Understory farming brings in more money, and the old farmer has a path to increase his income and get rich

      "Come over to my house for a meal whenever you have time; we slaughtered the New Year pig these past few days, and I still have all kinds of fruit I grew myself stored in the fridge." On the morning of November 8, when the reporter met Long Shizhang, he was greeting us from far away.

Long Shizhang is a fruit-growing specialist household in Group 12 of Bailashu Village, Yezhou Town. This year he planted more than three mu of Yandun sweet pears, sweet persimmons, and local hollow plums, and his net income alone reached more than 40,000 yuan. He grows feed under the trees to raise pigs, and this year he has already sold more than 40 commercial pigs, earning more than 130,000 yuan. Old Long was so happy that he boasted to everyone he met: "My family grows money trees!"

Speaking of these "money trees," what Long Shizhang is most proud of are still his two sweet persimmon trees. Because there are only two, the accounts are clear. The two trees yielded more than 1,200 jin of sweet persimmons, and he carried two loads into the city each day; at 4 yuan per jin, he brought in 5,000 yuan in just one week. After feeling proud, he also felt regret: in 2005, the county Old Revolutionary Base Areas Promotion Association developed the first batch of "Qianchuan Jiro" sweet persimmons in the county, with seedlings at 1 yuan each. Long Shizhang did not believe that persimmons could be eaten raw before they were fully ripe, so he bought only three sweet persimmon seedlings, half in doubt, and two survived. They bore fruit in 2008. Tasting sweet persimmons for the first time, Long Shizhang was very surprised: this thing, so similar to local persimmons, really could be eaten raw before it was fully ripe. On February 25, 2009, Long Shizhang joined with more than 20 nearby large fruit-growing households to invite Wang Zhengdong, president of the county Old Revolutionary Base Areas Promotion Association, and 76-year-old fruit tree expert Lan Jiuxiang directly to the fields to pass on techniques and guide the large fruit-growing households in grafting sweet persimmon seedlings. That year Long Shizhang grafted nearly 200 sweet persimmons, and this year they have already begun bearing a scattering of fruit. "Once this batch of my sweet persimmons hits the market in a big way, my fruit-growing income will at least double."

When it comes to sweet persimmons, those are Long Shizhang's "treasure," but when it comes to local hollow plums, those are also Old Long's "life." The local hollow plum of Yezhou Town has thin skin and crisp flesh, bright color, a fresh and refreshing taste, and rich nutrition. It can clear heat and detoxify, strengthen the spleen, and promote longevity. Because of its good taste and the fact that eating a lot of it does not cause diarrhea, it is deeply loved by people and is a sought-after fruit on the market. The lowest selling price for Long Shizhang's plums is also 3 yuan per jin. Because he is close to the city, most customers drive themselves directly to pick under the trees, and they are all repeat customers. Old Long said: during the high-yield period, hollow plums yield about 3,000 to 4,000 jin per mu, and the lowest income per unit area is around 8,000 yuan. It is a pity that his own fields are too few; if not for that, they would be no worse than sweet persimmons.

In fields developed for fruit growing, tall-stalk crops cannot be planted, and if vegetables are grown for sale, there is not enough time to manage them. So Long Shizhang decided to plant sweet potatoes and feed, since sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes are both excellent pig feed. Long Shizhang built a "4050 model" pig shed and used the feed crops under the trees for original ecological farming. When he tried it this year, it unexpectedly became an instant success, and that same year he sold more than 40 pigs. The annual income from selling pigs plus pears, plums, and sweet persimmons exceeded 180,000 yuan. That was even higher than the income of his son driving a large truck and his daughter-in-law running a night market. Long Shizhang's conclusion is: if farming families want to get rich early, they must plant "money trees."