Black Millet Helps Shandan Farmers: Ma Wenzhi Drives a Whole Region to Prosperity

Not long ago, at the 22nd China Agricultural High-Tech Achievements Expo held in the Yangling National Agricultural High-Tech Industry Demonstration Zone in Shaanxi, black millet priced at nearly 100 yuan per kg made it into the exhibition stands for famous, high-quality products, and was "snapped up" by consumers who loved it dearly. The person who cultivated this "super" millet is Ma Wenzhi, a farmer from Shanyangbu Village, Dongle Township, Shandan County.

Shanyangbu Village is located in an arid desert zone, with long sunshine hours, a large temperature difference between day and night, and excellent light and heat conditions. It is the best area for growing millet, and also the legendary place of origin of imperial tribute rice. More than ten years ago, Ma Wenzhi migrated from Jingyuan County to Shanyangbu Village, and, being a man who liked to think things through, he set his mind to work on this land. With strong support from the county science and technology bureau, and after continuous exploration and repeated trials, Ma Wenzhi used a biological enzymatic breeding method to successively cultivate the new white millet variety "Dangu No. 1" and the new black millet variety "Dangu No. 2", which passed the new crop variety certification of Gansu Province, and the black and white millet produced were registered under the product trademark "Yaohanzi".

Compared with ordinary grains, the newly cultivated "Dangu No. 2" by Ma Wenzhi not only has the advantages of drought tolerance, water saving, high yield and strong stress resistance, but is also rich in trace elements such as selenium, strontium and anthocyanins. According to tests by the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Harbin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the contents of iron, calcium and zinc in this variety reach 132.28 mg, 236.76 mg and 30.60 mg per kg respectively, several times those of ordinary millet. It also contains carotene, vitamin b1, vitamin b2 and various amino acids essential to the human body. It is mellow and palatable, and regular consumption can significantly improve symptoms such as high blood pressure and heart disease, so its market prospects are very promising.

"Including the surrounding counties and districts of Minle, Ganzhou and Gaotai, a total of 6,200 mu was planted this year. Next year I plan to plant 20,000 mu and make the brand known." Ma Wenzhi said. This year, the net income per mu exceeded 1,000 yuan, which further strengthened Ma Wenzhi's confidence in growing black millet. To expand the planting scale, he took the lead in establishing the Jinguzi Planting Professional Cooperative and invested capital to establish the Shandan County Changying Agricultural Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. Through his efforts, an industrial chain integrating the planting, purchasing, processing, storage and sales of millet has now been formed, along with an industrial model of "cooperative + base + farmers". Through the "five unifications" of unified plots, unified varieties, unified fertilization, unified technology and unified packaging, the quality and reputation of black millet are enhanced, and the "Yaohanzi" black millet brand is being built. At present, the "Yaohanzi" trademark has obtained national organic food certification, and the products are sold far away to Beijing, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Taiwan, China and other places, driving nearly a thousand nearby farming households to prosperity.