Chongqing Dazu: Growing Pueraria lobata to Become Rich

While many young people rush to the city, some people in Dazu return to the countryside and take advantage of the unique local climate and soil conditions to grow wealth early in spring.

This is not, in Zhifeng Street Gaosun Village, there is a busy urban white-collar workers. His name is Qin Weidong. He used to be a builder. However, after nearly five years of "sunrise and sunset", he has already become an "authentic" farmer. Although he is brightly dressed, his skin has long been tanned by the sun.

"I almost lost all my money in this business. I can only succeed, not fail!" Speaking of turning from a white-collar worker to a farmer, Qin Weidong has endless "grievances".

In 2009, an accidental opportunity made him realize the value of Pueraria. Then, with an uncontrollable investment, in cooperation with Southwest University, a kind of kudzu product suitable for hot pot and soup pot was developed with more than 20 kinds of wild Pueraria lobata, which was named "Fupo Pueraria lobata".

"this kind of kudzu root has the characteristics of softening dregs, boiling for a long time, and rich in nutrients, and has the effects of clearing heat, reducing fire, detoxification and nourishing beauty." Qin Weidong introduced.

In 2012, Qin Weidong leased 300 mu of land and planted his own "dream".

Pueraria lobata has medicinal properties, so there are few insect pests. " Qin Weidong said that for agricultural products that are already environmentally friendly, he hopes to achieve the extreme of environmental protection, so he will never use any pesticides in the planting process, even for slight diseases and insect pests.

Over the past four years, Qin Weidong has spent all his savings in exchange for a steady stream of orders. Its fresh kudzu root not only successfully entered the domestic high-end supermarkets, but also exported to Japan, South Korea, the United States and other developed countries, the export price reached 1.6 US dollars / kg.

In 2016, after in-depth cooperative research with Southwest University, Qin Weidong also learned the good news that the Pueraria lobata they planted contained as much as 15 grams of flavonoids per ton of Pueraria lobata and 500 grams of puerarin due to good soil conditions and environmentally friendly planting methods. This discovery doubles Qin Weidong's confidence in the cultivation of Pueraria lobata.

"Pueraria flavonoids are known as' soft gold'. The market price is 500 to 600 yuan per gram, and the price of puerarin is about 400 yuan per gram. Moreover, the price of Fuge fine powder extracted by minus 60 degrees can also reach 1600 yuan / kg. " Qin Weidong said that through deep processing, the added value of Pueraria lobata has directly increased by more than 30 times. At the same time, they have also declared 47 patented technologies, five of which have been made public.

This year, Qin Weidong is ready to make a big show. in addition to maintaining the planting area of Gaosun Village, Qin Weidong has also built 600 mu in Sanxu and Zhongao, all of which operate in the way of "cooperative farmers." the purchase price is about 5 yuan per kilogram. In 2015, eight groups of villagers in the village, he Peijian, earned 2400 yuan after planting only 2 plots of land; in 2016, villager Li Zongyu planted 2 mu of land with an income of nearly 30, 000 yuan.

"compared with traditional agricultural cultivation such as rice and wheat, kudzu planting is really the best choice, not only with high yield but also with guaranteed price. This year, I will also expand the scale, a little more. " The grower Yu Zhengjie said.