Potato King Wang Huizhen Realizes His Dream of Prosperity Through Potatoes
He was born in the countryside and grew up in the countryside. Through more than 30 years of unremitting effort, he realized his dream of prospering through potatoes. He is not highly educated, but with a spirit of hard work and endurance, he grew from an ordinary farmer who planted and sold potatoes into the famous "Potato King" of Lan County and a leader in rural prosperity. With his guidance and help, the people of Shiqiao Village in Wangshi Township, Lan County, have continuously strengthened their entrepreneurial awareness and expanded their opportunities for prosperity. He is Wang Huizhen, director of the village committee of Shiqiao Village, Wangshi Township, Lan County.
Establishing a Cooperative Turns Small Potatoes into "Golden Eggs"
In 2008, Wang Huizhen, as a major potato grower, took the lead in establishing the Lan County Huizhen Virus-Free Seed Potato Breeding Cooperative in Shiqiao Village. Today, more than 150 farming households in the village have joined it, and the "Wangshi Brand" trademark has been registered, enhancing market competitiveness. Shiqiao Village has also become a well-known specialized village for potato breeding in the area. Every spring, Wang Huizhen provides seed potatoes and fertilizer to the villagers and passes on techniques to them. When autumn comes, he purchases seed potatoes at a price 0.2 yuan per kilogram higher than the market price, stores them uniformly, and sells them uniformly the following year. Over these years, Wang Huizhen has turned small potatoes into a big industry through his diligence and integrity. Today, the cooperative maintains year-round cooperation with the county seed company and the Gujiao seed company. In addition to local use, the seed potatoes are also sold to Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Xinzhou and other places.
Recently, this writer came to Shiqiao Village in Wangshi Township, Lan County, and from afar saw Wang Huizhen in the field helping villagers load and transport freshly dug potatoes. Seeing this writer approach, he held up a large, smooth potato weighing more than one jin and said happily, "Look at how well these potatoes have grown. This one alone can sell for more than one yuan. From now on, we farmers will rely entirely on them to get rich." On the road right next to this field, vehicles fully loaded with potatoes passed by from time to time, all of them to be hauled into the city and sold. The farmers working in the fields all had faces brimming with the joy of harvest. "My family planted five mu of summer potatoes this year. I estimate the yield can reach about 4,000 jin per mu. Calculated at the current wholesale price of 0.7 yuan per jin, one mu can sell for more than 2,800 yuan. After deducting the input costs for fertilizer, plastic mulch and seed potatoes, one mu can still bring a net income of 2,000 yuan no matter what," villager Liu Huailin of Shiqiao Village told this writer happily.
More Than 30 Years of a Bond with Potatoes
For more than 30 years, Wang Huizhen has had an inseparable bond with potatoes, from planting and selling potatoes to founding the "Huizhen Cooperative." Speaking of how his "bond" with potatoes began, Wang Huizhen said that Lan County's unique climate and fertile land created the potato and also made him what he is today. In 1985, after graduating from junior high school, Wang Huizhen returned to the village to farm, but his annual income was very low. In order to let his family live a better life, he chose to go out to work and became a laborer at a construction company. Once, the company needed to buy several thousand jin of potatoes, so he took the initiative to lead company staff back to several villages in his hometown of Lan County to make the purchase.
This purchasing experience made him understand that farming also requires grasping market conditions, and that one must also achieve scale, produce quality goods and find sales channels.
The following year, he gave up working away from home, returned to the village and planted all 10 mu of his family's land with potatoes. In order to learn planting experience, whenever he had time he went to the county to listen to technicians explain potato seed selection, cultivation, fertilization and pest and disease control, and he also bought books to teach himself planting knowledge.
At that time, the potatoes he planted sold out completely. Having tasted the benefits, the next year he contracted another 20 mu of land for planting potatoes. As the potato business grew bigger and bigger, the title "Potato King" spread quickly. Under his leadership, the villagers expanded their potato planting scale one after another and filled their own pockets with potatoes.
Being a Good Rural Leader and Realizing the Dream of Prosperity for All
In the eyes of the people of Shiqiao Village, Wang Huizhen is not only a capable man at planting and selling potatoes, but also an enthusiastic person who cares about his hometown's prosperity. No matter who comes to consult him about problems in agricultural production techniques, Wang Huizhen teaches his experience without reservation. No matter which farming household asks him for on-site guidance, he immediately puts down the work in his hands and enthusiastically helps, passing on technical experience. With his good popularity, he was elected village director in 2014.
Shiqiao Village is an ordinary administrative village in Lan County, with more than 1,400 people in the whole village and nearly 6,000 mu of land. After taking office, Wang Huizhen led the people in vigorously planting off-season vegetables, which became one of the main ways for local farmers to increase income and achieve prosperity. This year, the village's summer potato planting area reached more than 1,000 mu, and this single item alone can increase per capita income by more than 1,000 yuan.
Last year, Wang Huizhen was selected as a "Special-Class Model Worker of Luliang City," and recently he has also been undergoing evaluation and inspection for "Outstanding Talent of Luliang City." In the face of honors, Wang Huizhen feels more responsibility. Now that he is village director, he feels the burden is even heavier. Meetings big and small must be attended, but the fundamental work of a farmer cannot be abandoned. Planting potatoes and planting good potatoes is my main task, and making the villagers' pockets fuller is my greatest dream," Wang Huizhen said with firm conviction.