural expo, I saw the advanced ecological agriculture technologies of countries like Israel and Japan, and I firmly believed that we could certainly reach that level in the future. At that moment, I thought that if we could use modern agricultural technology to cultivate the fertile land of our hometown, it would definitely be something not to be underestimated! Plus, Xiangfen already had a precedent for growing strawberries, it was just limited by scale, management technology, and sales channels, so it never took off... If we could leverage our advantages to build the city's largest agricultural eco-tourism picking garden integrating tourism, fruit picking, agritainment, and fishing, suitable for all kinds of consumers, the prospects would be very promising!" Chai Runhong said.
They acted as soon as they decided. The two returned to Xiangfen and immediately set about renting land and handling procedures... Hou Zhiguo, who had been in business before, had some savings, and Chai Runhong also borrowed some money from relatives and friends. Together they invested more than 3 million yuan, leased more than 140 mu of land in Zhaoqu Village, Xincheng Town, Xiangfen, built greenhouses, cultivated strawberry seedlings, and also purchased saplings of cherry trees, apple trees, peach trees, and others.
Since they were in the start-up phase, according to the plan, they first planted more than 30 mu of fruit trees and built 5 modern solar greenhouses, each costing 200,000 yuan. They also introduced high-quality strawberry varieties from Japan. If quality is guaranteed, the maximum yield per mu can reach 4,000 jin.
To ensure quality, they applied cow manure in the greenhouses and used soybean meal and other materials as base fertilizer... The days passed slowly amid their toil. Looking at the strawberry seedlings growing so promisingly across the ground, they seemed to see the hope of a bountiful harvest...
The "dream" was set in motion, their determination was strong, and action had been taken, but the path of entrepreneurship was not so easy. Just as they were joyfully awaiting the harvest, problems arose.
"Our strawberries only grew in size, and the leaves were very lush, but the flowers bloomed very sparsely..." Chai Runhong said. They looked up a lot of information and consulted agricultural experts at Zhejiang University. It turned out that when growing strawberries, you need to control the number of leaves - the fertilizer all went into the leaves, so naturally there were fewer fruits. They acted immediately, mobilizing the whole family, young and old, to join in and thin out the strawberries overnight! But this time, since everyone was family, their skill levels varied - some were fast, some were slow, some cut too heavily, some cut off leaves that should have been kept, and some cut so many leaves that the plants stopped growing... After repeated learning, they finally got the measure right and gradually worked out a suitable method.
To let the strawberries grow in a natural ecological environment, they kept bees in the greenhouses and also used natural enemies of pests and other principles to achieve a purely natural ecological approach. Now, the first batch of strawberries carefully cultivated by Chai Runhong and Hou Zhiguo is about to hit the market, and they are overjoyed.
At present, what worries them is the sales channel problem. To find a good "home" for these strawberries, the two worked both online and offline, leveraging young people's advantages of having many ideas and being quick-witted, and launched promotional methods such as try-before-you-buy and picking experiences... Chai Runhong said with a smile that these strawberry fields are only one corner of their planned ecological tourism park. Once the agritainment, fishing pond, picking garden, and other facilities are established step by step, they will be even closer to their dream.