She made the red-heart kiwi fruit in the ravine sell well all over the country

Character file: Li Daozhen

Born in Fuhe Township, Muchuan County in 1963, Vice President of Sichuan Farmers' Professional Cooperative Federation, Chairman of Muchuan County Yimin kiwifruit Professional Cooperative, and leader of kiwifruit industry development in Muchuan County. In 1999, Li Daozhen contracted her hometown Gaofeng Temple barren mountain to open an orchard. Now the cooperative she has established has 5400 members, driving the development of kiwifruit planting of 70, 000 mu, and the output of red kiwifruit sells well all over the country.

In late August, kiwifruit is on the market in large quantities, but in the Gaofeng Temple orchard in Fuhe Township, Muchuan County, Leshan City, patches of red kiwifruit are not yet ripe. Walking along the mountain path, Li Daozhen, the owner of the orchard, is in no hurry, because there has been a steady stream of customers who have called to order kiwifruit from her since two months ago.

[start]

Build an orchard on a barren hill

It took her four years to choose kiwifruit.

In the orchard of Gaofeng Temple in Fuhe Township, Muchuan County, the kiwifruit forest covered with ripe fruit. Li Daozhen looked at it and chatted with the reporter: "in the past, there were only some tea trees on the mountain. This large area is wasteland, and the villagers are herding cattle here."

In 1999, Li Daozhen was still doing building materials business in Kaimen City, Muchuan County. She was moved when she heard that her hometown was going to auction the long-abandoned right to use a collective tea farm. "originally, I was also born as a farmer. At that time, I wondered if I could develop these 80 mu of mountains." Because there was no water on the mountain and no road was built, after contracting the barren mountain, Li Daozhen and her husband decided to run an orchard and plant fruit trees that were easy to grow and take care of. After nearly four months of investigation, more than a dozen kinds of fruit trees were planted in the orchard in October 1999, including Hongyang kiwifruit, a new variety later planted all over Muchuan.

"We were the first to grow red sun (kiwifruit) in Sichuan, but there were few plants at that time, all on the edge of the orchard." Li Daozhen told reporters that in those difficult days, during the day, she did business in the county seat. At night, she and her husband went up the mountain with flashlights to see the orchards. They lived in earthen houses and cooked with stones: "it was not until 2006 that we started to build mud roads. Before that, it took more than an hour to go up the mountain. Everything was carried by horses, and sometimes we were still on the mountain road at 11:00 at night."

Do not know how to plant, the couple bought their own books to read, found problems, went everywhere to ask for advice. "Red jujube tastes bad and nectarines suffer from insect pests. We failed many times until kiwifruit hung up in September 2003." Li Daozhen told reporters that the Hongyang kiwifruit was identified by them because of its high yield, good taste and easy management.

[rushing]

Go to the exhibition with the fruit.

The red pistachio in the ravine became famous.

Hanging fruit for the first time, the output of kiwifruit was only 250 kilograms. Instead of staring at the immediate profit and selling money, Li Daozhen sold the fruit everywhere, and even went to the market to set up a stall to invite people to eat for free. At that time, when the fourth Western Expo was held in Chengdu, Li Daozhen saw the opportunity and went to Chengdu with less than 10 cases of kiwifruit.

"We didn't have a booth, so we strolled around the West Expo with kiwifruit and asked everyone to taste it." What Li Daozhen did not expect is that this "dashing" has made Muchuan kiwifruit well received by domestic and foreign businessmen. "although I can't speak English, the taste of kiwifruit is the best illustration." Li Daozhen told reporters that she received an order of nearly 3000 tons at the West Expo.

The output of the orchard is far less than that, but the successful participation in this exhibition has made Li Daozhen more determined to plant kiwifruit well. The popularity of the West Expo also made some farmers keenly see the prospect of Muchuan kiwifruit. Under the promotion of the government, in November 2003, the Muchuan County kiwifruit professional cooperative led by Gaofeng Temple Orchard was established.

"We planted all 80 mu of land in Gaofeng Temple orchard with kiwifruit. Together with those planted by the members, the cooperative at that time had 300 mu of kiwifruit." Li Daozhen said.

[approved]

Farmers came to the door on their own initiative.

She led the villagers on the road to prosperity.

Led by Li Daozhen, Muchuan County began to develop kiwifruit cultivation, covering 19 townships and even Leshan City. But Li Daozhen told reporters that it is not an easy task for everyone to accept the hearts of kiwifruit.

"at the beginning, when we tried planting, everyone was skeptical. We took the initiative to take the seedlings out and no one else wanted them." Li Daozhen told reporters that in 2003, the selling price of red kiwifruit was 10 yuan per kilogram, more than 5 times that of other kiwifruit. Seeing kiwifruit hanging and the establishment of cooperatives, villagers gradually began to be interested in kiwifruit.

In order to dispel her worries, Li Daozhen took the initiative to summon the villagers for training and asked everyone to go to the orchard for a sample inspection. In order to encourage villagers to grow kiwifruit, orchards also provide all kinds of help to poor families, providing seedlings at a low price or even free of charge, and then pay for kiwifruit four years later. "Red kiwifruit has gradually become more and more famous, and it has also helped us to do invisible publicity, and later farmers will even come to the door and take the initiative to join us." Li Daozhen said.

With the provision of seedlings, technical training and brand sales, villagers have embarked on the road to prosperity by planting kiwifruit. In 2015, the per capita net income of members and farmers reached 8728 yuan, 2200 yuan higher than that of farmers in the county. "Last year, my family had 2 mu of kiwifruit trees hanging fruit, with an income of more than 30,000 yuan. This year there are more fruit hanging trees than last year, and it is expected that the income will increase by more than 10,000 yuan." Liu Zhongbin, a poor household in Yanwan Village, Fuhe Township, told the reporter that the cooperative did not worry about the market for help, but he only worried that the kiwifruit harvested was not enough to sell.

[hot sale]

The order started six months ago.

The fine fruit sells for 140 yuan per kilogram.

In 2008, Li Daozhen's cooperative was registered by the industry and commerce department and changed its name to Muchuan County Yimin kiwifruit professional cooperative. Subsequently, Gaofengsi Orchard was also registered and changed to Sichuan Xufeng Fruit Industry Co., Ltd., whose leading product "Xufeng" brand kiwifruit passed "green food" certification and "organic product" certification.

"now our kiwifruit production can reach more than 3000 tons. As the core of Gaofeng Temple Orchard, last year's organic boutique fruit sold for 140 yuan per kilogram." Li Daozhen told reporters that banned herbicides, no chemical fertilizers, no expansion agents, the cooperative's kiwifruit individual weight is not large, looks inconspicuous. And because it is naturally ripe, the harvest time is later than other kiwifruit, and there will be a bumper harvest only in mid-September. In order to establish the brand, the cooperative carries on the strict control to the kiwifruit, rejects the kiwifruit that uses the expanding agent and does not comply with the management requirements, and even removes the members from the club.

It is with such persistence that the red kiwifruit here retains the best taste and has won the market and word of mouth. "in February this year, customers in Beijing have already called to order kiwifruit in September." Li Daozhen told the reporter with a smile that since June, more than 120 high-end customers across the country have contacted her for orders, and the kiwifruit here has really achieved "sales before production."

[future]

Membership covers both inside and outside the city.

Make Muchuan kiwifruit into an industrial chain.

The small red kiwifruit has now become a characteristic agricultural industry in Muchuan County.

"at present, our membership has reached 5400, of which more than 1000 are poor." Li Daozhen told reporters that not only Leshan, but also Yibin, Liangshan, Yunnan and other places already have cooperative members. "the cooperative has led the development of 70,000 mu of kiwifruit, of which Muchuan has more than 40,000 mu."

"Last year, we began to develop e-commerce and sold more than 10 tons of hearts kiwifruit through the platforms of some online dealers." Song Liping, the 26-year-old son of Li Daozhen, who is in charge of sales work in the company, told reporters that this year, the cooperative has talked about cooperation with more than 10 dealers on platforms such as Taobao and JD.com. "customers from other places can find our Muchuan hearts kiwifruit online, and online sales this year are expected to double from last year."

As for future planning, Li Daozhen has more long-term goals.

"We have always wanted to form a complete industrial chain to promote the development of packaging and transportation." Li Daozhen told reporters that in February this year, the processing plant on the outskirts of Muchuan County officially entered construction. The first phase of the project invested 10 million yuan, including the construction of cold storage with a capacity of 2000 tons. "after the completion of October this year, the processing plant will solve the problems of kiwifruit sorting, storage, distribution and other problems, so as to reduce everyone's production risk."

"after that, we will also carry out scientific research, visits, deep processing and other construction here, making it a window for Muchuan Hongxin kiwifruit display." Speaking of the future, Li Daozhen is full of confidence.