Zhang Lisheng: small strawberries grow a way to get rich

On April 3, when I met Zhang Lisheng, the couple were busy in the strawberry orchard. Zhang Lisheng, 55, was a laid-off worker at Aksu Sugar Tobacco and Wine Company. Later, he planted 300 mu of red dates on contracted land in Kizil Town, Wensu County. Instead of generating income, he put in a lot of old capital that he had accumulated over the years. This made Zhang Lisheng, a Sanju man in Donggang, Liaoning Province, a brain-wrenching problem.

In the winter of 2014, Zhang Lisheng, who went home to visit his relatives, saw the business opportunity of small strawberries with friends and found that growing strawberries was a good project to get rich.

In 2015, Zhang Lisheng contracted four greenhouses in Kizil town and decided to try to grow strawberries in two greenhouses first. Ten thousand strawberry seedlings of "Hongyan" and "Zhang Ji" were introduced from Donggang, Liaoning Province. In order to make strawberries grow big and sweet, Zhang Lisheng, who did not understand technology, put a lot of farm manure on the greenhouse, which led to the burning of strawberry roots and leaves. Strawberry cultivation ended in failure that year. With the experience of his first failure, in 2016, Zhang Lisheng hired professional and technical personnel from the mainland to provide guidance. In order to create a mouth cup, he is determined not to use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, but to grow pure natural and pollution-free strawberries, using a special anti-insect net.

"Today, I brought my family to pick strawberries, playing and picking at the same time, not only let the children go into nature, but also increase their knowledge." Hao Chunying, 55, lives in Aksu, less than an hour's drive from the strawberry orchard. Accompanied by her daughter, she took a short drive to take a walk. She said that she was not only in a good mood, but also relaxed a lot.

The picking price of strawberries in Aksu is second only to Beijing and is especially popular with local tourists. Now the strawberry picking price is 100 yuan / kg, usually the greenhouse receives more than 10 tourists every day, more than 60 people, the most a day can earn more than 5000 yuan. " With a smile on his face, Zhang Lisheng said that in the first year, his greenhouse produced 1.5 tons of strawberries per mu, and his income from growing strawberries alone reached 70,000 yuan.

"Strawberry picking has started one after another since mid-March. so far, the two strawberry greenhouses have received more than 600 tourists with an income of more than 60,000 yuan, and it is estimated that the yield per mu will reach more than 3 tons this year." When it comes to strawberries this year, Zhang Lisheng is full of confidence. He said that strawberry picking will last until mid-June. This year, the income of strawberries in one greenhouse will reach 150000 yuan, while the total income of the two greenhouses will reach 300000 yuan.

"apart from picking strawberries, tourists can also pick 'virgin fruits' and give tourists pollution-free vegetables grown at home. Along the way, tourists can also shoot apricot blossoms, pull alfalfa, dandelions, elm money, and so on. Foodies can also taste or buy native chickens and pigeons from us." According to Zhang Lisheng, he uses a pure green organic method to grow strawberries, which is not only delicious, but also tastes sweet and creamy. Locals call it "creamy strawberries." The number of tourists who come to pick is not only local, but also tourists from neighboring counties and cities, especially during weekends and holidays, the amount of picking is three to four times higher than usual, with a maximum of 200 to 300 people per day. In addition to growing strawberries, his greenhouse will also open the picking of 'virgin fruits' and Chinese wolfberry, so that tourists can eat and enjoy themselves in the countryside, attracting a large number of foreign tourists without worrying about the market at all.

With Zhang Lisheng's experience of getting rich, his brother and surrounding villagers also began to try to grow strawberries under his influence. "A person who is rich is not rich, but everyone is rich." In order to drive everyone to get rich together, Zhang Lisheng also invited four poor families in the village to work in his greenhouse, paying them a salary of 3000 yuan a month, and solved the jobs for the poor families. At the same time, he also became relatives with ethnic minority comrades and gave free instructions on greenhouse vegetable cultivation techniques for ethnic minority comrades, so as to drive the surrounding people to shake off poverty and become rich as soon as possible.

Looking at this year's strawberries, Zhang Lisheng was so confident that he decided to continue to expand the planting area of strawberries tomorrow, focusing on picking, and adopting some innovative ways, methods and one-stop services to attract more foreign tourists.