Yongfeng Camellia Harvest Brings Joy, Forest Farmer Chen Xianggen Talks About a Bumper Year Among the Trees

Among the green mountains and forests, the camellia trees are full of fruit. On October 24, the author saw at the thousand-mu high-yield camellia forest base in Shuixin Village, Yaotian Town, Yongfeng County that the camellia forest, heavy with fruit, was covered with camellia flowers across the hills, and the villagers picking camellia fruit were full of laughter and cheerful voices, a delightful scene of harvest. Looking at the woven bags filled with camellia fruit lining the forest paths, grower Chen Xianggen's face was full of smiles.

Chen Xianggen's thousand-mu high-yield camellia forest base was established in 2009, with an area of 1,300 mu. The initial idea of developing the camellia industry came in 2008. At the beginning of that year, Yongfeng County suffered a rain, snow and ice disaster, and the 1,300 mu of slash pine that Chen Xianggen had leased was "wiped out," with losses of more than 100,000 yuan. Just when he was "at a dead end," the county was vigorously developing the high-yield camellia industry, which sparked his idea of planting high-yield camellia.

Chen Xianggen sold the disaster-damaged timber and took out all his savings. Relatives and friends were moved by his determination to start a business and also gave him financial support one after another. In addition, existing preferential agricultural policies, microcredit, and interest-subsidized loans for farmers starting businesses all helped solve his funding difficulties to a certain extent, and nearly 400,000 yuan was invested in the entire mountain farm.

Land preparation, digging holes, planting... Chen Xianggen seemed to have inexhaustible strength. He worked day and night for one winter and one spring, and finally planted camellia seedlings on the 1,300 mu mountain farm.

After several years of effort, Chen Xianggen tasted the sweetness of planting high-yield camellia and also saw the hope of planting high-yield camellia. "It began bearing fruit last year, and I saw the benefits. This year is the full-fruit period. Camellia is planted once and yields benefits for many years, and the stable-yield harvest period can last for decades. It is truly a money tree," Chen Xianggen said proudly.

Speaking of the income from camellia, Chen Xianggen recounted it fluently: "During the full-fruit period, each mu can conservatively produce 20 kg of oil. At the current market price, it can sell for 70 yuan per kg, so the income per mu is 1,400 yuan, and the total income of the 1,300 mu camellia forest is 1.82 million yuan. After deducting investment, hired labor wages, and so on, my annual net income from camellia will exceed 1 million yuan."