Retired Teacher Kuang Zhenghua's Road to Wealth: Growing Chestnuts on the Mountain for 100,000 Yuan a Year
In Qiaoshang Village, Yangnao Township, Anren County, Hunan Province, everyone gives a thumbs-up at the mention of retired teacher Kuang Zhenghua. Over more than 10 years, he spent over 50,000 yuan of his own savings to reclaim 6.7 hectares of barren mountain land into a high-quality chestnut base.
Qiaoshang Village is a remote mountain nook over 60 km from the county seat. With poor transport and limited access to information, it is a well-known poverty-stricken village in the county, and farmers who have lived here for generations began leaving to work elsewhere after reform and opening up. In the spring of 1994, Kuang Zhenghua retired from school and felt deep concern about the backward state of his hometown. He thought that to change the backward face of his hometown, working away from home was not a long-term solution; the fundamental way was to choose the right project suited to local conditions and take the path of prosperity through hard work. One day, after seeing a TV report about farmers in a village in western Hunan getting rich by growing chestnuts, he was moved. Chestnut trees have strong adaptability, are not afraid of drought, are not particular about soil, and their products sell well. Local chestnuts sold for 10 yuan per kg when first on the market and could still fetch 6 yuan per kg at peak season. A mature chestnut tree can produce 10 kg of chestnuts a year, with an output value of 60-100 yuan. Planting chestnut trees was undoubtedly planting a “money tree.” But when he told the villagers this information, they all shook their heads, either worried about the large investment and slow returns, or worried about failure and losing their capital. Kuang Zhenghua thought that planting fruit trees indeed required investment and carried certain risks, and it was unavoidable for villagers who had been poor for so long to hesitate. He also thought that since he was retired and had nothing to do, why not start a chestnut base himself? Once it succeeded, the villagers would naturally follow.
His idea met with opposition from his 3 children working in Beijing. Indeed, the children all had stable jobs and good incomes, and old Kuang himself had a pension of more than 1,000 yuan a month. He should have been comfortably enjoying his retirement. Why bother, just after putting down the chalk, to pick up a hoe again and do this “foolish” thing that spent big money, made him sweat, and had unknown results?
Old Kuang, his mind made up, still picked up his hoe and went up the mountain. He first planted chestnut seedlings on his own 2 hectares of barren mountain land, and the next year contracted his brother's 4.7 hectares of barren mountain land, planting chestnut trees in a continuous plot with his own. To save money and ensure planting quality, he and his wife did all the work on the 6.7-hectare chestnut base themselves, from land preparation and digging pits to planting seedlings and fertilizing, without hiring a single other person. Over more than 10 years, old Kuang wore out dozens of raincoats and dozens of pairs of rubber shoes, and his hands grew thick calluses. The hoe he used was specially made, with an axe on one side and a hoe on the other, killing two birds with one stone. When it wore short he joined it, and when it was long again he used it……
From Kuang Zhenghua's home to the chestnut plantation was 1 km of mountain road. To save travel time, he got up and went up the mountain at dawn every day, and his wife brought both breakfast and lunch up the mountain. Once, when it rained heavily, his wife slipped while bringing food and injured her right leg. She lay in bed for more than 10 days and spent more than 1,000 yuan on medical fees, but old Kuang remained devoted to his cause.
However, growing chestnut trees was not as simple as he had first imagined. In the blink of an eye, 4 or 5 years passed, and the 2 hectares of chestnut trees he had first developed gradually grew to fruit-bearing age, but these chestnut trees only grew vegetatively and bore no fruit. So mocking words reached old Kuang's ears: he still said he would lead others onto the road to wealth by growing chestnut trees, yet his own chestnut trees bore no fruit……
But old Kuang did not lose heart. After calm reflection, he understood a principle: growing chestnuts is like growing rice; working hard with your head down is not enough, you must rely on science and technology. So he sought teachers and advice everywhere. One day in the summer of 1999, braving high temperatures and the scorching sun, he walked 25 km of mountain road on foot to learn from the chestnut plantation in Majiang Town, Chaling County nearby, then returned hungry and did not grope his way home in the dark until midnight. In 2001, when he learned that Beijing would hold the China International Agricultural Expo on November 7, he and his wife took 3,000 yuan and rushed to Beijing. His children working in the capital were moved by their father's persistent pursuit, accompanied their parents to visit the expo, and took them to orchards on the outskirts of Beijing to learn from experience. Before leaving Beijing, old Kuang also went to the Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School and bought more than 1,000 yuan worth of technical discs to take home and study.
Kuang Zhenghua not only went out to learn, but also invited two craftsmen from elsewhere who understood chestnut grafting techniques, paying them 0.45 yuan for each bud grafted, and this alone cost more than 10,000 yuan. He took the opportunity to learn from the craftsmen, and the sharp knife cut his fingers dozens of times. Through this “price in blood,” old Kuang mastered a superb grafting skill.
In order to keep up with relevant scientific and technological information in time, Kuang Zhenghua also insisted on subscribing to various popular science newspapers and magazines, and often mail-ordered science and technology books and discs from Beijing Jindun Publishing House, becoming a member of its “Readers' Club.” In this way, he learned while doing and did while learning, and finally changed from a layman into an expert in chestnut cultivation.