There's a path to wealth through Camellia oleifera planting; living off the mountain can make you prosperous
Our newspaper report (Reporter Yin Xiaojian, intern reporter Li Zhenyang, correspondent Yang Ming) "The Camellia oleifera tree is a treasure from head to toe; the mountain people cannot do without it. The once barren hillsides are now clothed in new green." On the morning of September 15, Yu Guomin, chairman of the Erdaohe Village Camellia oleifera Professional Cooperative in Fangji Town, Gushi County, told reporters.
Fangji Town is located at the foot of Jingangtai, the main peak of the Dabie Mountains. Its 10.08 wan mu (100,800 mu) of hilly and mountainous land accounts for 78% of the town's total land. "I get annoyed just looking at the mountains" and "I get irritated the moment I see rocks" were once the attitudes of most local farmers. In recent years, Fangji Town has settled on the idea of "living off the mountain," turning disadvantages into advantages and making big strides on its 10 wan mu (100,000 mu) of mountain land. It actively guides successful entrepreneurs who left home to return and develop mountain-specific industries, encourages and supports forest farmers in establishing professional cooperatives, carries out advanced technology promotion and training, and attracts and cultivates leading forest product processing enterprises. At present, the town has established five major specialty industry zones: Camellia oleifera, Chinese chestnut, Chinese medicinal herbs, timber, and tea.
Camellia oleifera has a planting history of several hundred years in the local area. It has high value for greening, ecology, and environmental protection. Planted once, it yields for a hundred years. It is drought-tolerant, waterlogging-tolerant, and tolerant of barren soil, with extremely strong vitality, making it highly suitable for afforestation on barren hills. The tea oil produced from Camellia oleifera seeds has extremely high food and medical health value, and is known as "Oriental olive oil."
In 2009, after Yu Guomin retired from his position as branch secretary, he set his sights on the path to wealth through Camellia oleifera planting. He traveled east to Anhui and south to Hunan, and after many visits to Camellia oleifera production areas for study and investigation, he took the lead in creating the county's first Camellia oleifera professional cooperative — the Erdaohe Village Camellia oleifera Professional Cooperative. The cooperative adheres to the "cooperative + base + farmers" model, implementing a complete chain of seedling cultivation, planting, processing, and sales. Now, their cooperative already has more than 6,000 mu of Camellia oleifera base, accepts 680 member households across 10 surrounding villages, and increases each household's annual income by more than 4,000 yuan.
Today, under Yu Guomin's leadership, after local people saw the economic benefits of planting Camellia oleifera, many spontaneously joined the ranks of Camellia oleifera growers, and the planting area has continued to rise. Camellia oleifera has also become the town's pillar industry. At present, the town has built the county's largest Camellia oleifera base, with a planting scale exceeding 2.5 wan mu (25,000 mu), more than 6,000 mu of fruiting area, and a seed yield of 300 wan jin (3 million jin).
When mentioning the benefits that Camellia oleifera planting has brought to farmers, Chen Guanghua, a villager from Erdaohe Village, did some calculations for the reporter: "In the past, the miscellaneous trees and shrubs planted on the hilly slopes could only earn a few dozen yuan per mu per year, and my family's more than 100 mu only brought in two or three thousand yuan. Starting in 2009, under the cooperative's guidance, all of my more than 100 mu of mountain land was planted with Camellia oleifera trees. Each mu can hold 60 tea trees, and each tree produces about 2 jin of dried seeds. Calculating at 4.5 yuan per jin, this year I can earn 54,000 yuan, and after deducting input costs, I still net more than 40,000 yuan. This is only the fourth year. After another three or four years, when the Camellia oleifera trees enter their full fruiting period, one tree can produce more than 20 jin of dried tea seeds, and by then an annual income of three to four hundred thousand yuan will be no problem. In addition, I also set up an oil press workshop, which not only makes things convenient for nearby neighbors but also earns me quite a bit."