PhD husband and master's-degree wife become farmers and grow a thousand-mu sea of roses
▲He Quan and his wife Li He, who holds a rose she planted herself
▲Villagers are planting Damask roses
In the golden rapeseed flower scenic area of Chongkan Town, Tongnan District, another splash of color will appear in 3 months - that is 4600 mu of Damask roses, which for the first time in 3 years will all be in full bloom. This largest single-site Damask rose planting, processing and essential oil extraction base in the whole city is both a witness to the love and career of He Quan and Li He and a generous gift they give back to their fellow villagers.
One is a chemistry PhD from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the other holds a master's degree in developmental biology. The husband-and-wife pair returned to their hometown of Tongnan 3 years ago to plant roses and become modern farmers. Zhu Furong, deputy district head of Tongnan District in charge of agricultural tourism, and local villagers are especially proud: "We now have the most highly educated farmers in the country, leading everyone to develop the economy and escape poverty and become prosperous!"
In the eyes of He Quan and his wife, the growth of the rose base would not have been possible without favorable timing, geographical advantages and human harmony.
Favorable timing
Chongqing's economy is booming
Tall rain boots, a straw sun hat, walking into the muddy field ridges to mound soil around new seedlings... 45-year-old Dr. He Quan moves with great skill and looks no different from an ordinary farmer. He says he himself is a rural boy from Tongnan and can "seamlessly connect" with the land.
He Quan is the pride of Class 1, Grade 91 of Tongnan Middle School - after graduating from the Department of Chemistry at Lanzhou University, he went to the Chengdu Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for further study and obtained a doctoral diploma. Before returning home, he had already resigned from his position as director of the research institute of a well-known daily chemical company in Guangzhou and given up a high annual salary to set up his own business in Chengdu. His wife Li He, a junior schoolmate also from Lanzhou University, later earned a master's degree in developmental biology from Sun Yat-sen University.
Speaking of returning to Tongnan, it seems as if it was destined. In 2011, the Tongnan investment promotion conference extended an olive branch to He Quan. Also invited was Li Jiangtao, a good friend from the same high school class. After studying economics and trade at Sichuan Agricultural University, the latter had long been engaged in hotel operations and development along the coast.
One investment promotion conference brought the classmates and friends together again. What was even more unexpected was this connection: Liao Shixiang, the town Party secretary who represented Chongkan Town at the investment promotion event, had a father who was also He Quan's Chinese language teacher! The two therefore addressed each other as fellow disciples, and Li Jiangtao happened to be from Laodian Village in Chongkan Town.
"Let's go back to our hometown and make a big effort!" He Quan and Li Jiangtao were filled with emotion. This idea arose not only from classmate bonds and attachment to their native place, but also from their judgment of their hometown's development potential and opportunities: the Tongnan Chongkan Rapeseed Flower Festival, first held only in 2008, was built into a city-renowned rural tourism festival in 3 years; the newly opened Chongqing-Suining Expressway and Chengdu-Chongqing bullet trains made their hometown a transportation, economic and trade link between Sichuan and Chongqing...
"At that time, the coastal economy was in a downturn, and many enterprises shut their doors and suspended operations. Instead, our hometown Chongqing was booming with construction and development." In this way, He Quan and Li He and Li Jiangtao became partners and spent more than a year conducting professional research on their hometown Tongnan, covering location and transportation, water sources and soil, rural labor, technical support, market gaps and many other aspects.
In 2012, they decided to return to Chongkan to become farmers, registered and established Chongqing Yaxiang Meiyuan Ecological Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd., and by the end of the year planted 500 mu of trial fields, focusing on the planting and processing of Damask roses, essential oil extraction, and the demonstration and promotion of breeding and seedling cultivation of new agricultural varieties. The husband He Quan served as chairman of the company in charge of strategic planning, while his wife Li He served as deputy general manager leading the team in charge of technical research and development; friend and partner Li Jiangtao served as general manager in charge of market expansion and other comprehensive affairs.
Geographical advantages
Exceptional climate and soil
Choosing Chongkan was not only due to emotional ties, but also because of its exceptional geographical advantages.
He Quan explained at length to a Chongqing Evening News reporter: The Tongnan Rapeseed Flower Festival is famous throughout Sichuan and Chongqing, and the annual visitor flow to the core scenic area of 30000 mu of flowers keeps rising. The 4600-mu rose base directly borders the viewing pavilion of the core scenic area of the flower sea. "The rose base is the back garden of the rapeseed flower scenic area. It not only adds color to the rapeseed flower festival, but also allows us to cleverly ride the east wind, making publicity and momentum-building twice as effective with half the effort."
Partner Li Jiangtao gave an accounting: from April 10 to May 13 last year, the company used the rapeseed flower festival to hold the first rose festival, and ticket revenue alone reached 650000 yuan, while total revenue from processed products such as rose flower cakes, rose tea, rose essential oil and rose masks exceeded 1.8 million yuan.
Growing Damask roses is very particular about climate and soil. Chongkan Town has an average annual temperature of 17.9 degrees Celsius, and the April blooming period has ample sunlight. More importantly, Damask roses need to be rooted in weakly alkaline weathered soil, and phosphorus and potassium are the nutrients for growth. As a rapeseed flower base, Chongkan has every household growing rapeseed flowers. After oil pressing, the large amount of rapeseed meal and oil residue cakes left behind contains extremely high levels of phosphorus and potassium and is the best fertilizer.
According to reports, the 500 mu of Damask roses that first bloomed at the base the year before last were tested by the Chengdu Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the four most important indicators, namely survival rate, flowering amount, oil yield and oil quality, all exceeded national standards.
Of course, the scientific research team deserves great credit for this. It is said that the first batch of 500 mu of Damask varieties at the base came from original seeds that the technical team introduced from Europe for 250000 euros and cultivated for many years at the experimental base before they could spread and flourish.
According to the plan of He Quan and his wife and the company's board of directors: within the next 3-5 years, the Chongkan rose planting base is to be expanded to 30000 mu, equivalent to creating another rapeseed flower base of equal scale, and becoming a well-known rose industry planting base and sightseeing park in China and even the world.
Human harmony
Government and villagers give full support
With favorable timing and geographical advantages, human harmony is naturally indispensable.
He Quan said he is very grateful that the follow-up services of Tongnan's Party and government cadres were fully implemented: whether in land transfer and planning and construction, or in mobilizing villagers to support one another and participate in shareholding and planting, leading cadres at the district, town and village levels did a great deal of mobilization and persuasion work, which enabled the rose base to grow from 500 mu to 4600 mu and then to a planned 30000 mu, becoming bigger and stronger.
In addition, the Tongnan District Transportation Commission not only built local village-to-village roads and the Rapeseed Flower Festival tourism loop road, but also raised funds to harden more than 10 km of village-to-village road surfaces; the district water affairs bureau and forestry departments invested heavily in building irrigation systems and drainage ditches, which can withstand drought and avoid Qiongjiang River flooding; the district science and technology commission and poverty alleviation office not only provided scientific and technological support personnel to cooperate with Li He's technical research and development team, but also ran around everywhere for their patent applications...
General Manager Li Jiangtao also kept an account in his heart: over these 3 years, the support funds given by Tongnan government departments for the development of the rose base to drive villagers out of poverty amounted to about 2 million yuan each year. He Quan is even more grateful for the trust and support of his fellow villagers: "They not only transferred land to us, but also, whether during the busy autumn harvest or in the cold winter months, they come to work and contribute labor to the rose base."
Just as the Chongqing Evening News reporter was interviewing, a group of middle-aged and older women on the field ridge ahead were still mounding soil and raising seedlings under the guidance of technical personnel. The bone-chilling cold water and wind could not extinguish their enthusiasm for work: "Pruning branches, cutting flowers and turning the soil are not heavy physical labor. We can handle it even at 60!"