Fruit corn: efficient yet niche, becoming a new favorite for growers
"Fruit corn" explodes as an efficient "niche" crop
The "fruit corn" that grows for only 83 days can make big money, and it caused quite a stir in Xuzhuang Village, Zhaoquan Town, Taocheng District, Hengshui City. Yang Jirong planted sweet corn on 9 fen of land and sold it all in just 7 mornings, and when he did the accounts, he had made more than 2,500 yuan. The 39-year-old Yang Jirong had farmed for many years without standing out, but unexpectedly, this year's specialty high-efficiency planting made him hit a "niche" for getting rich.
Yang Jirong loves reading books and newspapers. In March this year, he looked for "treasure" in the newspaper, and the four words "fruit corn" caught his attention. He learned that waxy corn is popular in the city and brings high returns when sold by the ear, and that sweet corn, called "fruit corn," tastes better than waxy corn, has a shorter growing period, and sells for a higher price. He decided to trial-plant both types of corn, and then asked someone to buy 1.3 kg of "Jingke Tian 183" corn seed from Beijing.
On the first day the "fruit corn" went on the market, Yang Jirong picked 130 ears and took them to the city's morning market to "throw a stone to test the water," joining the stalls selling waxy corn. People had never eaten "fruit corn," so they bought little and asked a lot, all suspecting it might be a counterfeit. Two woven bags of sweet corn took half a day to sell.
He found that people not knowing the goods was the reason sales were slow. The next day at the morning market, he wrote "fruit corn" on a piece of cardboard to attract customers, brought out the seed packaging bag for people to identify, and cut the sweet corn into sections with a knife for people to taste. After several tricks, "fruit corn" became well known. In the following days, there were repeat customers who wanted to eat more the more they ate. The 2,600 ears of sweet corn were sold in only 7 mornings, for a net profit of more than 2,500 yuan.
Many people regretted it on his behalf: if they had known this would happen, why not plant more at the time? After harvesting this crop of sweet corn, he recently used the remaining seed to plant a second crop. "What we farmers plant, and how much we plant, depends not only on our wishes, but even more on the market. Now that the market is there, the next step is for us to expand the scale so that our fellow villagers can all earn more money." Speaking of his future plans, Yang Jirong said happily.
Source: Hebei Economic Daily
Yang Jirong loves reading books and newspapers. In March this year, he looked for "treasure" in the newspaper, and the four words "fruit corn" caught his attention. He learned that waxy corn is popular in the city and brings high returns when sold by the ear, and that sweet corn, called "fruit corn," tastes better than waxy corn, has a shorter growing period, and sells for a higher price. He decided to trial-plant both types of corn, and then asked someone to buy 1.3 kg of "Jingke Tian 183" corn seed from Beijing.
On the first day the "fruit corn" went on the market, Yang Jirong picked 130 ears and took them to the city's morning market to "throw a stone to test the water," joining the stalls selling waxy corn. People had never eaten "fruit corn," so they bought little and asked a lot, all suspecting it might be a counterfeit. Two woven bags of sweet corn took half a day to sell.
He found that people not knowing the goods was the reason sales were slow. The next day at the morning market, he wrote "fruit corn" on a piece of cardboard to attract customers, brought out the seed packaging bag for people to identify, and cut the sweet corn into sections with a knife for people to taste. After several tricks, "fruit corn" became well known. In the following days, there were repeat customers who wanted to eat more the more they ate. The 2,600 ears of sweet corn were sold in only 7 mornings, for a net profit of more than 2,500 yuan.
Many people regretted it on his behalf: if they had known this would happen, why not plant more at the time? After harvesting this crop of sweet corn, he recently used the remaining seed to plant a second crop. "What we farmers plant, and how much we plant, depends not only on our wishes, but even more on the market. Now that the market is there, the next step is for us to expand the scale so that our fellow villagers can all earn more money." Speaking of his future plans, Yang Jirong said happily.
Source: Hebei Economic Daily