Foreign Doctor Kim Kyung-suk Grows Eggplants in Hainan, Selling Them at 50 Yuan per Jin

    Eggplants and peppers are common vegetables we all know, but have you ever drunk eggplant juice or seen a pepper plant that grows two meters tall? Kim Kyung-suk, an agricultural doctor from South Korea, has currently contracted 30 mu of land in Chengmai County and is preparing to create these "miracles." A reporter walked into his estate on the 2nd to uncover the story behind this "foreign doctor."

South Korean doctor Kim Kyung-suk on his eggplant field in Longtan Village, Chengmai County. By Wang Xinli (file photo, source: China News Service)

Went to Israel to study agriculture years ago

The "foreign doctor" formed a bond with Hainan two years ago

At noon on the 2nd, under bright sunshine, Longpo Village, Jinjiang Town, Chengmai County. On a plot of vegetable land, the eggplant seedlings were growing well, and a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat was moving through the field making inspections. Looking at the thriving eggplant seedlings, a bright smile spread across his face...

His name is Kim Kyung-suk, 55 years old this year, an agricultural doctor, and a native of Busan, South Korea. According to reports, when Kim Kyung-suk attended university in South Korea, he studied engineering. After graduating, he developed a strong interest in agriculture. At the age of 29, he went to Israel, where agricultural high technology is highly developed, to study agricultural science and technology, and eventually earned a doctorate in agriculture. Afterward, he continued to engage in agricultural science and technology research, and successively went to Shenyang, Beijing, Qingdao and other places in China to engage in the cultivation and research of melons, fruits and vegetables.

During his work, Kim Kyung-suk found that the weather in northern China is relatively cold, and agricultural research there is easily restricted by natural conditions, which leads to relatively high investment costs. This gave rise to the idea of developing in southern China. In 2007, he ultimately chose the treasure island of Hainan, and that year he found a plot of land in Sanya and began agricultural planting.

The "foreign doctor" trials unconventional melons and vegetables

Eggplants juiced for drinking sell for 50 yuan per jin

Through a friend's introduction, in March this year, Kim Kyung-suk came to Longpo Village, Jinjiang Town, Chengmai County, preparing to contract land and engage in planting experiments for new agricultural varieties.

It is reported that in earlier years Longpo Village was known throughout Chengmai and even northern Qiong for growing watermelons. Later, because diseases in the melon fields became too severe, the villagers switched to growing melons and vegetables, with pepper and melon types as their main varieties. Li Yunfu, the village party branch secretary of Longpo Village, is a leader with a lot of vision. Earlier this year, Chengmai County designated the 1,500 mu of Longpo Yang located in Longpo Village as a melon and vegetable planting base supplying Hong Kong, China and Macao, China. In order to get the villagers on board, Li Yunfu convened village representatives for multiple meetings, and finally held a village assembly, and at last secured 30 mu of land to contract to Kim Kyung-suk for experiments.

Dr. Kim's experiment runs from April 1 to the end of September this year. His experimental items are new crop varieties from Israel and other places, including eggplants, peppers, melons, long beans and so on, as well as imported fertilizers for these crops.

At noon on the 2nd, the reporter saw a scene of lush green in Dr. Kim's experimental field, with eggplants, cucumbers, peppers and other plants growing well. But these plants looked no obviously different from the vegetables and melons grown by other villagers. Faced with the reporter's questions, Dr. Kim smiled: "The eggplants I grow can be juiced for drinking, and the peppers have a growth period of up to two years, with plants that can grow to 2 meters tall."

At Dr. Kim's prompting, the reporter noticed an obvious difference: ordinary vegetable plots are mulched with plastic film in winter, but in the heat of summer Dr. Kim's eggplant field was covered with a thick layer of plastic film. What exactly was going on? Dr. Kim explained that the plastic film he laid could keep the soil from getting too hot, preserve moisture, and prevent weeds from growing densely and affecting the growth of the eggplants.

"What are the advantages of eggplants grown this way compared with ordinary eggplants?" the reporter asked. "There are many advantages. For example, drinking this kind of eggplant juice can help you lose weight." He patted the reporter on the shoulder and said with a smile. He also said that growing this new eggplant variety has very high costs, and after successful trial planting the sale price would also be very considerable. "50 yuan per jin, in RMB," Dr. Kim said with a smile.

After successful trials, it will be promoted in Hainan

Willing to help villagers go to Israel to study

A "foreign doctor" came to the village to grow "unconventional melons and vegetables," arousing the curiosity of nearby villagers. Every day, some villagers took advantage of their slack farming time to ride motorcycles to Dr. Kim's field to see how the new varieties were growing and what planting techniques Dr. Kim had adopted.

While full of expectations for these new varieties, the villagers also raised quite a few questions. For example, ordinary farming households growing eggplants use only one support pole to secure the plant, but Dr. Kim, in order to let the eggplant leaves fully receive sunlight, used two support poles crossed as supports. This made the villagers find it strange. Some thought it was too wasteful, while others thought Dr. Kim's approach made sense.