In Xingtang County, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, small strawberries paint red the farmers' road to prosperity
In early spring, it is warm yet still a little cold. But inside the greenhouses of the Jinsui Strawberry Ecological Picking Garden in Jiamu Village, Xingtang County, there are flowers and fruit, fragrance and color, and a scene full of spring. The red berries are like kernels of agate, delicate and ready to drip, sweet and tasty, drawing many tourists to come and pick them.
Meng Zengqiang, the person in charge of the base, was busy receiving tourists while directing workers to box the freshly picked strawberries and carry them onto the express delivery van, ready to send to online customers. "The returns are good, with income of more than 10,000 yuan a day," Meng Zengqiang said happily.
Meng Zengqiang is 32 this year. After graduating from high school, he worked for a long time at a greenhouse vegetable and fruit planting base in Shunping, Baoding, and over 10 years he acquired a specialized skill. In 2013, Meng Zengqiang returned to his hometown to start a business. Together with his brother Meng Zengmin, he rented more than 60 mu of land from villagers and invested more than 1.6 million yuan to build 17 high-standard strawberry and nectarine greenhouses, developing modern agriculture.
"The 14 greenhouses planted with strawberries use only organic fertilizer, ensuring they are green and safe. The water used to irrigate the strawberries and nectarines is all sweet groundwater. For each greenhouse, more than 1,000 bees were bought specifically to pollinate the flowers." Pointing to the bright red strawberries in the greenhouse, Meng Zengqiang explained that the strawberries here are not only large and juicy, but also very good in color and taste, and tourists come in one group after another. There are both self-driving visitors and group tours from Shijiazhuang's urban area and surrounding counties, picking more than 400 kg of strawberries a day, and income during the first lunar month this year exceeded 150,000 yuan.
To effectively connect greenhouse strawberries with the market, the two brothers used the internet, WeChat and other platforms for publicity and promotion. Relying on good quality and reputation, their popularity grew steadily. Last year, they also launched a membership card package service, attracting more repeat customers.
Strawberries require a great deal of manpower in every stage of growth, management and harvest, which also provides work opportunities for villagers. At present, the Jinsui Strawberry Ecological Picking Garden employs more than a dozen villagers long term, and when the strawberries ripen on a large scale, it can help more than 30 villagers find employment at their doorstep.
"I returned to my hometown to devote myself to modern agriculture precisely because I saw that this is a promising sunrise industry. However, if you want to earn city people's money, you still have to use city people's way of thinking to figure out new approaches to farming." Armed with new ideas, Meng Zengqiang has now basically recovered his initial investment. Next, he wants to continue expanding the scale and lead his fellow villagers to prosperity together.