Xifeng: Red strawberries pave the “road to prosperity” for rural revitalization

At the beginning of May, in Xiahongma Village, Xifeng County, Guiyang City, we walked into the strawberry planting base in the strawberry planting greenhouse. The person in charge of the base, Zhang Ying, is busy picking fresh strawberries. A large and plump red strawberry appears faintly in the green leaves, exuding a drooling luster. The warm and humid air is mixed with a rich strawberry aroma, which is very tempting.

Zhang Ying, born in 1981, has a warm and straightforward personality, and is open-minded and outgoing. She has full confidence and enthusiasm for strawberry cultivation. She said that treating strawberries is like treating children, requiring careful care for fear of making any mistakes. The “Hongyan” and “Zhangji” strawberries they planted are high-end varieties, soft, waxy and sweet. Compared with ordinary varieties of strawberries, “Hongyan” chocolate strawberries have a sweeter taste and no sour taste; The aroma of “Zhangji” cream strawberries is stronger, and the overall taste is similar to the “milk strawberries” purchased at a fruit shop.

Excluding costs, our family’s income of 300000 yuan this year is not a problem. “Zhang Ying’s joy is evident when it comes to the benefits of strawberry planting. She said that during the slack season, she invited idle labor from the village to help in the strawberry orchard, at a rate of 100 yuan per person per day. In recent years, she has paid over 500000 yuan in labor costs. There is an old man in the village whose son passed away in a car accident, and his wife ran away. The old man is alone with two grandchildren, which is not easy. Whenever there is any activity in the strawberry orchard, she invites the elderly to come and help. Working in the strawberry base has increased the annual income of the elderly by about 30000 yuan, making life easy for them.

Going out of the countryside was once the starting point for the post-80s generation to pursue their dreams, but now the countryside is becoming a stage for more and more young people to build their dreams. “Zhang Ying said, entrepreneurship is difficult, but perseverance is even more difficult. Especially in agriculture, when encountering natural disasters, success will fall short. In 2017, she rented a greenhouse in the village to plant watermelons. The harvest was just around the corner and she encountered a surge of water. The watermelons were soaked and rotted in the field, and tens of thousands of yuan were invested in water rafting. At that time, she was deeply affected and disheartened. One day, she accidentally walked to the strawberry planting base on Yanglang Old Street and learned that a Zhejiang native was planting strawberries here, which had particularly good benefits. She remembered that her hometown Xiahongma Village had a history of planting strawberries in the 1980s, so she had the idea of planting strawberries in the village. In 2017, under the guidance of Zhejiang people, she transferred land in the village, built a greenhouse, and began planting strawberries.

Mastering core technologies gives one the confidence to develop. In response to the wait-and-see attitude towards strawberry planting in the village, Zhang Ying took the initiative to appear and preach, walk into the fields, impart experience and methods, help farmers with strawberry planting intentions dispel doubts, and guide strawberry growers to change their planting concepts. Driven by Zhang Ying, villagers such as Sun Longqiong, Yi Huibo, and Chen Jishu began to develop strawberry cultivation one after another. At her initiative, strawberry growers around Hongma Village in Yongjing Town established the “Red Raspberry Cooperative”. At present, the cooperative has 70 greenhouses and a planting area of over 50 acres. At a profit of 30000 yuan per greenhouse, the cooperative earns over 2 million yuan per year. The strawberry industry is taking shape in the village, bursting with unprecedented vitality