Xu Xuecheng strikes gold in barren hills after fifteen years, forging a path to prosperity

Xu Xuecheng's mandarin oranges and navel oranges enjoy a bumper harvest

"This year the mandarin oranges and navel oranges had a bumper harvest, and the price was good too. The first batch of mandarin oranges alone sold for more than 40,000 yuan..." Recently, fruit farmer Xu Xuecheng from Group 3 of Lishi Village, Quba Town, had a bumper harvest of mandarin oranges and navel oranges, and the couple seized the fine weather to pick navel oranges for sale. According to Xu Xuecheng, he has contracted the village collective economic forest orchard for fruit planting since 1999, and this year, there is no doubt that the 40-mu orchard will bring in 100,000 yuan. A good harvest comes from good varieties. Over the past 15 years, through soil fertility cultivation and variety improvement, he has made the formerly barren hills bear "golden fruit," and Xu Xuecheng is also called "Prosperity Brother" by the locals.

Returning home after military service, learning fruit-growing skills and earning a "technical living" far and wide

Xu Xuecheng is 62 years old this year. In 1980, Xu Xuecheng returned after military service to his hometown of Lishi Village, Quba Town. At that time, Xu Xuecheng did not choose to go out to work, but instead thought about learning a skill, because since childhood he had heard from his elders: with a craft in hand, you benefit for life.

At that time, our district was vigorously developing economic forests, and the agricultural department promoted fruits such as pomelo, loquat, sweet orange and mandarin orange in each town. The more than 100 mu of former village collective barren hills near Xu Xuecheng's home was also reclaimed into an orchard.

"Xiao Xu, do you want to learn fruit tree cultivation techniques?" At that time, Li Yunxi, a fruit technology expert from the district agricultural bureau, was stationed in the village to guide the development of the orchard. Seeing that Xu Xuecheng was smart and diligent, Li Yunxi took him as an apprentice and taught him fruit tree cultivation and management techniques. Over two years, Li Yunxi took Xu Xuecheng to orchards large and small in all townships of our district, promoting fruit technology while teaching Xu Xuecheng fruit cultivation and management techniques. Because Xu Xuecheng was diligent and eager to learn, he quickly mastered the cultivation and management techniques for more than 10 kinds of fruit and became somewhat well known locally. From then on, with his superb skills, Xu Xuecheng not only helped planting owners with technical guidance in our district and around the city, but also went as far as Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing to manage orchards, earning a technical living. "At that time, the daily wage for odd jobs locally was only two yuan, while grafting fruit for others could earn five or six yuan a day, and it was very much in demand..." Xu Xuecheng said that although managing orchards for others could earn money, it was not his own business after all. At that time, he often thought about building his own orchard, but the opportunity was not yet ripe.

Contracting the orchard: a hardworking couple strikes gold in barren hills

"Secretary Liu, I heard the village orchard is to be contracted out. Can it be contracted to me?" In the spring of 1999, Xu Xuecheng was in Chongqing managing an orchard for someone else. When he learned that the village collective orchard was to be contracted out for operation due to poor management, he immediately quit his job and went home to find village Party branch secretary Liu Mouhua. "All right, you understand technology. If the orchard is handed over to you to manage, the masses will be reassured..."

Action followed words. After discussing with several villagers, Xu Xuecheng contracted the more than 100 mu orchard in the village as a bundle. Among it, Xu Xuecheng contracted the 40-mu mixed citrus orchard in front of his home for an annual contract fee of 3,200 yuan, with a contract period of 20 years.

"At that time the orchard was all planted with blood oranges and mixed citrus. Because the fruit was small and the price was not high, and market demand for blood oranges was not strong, in the first year, no money was made." Xu Xuecheng said that seeing a year of hard work bring no money, his wife Tang Daiyun urged him to give up. In the second year, Xu Xuecheng observed and thought carefully and found that the low orchard yield was caused by too extensive collective management before, steep orchard slopes, insufficient fertility, and inadequate pruning and fruit thinning. He decided to immediately begin improving the orchard's fertility. With his strong management skills, Xu Xuecheng strictly managed fertilization, pruning and fruit thinning, and other links, and the orchard took on a completely new look. In the second year, Xu Xuecheng's fruit output increased by 30 percent, and that year he earned more than 20,000 yuan, a very considerable income, much better than working for others.

In the following years, although Xu Xuecheng's orchard output rose steadily, the growth in economic benefits was not obvious, and sometimes sales were difficult. In response, Xu Xuecheng carefully investigated the surrounding fruit wholesale markets and inquired about market conditions from the district fruit technology station and wholesalers. He found that the market had strong demand for navel oranges, mandarin oranges, Shiranui and other famous high-quality fruit varieties, and prices were relatively high, while the blood oranges and mixed citrus in his own orchard had a sluggish market, so the price could not rise. Xu Xuecheng then began improving the varieties of his fruit trees, introducing navel oranges and mandarin oranges with large fruit and pure flavor.

In only two years, Xu Xuecheng replanted more than 500 navel orange trees and more than 200 mandarin orange trees, and the new varieties also brought him good returns. "This patch of navel orange grove is my 'precious darling.' One tree produces about 50 jin of navel oranges, and this grove's total output can reach more than 20,000 jin, with a net income of 30,000 to 40,000 yuan." Xu Xuecheng said: "The navel orange is the 'king of oranges,' seedless, with moderate sweetness and acidity, excellent quality, very popular with the public, and sales are booming. Even at 6 yuan per kilogram, it is in high demand."

Thanks to proper management, the improved orchard of Xu Xuecheng and his wife saw economic returns multiply. In the following years, it created a considerable income of 60,000 to 80,000 yuan for them every year. "Manage the orchard in the slack farming season and farm in the busy season, without neglecting either, with no risk, more worthwhile than working for others." His wife Tang Daiyun said delightedly.

Teaching techniques: establishing a specialized cooperative to strengthen the fruit industry

When villagers saw that a formerly barren hill had become a lush orchard and could still earn tens of thousands of yuan a year, many could not help but be moved and also began to reclaim their own barren hills to develop specialty fruits.

Being rich oneself does not count as being rich; only when fellow villagers become rich is it true wealth. To this end, Xu Xuecheng became the village's technical adviser, unreservedly teaching planting households, hand by hand, the scientific planting techniques he had accumulated over many years, such as tree pruning and pest and disease control. When grafting has a high survival rate, when pest control is effective, Xu Xuecheng not only held lectures in his own orchard, but also often went to nearby planting households' homes to provide free technical guidance.

In 2013, under the leadership of the local government, Xu Xuecheng and more than 100 planting households jointly established the Fengdongshi Fruit Professional Cooperative and registered a trademark. At present, Lishi Village's fruit planting area is nearly 1,000 mu, and each planting household has increased income by more than 30,000 yuan on average. At present, every year after the trees bear fruit, some villagers hand their fruit to the professional cooperative to sell on their behalf. Nowadays, in Lishi Village, Quba Town, Xu Xuecheng is the "Prosperity Brother" in everyone's eyes. Villagers compete to seek his advice, and Xu Xuecheng also unreservedly passes on his experience to everyone.

"Although the contract period is only 4 years left, I still need to continue managing my orchard well and lead cooperative members to introduce new technologies and new varieties and expand sales channels..." Xu Xuecheng is already over 60 years old. He hopes that young, knowledgeable planting households will take over, actively cooperate with e-commerce to broaden sales channels, carry out services such as agricultural product processing, transportation, storage and packaging, absorb more farmers into the cooperative, and drive more people to prosperity. When talking about future development prospects, Xu Xuecheng said, as long as I can still walk, I am happy to serve as a technical adviser to planting households.