Zheng Zhiping, the king of strawberries, leads the villagers to get rich together.

Our reporter Shen Xinguang

In Nanzheng Village, Xinhe Street Office, Baqiao District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, there is such a "celebrity". After he was laid off, he found his own way out and devoted himself to studying strawberry cultivation techniques. He not only led a well-off life by himself, but also led the surrounding farmers to get rich together. He is Zheng Zhiping, the famous "strawberry king" in Baqiao District of Xi'an.

Running after technology for growing strawberries

When it comes to growing strawberries, Zheng Zhiping, 57, is proud. In 2002, after being laid off, in order to support his family, he raised chickens, fed pigs, and partnered with others to grow kiwifruit, but all of them were unsuccessful. By chance, he came into contact with strawberry planting and became the first farmer in Xi'an to grow strawberries in a greenhouse.

Zheng Zhiping recalled that the first two years of growing strawberries were basically messing around and made no money at all. At that time, I borrowed money and set up a greenhouse, and I was preparing for a big fight, but I was unexpectedly poured cold water on it by reality. Due to lack of experience, the newly planted strawberry seedlings suffered from powdery mildew, and the strawberries in the shed were almost "scrapped". "now it seems that the humidity in the shed was not adjusted properly at that time." Zheng Zhiping said that this failure made him understand that growing strawberries by heart alone is not enough, but also needs to know the technology.

In order to master strawberry planting techniques as soon as possible, he went to Xi'an Agricultural Technology extension Center to learn seedling and cultivation techniques. "at that time, I ran to the agricultural technology center every day, and I was there wherever the strawberries were," he said. " After groping for experience, Zheng Zhiping had a bottom in his mind, and through his own continuous research and innovation, the strawberries planted in the greenhouse yielded more than 1400 kilograms per mu and could be sold for 90 yuan per kilogram. He was known locally as the "strawberry king."

The "soil expert" in the field

After more than 10 years of growing strawberries, Zheng Zhiping has accumulated a lot of experience in greenhouse management. after repeated study and pondering, Zheng Zhiping has gradually mastered a set of strawberry planting techniques, such as raising seedlings, transplanting, peeling leaves, thinning flowers, thinning fruits, preventing diseases, and regulating temperature and humidity. He became a "local expert" in the strawberry industry. Over the years, Zheng Zhiping has gone deep into the fields to guide farmers to develop strawberry industry and provide professional knowledge training in Baqiao District, Chang'an District, Lintong District, Gaoling District and other places in Xi'an.

A lot of land in Gaoling District of Xi'an is saline-alkali land, and local farmers often reduce or fail to produce strawberries when they cultivate strawberries. Due to the poor economic benefits, it has seriously affected the enthusiasm of farmers to cultivate strawberries. In order to solve this problem, Zheng Zhiping went to the local area for soil testing many times and discussed the solution with experts. Finally, through the soil conditioning technology, the technical problem of cultivating strawberries in saline-alkali soil was solved in one fell swoop, and the local farmers obtained good economic benefits.

Talking about future development, Zheng Zhiping said that he would lead more farmers to plant strawberries, let them get rich together, provide technical services for strawberry growers free of charge, and dedicate their light and heat to the Sanqin land.