How a young man from a mountain village made his dream of prosperity come true step by step
Returning home to start a business, he led the villagers in developing barren hills to plant pecans, achieving poverty alleviation and prosperity. Chu Yuefeng, a villager from Doushui Village, Zhongguan Township, Yuexi County, has been striving tirelessly for his dream...
After years of working in Hangzhou and Shenzhen, Chu Yuefeng had always wanted to return home to start a business and use the vast mountain fields of his hometown to build something great.
In 2013, an opportunity arose when he met Huang Jianqin, dean of the College of Forestry and Biotechnology at Zhejiang Agricultural University. After they discussed his business ideas, Huang Jianqin recommended that he visit Yinkeng Village in Ning'an, Zhejiang, known as "the first village of hickory nuts." "When I arrived at Yinkeng Village, I saw nothing but groves and groves of walnut trees. To find out the real situation, I randomly picked a household and asked about the returns from growing walnuts. According to him, each walnut tree can bear 50 kilograms of fruit, which sells for 3000 yuan, and the average annual household income in the village is over 300,000 yuan." Chu Yuefeng still looked excited as he spoke of the situation back then.
After returning from the inspection, Chu Yuefeng became firm in his confidence to develop walnuts. Through further coordination with Zhejiang Agricultural University, soil sampling and analysis, and market research, Chu Yuefeng ultimately chose to plant American pecans. "This variety has strong environmental adaptability, a high oil yield, and good taste. It can be grown in our home area, and the market prospects are broad," Chu Yuefeng explained.
At the end of 2014, Chu Yuefeng registered and established Anhui Yongfeng Ecological Agriculture and Forestry Company, transferred 300 mu of barren hills in Zhaoling Group of Doushui Village, and planted pecans. The township and village gave strong support to Chu Yuefeng's pecan planting, integrating agricultural funds such as the village-level livelihood project "One Case One Discussion" to help improve the water, electricity, roads and other infrastructure in the base. "Now, I go to the pecan planting base every day to take a look, and I feel that my dream is being realized step by step," Chu Yuefeng said happily.
Scale brings benefits. Chu Yuefeng knew well that relying only on the company to go it alone would definitely not work. To make the industry bigger, it was necessary to innovate the development model and mobilize the surrounding villagers to plant together.
"The planted pecans can bear fruit in 3 years and enter full production in 7 years. Once they enter the fruiting period, the output value per mu can reach 1100 yuan, enough to recover the earlier costs. After entering full production, each tree yields 20 to 50 kilograms, and the output value per mu will be more than 20,000 yuan." Chu Yuefeng confidently calculated the benefits. To encourage farmers to plant, the company not only provides seedlings free of charge, but also gives a subsidy of 5 yuan for every pecan tree planted by a farmer.
With benefits, the villagers naturally approved, and their enthusiasm for planting pecans gradually rose. Wang Xianling, a villager from Zhangchong Group in Doushui Village, said with a smile: "My family planted more than 400 walnut trees this year, intercropped with tea and vegetables. The one tree my family trial-planted first has already borne fruit, and it really produced quite a lot."
At present, Doushui Village has established a 1000-mu pecan base, including a 300-mu company demonstration base, driving 139 surrounding households to plant more than 700 mu. Doushui Village has taken the planting and development of pecans as an important way to advance poverty alleviation and development and lead the villagers to shake off poverty and become prosperous, forming a win-win development model of multi-party cooperation among "company + base + farmers + village committee + technical college." "Next, the village will also expand cooperation with the company and plan to plant 5000 mu of pecans," said Chu Delin, Party branch secretary of Doushui Village.
What delighted Chu Yuefeng even more was that Yuexi County this year put forward the goal of "building a one-million-mu distinctive agriculture and forestry base and creating an upgraded version of ecological agriculture," issued reward and subsidy measures for the development of distinctive agriculture and forestry industries, and integrated 10 million yuan in funds to give substantial rewards to distinctive agriculture and forestry industry bases. "This gave us reassurance. With policy support, the four-party cooperation model, and the active participation of the villagers, I believe the 'walnut dream' will surely come true," Chu Yuefeng said.