The support of science and technology has transformed the walnut industry into a butterfly.

On July 12, the reporter saw villagers in Zhaozhuang Town, Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province, patiently managing the branches bent by green walnuts covered with eggs in the orchard against the scorching sun, fearing any mistakes in their "cash cow".

From the sporadic results at the top to the green fruit with eggs all over the branches, from indifference to conscious worry, from simple ecological benefits to both ecological and economic benefits. The change of farmers' walnut planting concept in Zhaozhuang town is a microcosm of the development of walnut industry in Chengcheng County.

? Find a way out for industrial development for survival

In 1999, the national policy of returning farmland to forests was implemented. Chengcheng County firmly grasped the unique advantages of climate, location and quality of walnut, and vigorously developed the scale of walnut. However, the area is large, the efficiency is low, the masses have no material benefits, and the government is in a hurry, which is not only a true portrayal of the development of walnuts in Chengcheng County before 2012, but also an urgent problem to be solved in front of the local government.

Wang Jian, deputy director of the Chengcheng County Science and Technology Bureau, said that in order to solve the follow-up problem of increasing farmers' income after returning farmland to forests, so that farmers can benefit from walnut trees, a scientific and technological team has been invited to replace walnuts in Xigou Village, Zhaozhuang Town, but the survival rate is less than 20%. Moreover, it is a real scion to connect a real tree, which is not beneficial even if it survives.

For a moment, the crowd complained and said everything. "I've seen persimmon and chestnut grafting. Where have I heard that walnuts can also be grafted? Something I haven't seen in years! " "this is coaxing and harming the masses." The failure of grafting transformation in Xigou village has frustrated the local government's idea of improving yield and efficiency through walnut grafting transformation and helping farmers increase their income.

"Fruit growers who rely on returning farmland to forests to grow walnuts can only see where the thick trees in the bowl mouth are, leaping up vigorously. Farmers who have seen no results and benefits for more than a decade complain: "this is not an orchard that makes people make money, but a poplar forest that does not produce money!" Wang Jian recalled.

Make a bold attempt to realize the dream of industry for many years

Since 2013, Chengcheng County has boldly tried to develop walnut industry in view of the fact that there are many fields in Goupo and nine droughts in ten years. The county insists on both ecology and industry, vigorously develops the walnut industry, and forms a "U"-shaped walnut forest belt along the first line of Huanglong Mountain in the north of the county and the "U" shape of the county seat in the middle of the county. Today, walnut trees are covered with walnut fruit, and the development of the local industry is finally at dawn.

Wang Jian said that in 2013, under the coordination of the science and technology department of Weinan City, the county actively introduced talents and technology from Yangling Agricultural Science and Technology City, and hired Zhang Hai, a professor at the School of Resources and Environment of Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, to carry out technical cooperation on walnut quality improvement and efficiency, high grafting and replacement, and hole fertilizer and water storage technology.

Zhang Hai said that in that year, more than 30,000 mu of walnut trees planted during the period of returning farmland to forests in Chengcheng County were in urgent need of high replacement, and due to the backward local technology and aging varieties, it became a bottleneck restricting the development of the local walnut industry.

"We are here to demonstrate the new technology of high grafting of walnuts. The farmers around here have come under the organization of the government, and most of them come here with a sense of excitement. The shadow of being unable to be grafted in the past remains in the hearts of the farmers." Zhang Hai said: through several years of experiments, it has fired the first shot in the development of local walnuts, which not only convinced the masses, but also strengthened Chengcheng's confidence and determination to develop walnuts as an industry to increase farmers' income by breaking the technical bottleneck in the development of Chengcheng walnut industry.

At present, through technical guidance, Zhang Hai and his team have established a 3000 mu demonstration base in Zhaozhuang Town, developed efficient rainfall utilization techniques and labor-saving cultivation models suitable for walnut orchards on dry slopes in Weibei area, and trained 500. at present, the yield of low-yield garden per mu has been increased by more than 30%.