Zhang Jingeng - To Get Rich by Growing Trees, You Must Choose the Right Direction and Variety

    Zhang Jingeng, a farmer from Tanqiu Township, Xingan County, Jiangxi Province, chose to plant oil tea (Camellia oleifera) 12 years ago when everyone else was rushing to plant citrus. Today, influenced by this model of prosperity, the people around him have followed suit, and the whole township and even the whole county have seen a surge of interest in oil tea planting. Zhang Jingeng's success lies first in his keen foresight in choosing oil tea, a "potential stock," and second in his selection of high-yield, highly adaptable improved oil tea varieties, which allowed him to avoid detours on the road to prosperity.  

Starting in the 1980s, some farmers, eager to get rich, blindly followed trends - planting whatever others planted - only to lose money instead of prospering. Examples include the "dragon juniper roasted dog meat" incident, the massive backlog of cedar seedlings last year, and the large backlog of dawn redwood seedlings among farmers in a certain area of Jiangxi this year. The eagerness to get rich is understandable, but beyond the enthusiasm, one needs a calm head, more attention to national policies and the situation, and insight into market developments. What sets Zhang Jingeng apart is that he calmly analysed the disadvantages of planting citrus, did not blindly follow the crowd, but instead clearly recognised the national trend of vigorously developing forestry and identified oil tea as an industry with great prospects. Farmers should pay attention to national policies and possess keen market insight, rather than being short-sighted.  

Whether agriculture or forestry, neither can develop without the support of science and technology. Only by choosing the right variety can you achieve high quality and high yield. This is especially true for forestry, because of its long production cycle - once you choose the wrong variety, years of hard work will be wasted. Zhang Jingeng not only recognised the bright prospects of the oil tea industry but also paid attention to the scientific and technological content of oil tea varieties. This is something many farmers could learn from.  

The story of Zhang Jingeng getting rich by growing high-yield oil tea is both small and big. Small, because Zhang Jingeng is just one of thousands of farmers who dare to think and act boldly, and his oil tea planting area is less than 10 mu; big, because Zhang Jingeng had unique vision - when everyone else was planting citrus, he planted oil tea and made an extraordinary start, choosing high-quality, high-yield oil tea varieties and creating considerable economic benefits.