Pan Aihua: growing alpine vegetables to taste the sweetness

"growing alpine vegetables for many years, I have been exploring and groping to find planting patterns and varieties suitable for local characteristics." In Lingkou Village, Shaoxing Township, Shexian County, Pan Aihua is a major local vegetable grower and the person in charge of Shaolian Alpine vegetable Professional Cooperative in Shexian County. He has been growing alpine vegetables since 2004 and has been starting a business for 13 years.

In Lingkou Village, there are not many villagers who grow vegetables. Pan Aihua started out as a laying hen farmer, raising native chickens in the high mountains. At that time, he was still very young and didn't have much idea of starting a business. Raising chickens is also because they feel that the local terrain and mountain conditions are suitable for stocking, so they try to do it. A few years later, considering the risks of raising chickens and other markets, Pan Aihua came up with the idea of growing alpine vegetables. After market investigation and going to other places to learn from experience, in 2004, he transferred more than 30 mu of land in the village to grow tomatoes. "at that time, very few tomatoes were grown, and tomatoes in the local market mainly depended on external transfers. in the first two years, the market for tomatoes I planted was very good, and demand fell short of supply." Pan Aihua is like this, following the market demand, trying step by step.

In 2008, Pan Aihua, who had tasted the benefits of growing tomatoes, registered a professional cooperative of Shaolian alpine vegetables in Shexian County. Under his influence, dozens of local villagers joined the cooperative to grow alpine vegetables. The scale has become larger, and with the increase in the number of tomato growers, the price has no advantage. In early 2009, Pan Aihua learned through the introduction of friends that Hangzhou pepper is very popular in the out-of-town market, but there are not many in the local market. As a result, he adjusted the planting direction in time, introduced a new variety of Hangzhou pepper, and planted a large number of Hangzhou pepper. From 2009 to 2011, Hangzhou pepper has brought him high economic benefits. Alpine vegetables, due to the advantage of geographical location, the quality of vegetables is better than that of land vegetables, and do not need too much investment, or even steel greenhouse, can grow high-quality out-of-season vegetables. It is precisely because of this, Pan Aihua in this entrepreneurial road farther and farther, but also more and more wide.

In 2012, due to the influence of the market, the income of Hangzhou pepper is not as superior as before, Pan Aihua began to use his brains again. At that time, he introduced high-quality sweet corn and kidney bean seedlings, which were planted in this way. Unexpectedly, the response of the market is also very good. By 2014, his planting scale had reached more than 60 mu, and he had registered with Huaxin Family Farm, not only growing alpine vegetables, but also doing the primary processing of chili peppers and dried bamboo shoots. There are many bamboo shoots in the mountains, so he buys them for initial processing and then sells them for export. Today, Pan Aihua's Shaolian Alpine vegetable Cooperative has a total planting area of more than 200 mu, and with the support of the local agricultural department, some of it will be used to grow vegetables every year. He says he grows whatever the market needs. In the future, he will continue to work hard in the direction of primary processing, and strive to become bigger and stronger.