Post-80s Woman Grows Bayberry and Kiwifruit, Taking Root in the Countryside to Build Wealth

From initially helping others package and sell bayberry to now being an outstanding young entrepreneur with more than 145 mu of bayberry and kiwifruit plantings, she has not only changed her own fate through her hard work and striving, but also opened up a path to increased income for the new countryside. She is Jiang Xiaodan, the project general manager of Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative.

At first, Jiang Xiaodan worked in clothing sales in Shanghai. Being in a strange place, together with missing her hometown and family, she came up with the idea of returning home to start a business. Back in the countryside, she began buying bayberry grown by farming households and packaging and selling it herself, but when bayberry sales were booming, the amount she could buy was very small. So she came up with the idea of growing bayberry herself.

Beside the old Provincial Highway 58 in Ruihou Village, Sankui Town, Taishun County, the transport is convenient, land resources are abundant, climate conditions are good, and the area has great advantages for crop cultivation. Jiang Xiaodan initially contracted 10 mu of land here to try growing bayberry and kiwifruit. At the beginning of planting, due to lack of growing experience, the yields of bayberry and kiwifruit were not high, but she did not give up because of this. Instead, she settled down to study hard and invited experts to teach growing techniques.

Scientific growing techniques quickly increased the yields of bayberry and kiwifruit grown by Jiang Xiaodan's family. During the fruit ripening period, many tourists passing by her bayberry and kiwifruit base would buy quite a lot to take home. Looking at the bayberry field that tourists had "snapped up" until it was empty, Jiang Xiaodan thought to herself: "Why not expand the planting area and let tourists come pick the bayberry and kiwifruit themselves?"

So in 2012, Jiang Xiaodan partnered with several friends to establish Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative and expand the planting scale. With the support of national policies benefiting farmers, Jiang Xiaodan's confidence in developing bayberry and kiwifruit was strengthened. In a very short time, her bayberry and kiwifruit base grew from the initial 10 mu to the current 145 mu, including 85 mu of bayberry base and 60 mu of kiwifruit base.

Today, Jiang Xiaodan's planting base has not only mastered the full set of techniques for growing bayberry and kiwifruit, but has also introduced 4 kiwifruit varieties: Miliang No. 1, Huate, Bruno, and Hongyang, combining early-, mid-, and late-maturing varieties to extend the picking period. For bayberry, in line with market demand, excellent varieties such as Dongkui and Tanmei have been planted. In addition, the cooperative also cooperates with Chinese medicinal herb experts from the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences to interplant Chinese medicinal herbs such as Huangjing on the bayberry hills, which both makes up for wasted resources and helps the cooperative increase income.

The cooperative adopts the "cooperative + farming households + base" production and development model, and relying on various advantageous conditions such as the majestic covered bridge scenic area and the sightseeing tower around Xiyang, it develops modern agricultural sightseeing and leisure projects. In addition to letting consumers enter the orchard and experience the joy of picking, Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative also makes full use of the local advantage of having many people doing business elsewhere, strengthens publicity, handles agricultural orders well, and sends fresh fruit by express to places such as Shanghai and Jiangsu. These measures have become a new growth point for the rural economy.

Expert commentary: The bayberry and kiwifruit grown by Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative have stable sales channels and are highly regarded locally. In 2014, the cooperative participated in the "2014 'Credit Union Cup' Youth Science and Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation Project Competition" hosted by the county Youth League Committee, won third prize, and received a project award of 20,000 yuan. The cooperative's head, Jiang Xiaodan, also received the 2014 Taishun County "Good Community Youth" honorary title. The cooperative plans to drive the development of 400 mu of bases in surrounding villages, and plans to build 1 fresh-keeping storage and 1 warehouse.

Postal Savings Bank support: The new development of the project requires substantial financial support. During a conversation with the credit department manager of the Taishun County Branch of Postal Savings Bank of China, Jiang Xiaodan, the project general manager of Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative, learned that the bank's "Family Farm Professional Large-Scale Grower" agricultural support loan business can provide financial support for farming households' planting and breeding projects. To this end, in the next step, Jiang Xiaodan will strive to solve the funding problem through the help of Postal Savings Bank, and hopes to sell Taishun County's bayberry and kiwifruit to a broader region through channels such as the Taishun County agricultural specialty products website.

From initially helping others package and sell bayberry to now being an outstanding young entrepreneur with more than 145 mu of bayberry and kiwifruit plantings, she has not only changed her own fate through her hard work and striving, but also opened up a path to increased income for the new countryside. She is Jiang Xiaodan, the project general manager of Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative.

At first, Jiang Xiaodan worked in clothing sales in Shanghai. Being in a strange place, together with missing her hometown and family, she came up with the idea of returning home to start a business. Back in the countryside, she began buying bayberry grown by farming households and packaging and selling it herself, but when bayberry sales were booming, the amount she could buy was very small. So she came up with the idea of growing bayberry herself.

Beside the old Provincial Highway 58 in Ruihou Village, Sankui Town, Taishun County, the transport is convenient, land resources are abundant, climate conditions are good, and the area has great advantages for crop cultivation. Jiang Xiaodan initially contracted 10 mu of land here to try growing bayberry and kiwifruit. At the beginning of planting, due to lack of growing experience, the yields of bayberry and kiwifruit were not high, but she did not give up because of this. Instead, she settled down to study hard and invited experts to teach growing techniques.

Scientific growing techniques quickly increased the yields of bayberry and kiwifruit grown by Jiang Xiaodan's family. During the fruit ripening period, many tourists passing by her bayberry and kiwifruit base would buy quite a lot to take home. Looking at the bayberry field that tourists had "snapped up" until it was empty, Jiang Xiaodan thought to herself: "Why not expand the planting area and let tourists come pick the bayberry and kiwifruit themselves?"

So in 2012, Jiang Xiaodan partnered with several friends to establish Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative and expand the planting scale. With the support of national policies benefiting farmers, Jiang Xiaodan's confidence in developing bayberry and kiwifruit was strengthened. In a very short time, her bayberry and kiwifruit base grew from the initial 10 mu to the current 145 mu, including 85 mu of bayberry base and 60 mu of kiwifruit base.

Today, Jiang Xiaodan's planting base has not only mastered the full set of techniques for growing bayberry and kiwifruit, but has also introduced 4 kiwifruit varieties: Miliang No. 1, Huate, Bruno, and Hongyang, combining early-, mid-, and late-maturing varieties to extend the picking period. For bayberry, in line with market demand, excellent varieties such as Dongkui and Tanmei have been planted. In addition, the cooperative also cooperates with Chinese medicinal herb experts from the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences to interplant Chinese medicinal herbs such as Huangjing on the bayberry hills, which both makes up for wasted resources and helps the cooperative increase income.

The cooperative adopts the "cooperative + farming households + base" production and development model, and relying on various advantageous conditions such as the majestic covered bridge scenic area and the sightseeing tower around Xiyang, it develops modern agricultural sightseeing and leisure projects. In addition to letting consumers enter the orchard and experience the joy of picking, Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative also makes full use of the local advantage of having many people doing business elsewhere, strengthens publicity, handles agricultural orders well, and sends fresh fruit by express to places such as Shanghai and Jiangsu. These measures have become a new growth point for the rural economy.

Expert commentary: The bayberry and kiwifruit grown by Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative have stable sales channels and are highly regarded locally. In 2014, the cooperative participated in the "2014 'Credit Union Cup' Youth Science and Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation Project Competition" hosted by the county Youth League Committee, won third prize, and received a project award of 20,000 yuan. The cooperative's head, Jiang Xiaodan, also received the 2014 Taishun County "Good Community Youth" honorary title. The cooperative plans to drive the development of 400 mu of bases in surrounding villages, and plans to build 1 fresh-keeping storage and 1 warehouse.

Postal Savings Bank support: The new development of the project requires substantial financial support. During a conversation with the credit department manager of the Taishun County Branch of Postal Savings Bank of China, Jiang Xiaodan, the project general manager of Taishun County Taiyang Planting Professional Cooperative, learned that the bank's "Family Farm Professional Large-Scale Grower" agricultural support loan business can provide financial support for farming households' planting and breeding projects. To this end, in the next step, Jiang Xiaodan will strive to solve the funding problem through the help of Postal Savings Bank, and hopes to sell Taishun County's bayberry and kiwifruit to a broader region through channels such as the Taishun County agricultural specialty products website.