Yu Gong Pan Guanghua Blasts Through Mountains and Rocks to Carve Out a Road to Prosperity
Pan Guanghua's planting base
Four years ago, when Pan Guanghua proposed the idea of returning to his hometown of Huaxian Village, Tanjia Town, Kai County, to take up farming, his whole family opposed it. Their opposition was not without reason, because his hometown is a place with very severe rocky desertification, and developing agriculture on bare stone mountains is harder than reaching the sky.
Returning Home to Blast Through Mountains and Become a "Yu Gong"
Laying stones, carrying mud... After more than half a year of hard work, he built terraced plots of varying sizes on the stone mountain
The journey to Group 5 of Huaxian Village, Tanjia Town, Kai County was long and difficult, with stone piles standing everywhere along the way, and everything in sight was yellow-brown, a scene of desolation. After more than an hour of trudging, the author finally arrived at Pan Guanghua's planting base. The terraced plots built from stones here were like an oasis in the desert, with verdant peach trees and cacti growing among the rocks. "Don't look at how green these peach trees and cacti are now; 3 years ago this place was all stones." Pan Guanghua said with deep feeling that if he had not been bent on changing the face of his hometown all these years, he might have given up long ago.
"Farming in our hometown is harder than anywhere else." Pan Guanghua said that this is a "disaster area" of rocky desertification, a place where nothing will grow. In order to change the poor and backward face of his hometown, in 2012, despite his family's opposition, he returned home after earning his first pot of gold elsewhere and began reclaiming wasteland on the stony ground to farm.
Laying stones, carrying mud... Pan Guanghua busied himself alone in the fields every day. With an unwillingness to admit defeat, after more than half a year of hard work, he managed to build terraced plots of varying sizes on the stone mountain.
Finding the "Intercropping Formula" Through Failure
Planting cacti and peach trees over a large area, and also intercropping pumpkins, cabbage, chili peppers and so on in between
In the spring of 2013, Pan Guanghua began planting vegetables and peach trees in the stony ground he had cleared. To ensure the survival rate, apart from eating and sleeping, he spent all his time in the fields every day. When the sun was too strong, he had to find ways to put up shade nets for the vegetables; when the ground was dry, he had to carry water to irrigate each peach tree...
Under Pan Guanghua's careful tending, the peach trees and vegetables grew especially fast. In May, just as many vegetables were about to be harvested, a heavy rain came unexpectedly, washing away the vegetables along with all the soil in the fields and turning his hard work into nothing.
Pan Guanghua did not feel discouraged because of this, because he discovered that the peach trees he had planted and the vegetables in several plots whose edges were covered with cacti had not been washed away, which let him see hope for farming on the stone mountain.
"Peach trees and cacti have well-developed root systems, which can do a good job of preventing soil erosion." Having found experience through failure, Pan Guanghua began planting cacti and peach trees over a large area, and also intercropped pumpkins, cabbage, chili peppers and so on in between. In the end, he succeeded.
"Cacti not only conserve soil and water, but their fruit can also be sold for money." Pan Guanghua said that the fruit of the cactus is also called xiantao, and it is rich in trace elements, protein and pectin, and has effects such as promoting the circulation of qi and blood, removing dampness and reducing heat, and promoting tissue regeneration, and its market value is extremely high.
"Now I use the income from vegetables to keep the whole base running. Although there is no profit to speak of yet, once the xiantao and peaches enter their full production period, I will have money to earn." Pan Guanghua said that what makes him happiest now is still that he discovered the method of intercropping vegetables, peach trees and cacti on the stone mountain, which is of great help to the control of rocky desertification.
Leading the Whole Village to Prosper Together
"Those who are willing to do odd jobs can come to me for odd jobs; those who are not willing, I provide them with seeds and technology."
In addition to being able to control rocky desertification, Pan Guanghua's planting base also absorbed local villagers for nearby employment, increasing the villagers' income. "The vegetable garden needs manpower to manage all year round. Now the villagers work in the vegetable garden, which adds a considerable income for them." Pan Guanghua said that his planting base spends about 200,000 yuan on labor each year.
"I never dreamed I could earn money at my doorstep. In the past this place was all stones. Not to mention earning money, I wouldn't even dare to think about growing vegetables." Villager Ren Peixiu said that now she comes to the base to do odd jobs whenever she has time, and can earn one to two thousand yuan a month.
"Those who are willing to do odd jobs can come to me for odd jobs; those who are not willing, I provide them with seeds and technology so they can plant for themselves." Pan Guanghua said that his original intention in returning home to start a business was to change the face of his hometown. Now that he has successfully explored the way, he should lead everyone to prosperity together, so that their stone village can also become a prosperous village with clear waters and green mountains.