48-year-old Liu Haixiong devotes himself to modern agriculture, leading his fellow villagers to prosperity together

He has raised fish, fed pigs, grown vegetables and run a supermarket. He started his entrepreneurial journey in the 1990s, and now he has established the Haiquan Agricultural Eco-Park in Chenti Village, Shuangxiqiao Town, Xian'an District. The eco-park integrates agricultural sightseeing, leisure experiences and the production and sale of agricultural and forestry products.

He is Liu Haixiong. Step by step, through his own efforts, he has realized his entrepreneurial dream, leading his fellow villagers to prosperity and building a new countryside together.

Spotting business opportunities and accumulating wealth

Liu Haixiong, 48 this year, was born in what was then Longtan Township, Xian'an District. In 1984, after finishing high school, he returned home and took up farming and breeding with his father. He first started raising fish, but due to technical problems he later switched to raising pigs, though the pig market was not good at the time.

In 1992, Liu Haixiong invited a master with rich vegetable-growing experience from Honghu to grow vegetables in the village, and he learned growing techniques from him. That year, he earned more than 6,000 yuan from just over one mu of vegetables.

Seeing that Liu Haixiong made money growing vegetables, local villagers began to learn from him, and he selflessly taught them vegetable-growing techniques. Later, with his help, many villagers' lives changed greatly.

"The key to entrepreneurship is being good at spotting business opportunities," Liu Haixiong said.

In 2000, Liu Haixiong found that the osmanthus seedling market in Xian'an had very good prospects. So he rented 20 mu of land and planted it all with osmanthus seedlings by cuttings, and in less than 2 years he earned several hundred thousand yuan.

By spotting business opportunities and seizing them, Liu Haixiong's assets grew like a snowball.

Leading fellow villagers to prosperity together

In 2009, when Liu Haixiong saw that many young and middle-aged people in rural areas had gone out to work, leaving large amounts of land abandoned, he conceived the idea of leading villagers to prosperity at their doorstep. And it happened that in that same year, Liu Haixiong's mother became paralyzed after a stroke, which made him realize the importance of health. So he came up with the idea of founding an agricultural eco-park.

He acted as soon as he decided. In 2010, Liu Haixiong transferred more than 400 mu of land in Chenti Village, Shuangxiqiao Town, Xian'an District, and founded the Haiquan Agricultural Eco-Park. The project has already invested more than 3 million yuan, and the first phase of construction is basically complete, integrating sightseeing, leisure, tasting, hands-on experiences, and the production and sale of green agricultural products.

Liu Haixiong attaches great importance to technical cooperation, and has successively carried out technical cooperation with the Xianning Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Hubei University of Science and Technology.

At present, Liu Haixiong's agricultural eco-park has more than 80 mu of planted forest, 80 mu of orchard, 60 mu of osmanthus garden and more than 40 mu of fish ponds, with an annual output value of about 3.5 million yuan and more than 8,000 work-days of employment per year.

Over the years, Liu Haixiong has solved the employment difficulties of some local villagers, helping many of them increase their incomes and become better off. He has been named a model worker of Xian'an District and a Party member capable of leading others to prosperity in Xian'an District.

Building the eco-park is only a preliminary goal. For the second-phase plan of the agricultural eco-park, Liu Haixiong plans to set up an agricultural cooperative to produce green agricultural products on a large scale according to quality standards, so that more local villagers can find work at their doorstep.

Liu Haixiong said that his next goal is to lead local farmers to prosperity, run the agricultural eco-park even better, create his own agricultural eco-brand, and let local agricultural products reach further and further.