Li Tongbin of Lizhuang Village: daring to venture and act, he became rich by growing nectarines

    In Li Tongbin's half-mu nectarine greenhouse in Lizhuang Village, Nanhe County, 200 short nectarine trees had already grown fresh, glossy green leaves, and their crisscrossing branches were covered in small trumpet-shaped flowers. Li Tongbin, the owner of the greenhouse, said that judging by the sheer number of flowers and the vigorous growth now, this year's nectarine yield would be much higher than last year's, and increasing his income by about a thousand yuan would be no problem. 

Li Tongbin, now 55 years old, can be considered one of the village's skilled growers who dares to venture and act. Ten years ago, when the county called for adjusting the agricultural structure and vigorously developing protected vegetable cultivation, Li Tongbin was the first to run to the village committee compound to sign up, and he planted two greenhouses. Over the years, Old Li made a sum of money by growing vegetables. But he felt that although growing vegetables could make money, his two vegetable greenhouses needed at least four people, and someone had to stay in the greenhouses for five or six hours every day, which made things difficult for the elderly couple, who lacked labor. Was there a path to wealth that saved labor, time and money? Old Li kept pondering this. By chance in 2004, Old Li learned from Zhang Keyu, a technician from Shandong, that growing nectarines in a greenhouse meant one person could manage one greenhouse, and that the labor was light, the technical difficulty was not great, the market prospects were good, and it could also save a lot of money on water and fertilizer. After discussing it with his wife, that winter Li Tongbin bought 200 nectarine saplings from Shandong at 7 yuan each, becoming the first farmer in the village and in the whole county to grow nectarines. The next year, Old Li's nectarines bore fruit beautifully, and the 200 trees yielded 300 kg of fresh, tender nectarines. On the very day he picked the nectarines, Old Li boarded a bus and headed straight to a supermarket in the city with a basket of fresh, tender nectarines. To Old Li's surprise, the supermarket took them all at 3.5 yuan per jin and promised to buy all his nectarines from then on. That year, Old Li calculated on his fingers that he had not only recovered that year's investment but also made a net profit of more than 1,500 yuan. 

After getting a first taste of the sweetness of nectarines, the next year Old Li added another nectarine greenhouse of the same scale. He said that two nectarine greenhouses bringing in more than 10,000 yuan a year would be no problem. He also wanted to build another greenhouse, buy some more saplings, and expand the scale.