A post-85 migrant worker from Neijiang returns home to start a business, opening up a road to prosperity on barren hills

Wang Yong (left) and members of the specialized cooperative load purple yam onto a truck, ready to sell it outside.

Wang Yong, 29 this year, is a villager of Nanmu Village, Liuqiao Town, Dongxing District. In 2002, after finishing secondary vocational school, he went to Zhuhai, Guangdong to work. Afterwards, he worked in Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other places as an air-conditioner assembler and a bricklayer, sold braised food, and also did a seafood business.

By a chance opportunity, Wang Yong learned about cases of other people successfully growing purple yam. After making inquiries, he learned that purple yam has a much higher nutritional value than ordinary yam, can be used to cook all kinds of delicacies, and that almost no one in Neijiang grows purple yam on a large scale, so the market potential was very large. Harboring the dream of building his hometown, in July 2014, Wang Yong, who had drifted outside for more than 10 years, returned to Nanmu Village and began planning his rural "dream of prosperity."

That same month, he and Zheng Yonghua, a fellow townsman who had also worked in Zhuhai and shared the same aspirations, went together to Chengdu, Mianyang, Fujian and other places to investigate the purple yam project. More than two months of investigation allowed the two to learn purple yam cultivation techniques, and they finally selected the planting variety - Taiwan Red Dragon Purple Jade Huai Shan.

In April this year, Wang Yong and Zheng Yonghua together transferred more than 70 mu of barren hills in Nanmu Village and began to open up their own "road to prosperity" on the barren hills. In August of the same year, Wang Yong established a specialized cooperative, leading 35 surrounding households to grow Purple Jade Huai Shan. He not only provided seeds, technology and other things to the members who joined the cooperative, but was also responsible for purchasing the purple yam. In addition, on the basis of receiving land transfer fees, villagers who transferred their land could also go to Wang Yong's fields to help with work and earn money. With a "backbone" for prosperity and the support of industry, the poor mountain village suddenly "came alive."

In late November, more than 70 mu of purple yam had a bumper harvest! Each mu could harvest more than 4,000 jin of purple yam, with a wholesale price of 6-8 yuan per jin and a retail price of 10-12 yuan. In order to open up the market, Wang Yong made purple yam into various exquisite pastries and farmhouse dishes for everyone to taste. At present, purple yam is mainly sold by order to Chengdu, Chongqing and other places. Because there are many orders, purple yam supply falls short of demand, and the output value is expected to reach more than 1.8 million yuan, with a profit of more than 1.3 million yuan.

"Each purple yam is my treasure. I never expected such a good harvest in the first year. I have opened up a 'road to prosperity' on the barren hills!" As a secondary vocational school graduate, Wang Yong's diligence and friendliness won him the trust of the villagers, and at the same time opened up an industrial road to prosperity for a poor mountain village.