Yan Yiding: cultivate a "cash cow" for the villagers

Do not want to enjoy retirement, single-minded and covered with thorns, no one cares about the strength of the wild acacia tree …... In Xiyao Village, Nancheng, Yanhu District, when it comes to Yan Yiding, it is a veritable "good man in our village" in the eyes of the villagers.

Yan Yiding used to be an ordinary worker in Yuncheng Power Bureau. After retiring in 2005, he often thought: "I am still strong, what else can I do?" When he returned to his hometown of Xiyao Village, he saw that the wide road beside the village and the neat houses in the village were very "eye-nourishing", but Nanshan behind the village was bushy and disorganized. The disharmony between the two suddenly gave him an idea: can he carry out a transformation of Nanshan? Dress up the village with practical actions.

In the spring of 2006, Yan Yiding conducted a carpet exploration of Nanshan. In the course of exploration, he found that wild Gleditsia accounts for more than 60% of natural vegetation, sour jujube accounts for 30%, and other shrubs and grasses account for 10%. Although the green coverage rate of shrubs all over the mountains has reached more than 80%, the ecological benefit is far less than that of the tree forest, and the economic benefit is almost zero.

As the saying goes: rely on the mountain to make ends meet. Thinking about it over and over, he fixed the breakthrough on the development of wild Gleditsia: first, in the past, women used mashed Gleditos to wash their hair, and the washed hair was smooth and black. Second, the acacia tree is resistant to drought, salt and alkali, and can live for 600 to 700 years, so it can be used as a shelterbelt and a forest belt for soil and water conservation. Third, Gleditsia sinensis has been a precious traditional Chinese medicine since ancient times, which can be used to increase the income of villagers.

As a result, a breakthrough idea arises at the historic moment in Yan Yiding's mind-that is to find ways to change the wild acacia on the mountain into an acacia tree by grafting. Starting from 2007, Yan Yiding successively set up Shanxi Luyuanchun Ecological Forestry Co., Ltd. and Sanyuanzaojiao planting Professional Cooperative in Yuncheng District, contracted 3000 mu of wasteland in Nanshan, Xiyao Village, and comprehensively began to tackle key problems in grafting and breeding of Gleditsia shrubs.

Under the guidance of the Provincial Academy of Forestry Sciences and Beijing Forestry University, after 7 years of unremitting exploration and efforts, his team broke through the technical problem of grafting high-quality Arbor Gleditsia sinensis on wild shrubs. Shuaiding, a new variety of Gleditsia sinensis with both fruit and thorns, was selected and approved at the provincial level, and a series of breeding techniques such as panicle harvesting, grafting and management of wild Gleditsia sinensis were summarized and formed. In 2014, he successively invested 3 million yuan to transform more than 1000 mu of wild acacia, earning more than 400,000 yuan that year, and selling it to about 150 yuan per kilogram of acacia.

An achievement of scientific research can revitalize an industry and improve the ecology of one side; an industry can invigorate the economy of one side and become rich farmers of the other side.

Stepping into the Nanshan of Xiyao Village today, I have said goodbye to yesterday's Xiao Suo, showing a scene of "changing shrubs into trees and barren hills into gardens".

A few days ago, in an interview with reporters, Yan Yiding said that now in the village, everyone is willing to work with him. Under the condition of intensive cultivation and management, the wild Gleditsia grafted Shuaiding began to hang fruit in the third year, and after entering the full fruiting period in the fifth year, under normal circumstances, the annual income of pod and soap thorn was more than 5000 yuan per mu. In order to allay everyone's worries, the cooperative has trained more than 300 local farmers and distributed 250000 handsome scions free of charge. At the same time, an agreement was signed with farmers: it is clear that if the farmers who introduce Shuaiding seedlings have an annual income of less than 5000 yuan per mu after entering the peak fruit period, the cooperative will make up for 5000 yuan; if the income exceeds 5000 yuan, the cooperative will share equally with the farmers.

"now that the villagers have started, the next step must be industrial development." The high-spirited Yan Yiding told reporters that at present his company has cooperated with Beijing Academy of Forestry Sciences to build a factory and began to produce acacia powder. At the same time, the company has planned 30 mu of land, is applying for the establishment of Gleditsia Research Institute, and talks with relevant units on the deep processing of Gleditsia, and tries to develop Gleditsia products such as shampoo, baby soap, tableware washing liquid and so on.

"the purpose of cooperation is not to make much money. I just want to share shares. I just want to do it well and make it bigger for the benefit of the farmers in the village and around it." When saying this, Yan Yiding's eyes were firm and full of confidence.

Some economists say that rural sages often bring a new economic model-- return to the economy. Yan Yiding, who is in his prime, is using his actions to make a footnote to this sentence.