Yang Jiangkui, a young man in Pengshui, Chongqing, let the purple yam "lie" and grow.

At the end of last year, Yang Jiangkui's purple yam was harvested on a small scale, and workers were digging and packing it.

Purple yam, also known as Dioscorea zingiberensis and taro, belongs to the family Dioscorea. This vegetable, which has the laudatory name of "purple ginseng", is rich in protein, saponins and vitamins. Purple yam is regarded as a health-preserving treasure of the Hakka people in Taiwan, Guangdong, Fujian and other places. However, due to the discrepancy of soil conditions, purple yam has rarely been planted in Chongqing for a long time.

In 2013, Yang Jiangkui, a young man from Pengshui, found a gap in the Chongqing purple yam market, explored everywhere, tried the "shallow planting method", changed the habit of vertical growth of purple yam, and let purple yam "lie" on the ground. After 3 years of trial planting, this year, his purple yam base officially put into production, 200 mu of purple mountain medicinal land, excluding the loss, the output is expected to reach 350 tons.

Multi-party exploration

He brought the purple yam to his hometown.

On May 20, Pengshu Agricultural Purple Yam Base in Bailong Village, Sangzhe Town, Miao Tujia Autonomous County, Pengshui, was neatly lined with shallow grooves. Yang Jiangkui told reporters that today is the last day of the sowing stage. If nothing happens, in another half a year, this purple yam base, which has been operating painstakingly for three years, will have its first bumper harvest.

Yang Jiangkui is 29 years old. after graduating from Southwest University, he has worked in various professions such as store management, marketing and insurance promotion in Beijing, Shenyang, Xichang and other places. In 2013, he learned from his friends that Zishan medicine is a popular health food in the market, with retail prices as high as 10 yuan per jin in Guangxi and Guangdong. "I went to all the hotels, supermarkets and vegetable markets in the city and found that only a few hotels had Zishan juice for sale." Yang Jiangkui said that this kind of vegetable is not sold in Chongqing.

It turns out that Zishan is a vertical growing crop, which needs to take root in the soil and grow for 1 to 1.5 meters, so it can only grow in sandy soil. However, because of the thin soil layer and high soil viscosity in Chongqing, purple yam can not take root, so no one has planted purple yam in Chongqing for a long time.

"if this problem is solved, a new market can be opened up." After the idea came into being, Yang Jiangkui came to Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and other places to inspect. Later, he found that the local people were using the new technology "shallow planting method" to improve the yield and quality of purple yam, which changed the habit of vertical growth of purple yam and could just overcome the problem of "thin soil layer and high viscosity".

At the end of 2013, Yang Jiangkui returned to Pengshui with the "shallow planting method" to try to grow 30 mu of purple yam.

Find new technology

The purple yam planted is more nutritious.

With a shallow trough, a handful of grain husks and a piece of plastic film, the "shallow planting method" does not look profound. The shallow trough is a semicircular plastic tube about 1 meter long, which lays the chaff in the trough and leaves room for seeds at the top. Then put the shallow trough vertically on the soil slope of 10 to 15 degrees, then sprinkle it with a 5 cm thick soil layer, and then put the Zishan medicine seed into the reserved space. Yang Jiangkui demonstrated this "shallow planting method" for reporters. "finally, we have to cover the surface with a layer of plastic film, so that there are fewer weeds, which also plays a role in moisturizing and heat preservation." Yang Jiangkui said.

Why can purple yam "lie" and grow with this planting method?

"shallow grooves and slope are the key." Yang Jiangkui picked up a shallow trough and explained to reporters that the shallow trough wrapped in purple yam blocked the way for purple yam to grow into the ground. Second, seed growth will show geotropy because of gravity. "so put the shallow trough on a small slope so that it can grow down the pipe groove."

The "shallow planting method" not only solved the soil problem, but also brought benefits to the quality and yield of purple yam. In terms of appearance, the purple yam planted in this way is larger, straighter and smoother. In addition, because the surface is covered with only a thin layer of soil, the temperature difference between day and night has a greater impact on crops, making them more nutritious.

Compared with the traditional planting method, "shallow planting method" can also save more labor costs. Yang Jiangkui said that the purple yam planted by the traditional method is deeply rooted, and the labor cost required for mining is 60% higher than that of the "shallow planting method."

From production to sales

Want to be the industry chain of purple yam

200mu of Zishan medicine field, the yield per mu is about 3000 kg, the purchase price is 4.50 yuan / kg, and the planting cost per mu is 4000 yuan. Excluding labor costs and base operating expenses, Yang Jiangkui's gross income per mu can reach 6000 yuan. "I have discussed cooperation with Renle and Shuangfu International Farmers' City to supply goods for them." Yang Jiangkui planned to continue to put the first bucket of gold earned into production.

In Yang Jiangkui's eyes, the most important thing now is to increase inventory capacity. Not far from the Zishan medicine field, there is an open space that has been completed, and this open space will be built with 1000 cubic meters of freezer by the end of this year. "to cooperate with big supermarkets and big markets, we must ensure long-term supply." Yang Jiangkui said that with this freezer, the supply period of purple yam can be extended from 3 months to about half a year.

"I want to make a purple yam industry chain from production to sales." Yang Jiangkui told reporters that now he has brought in two more investors and led five farmers around to grow purple yam together. This year, Yang Jiangkui will open an online store for retail on Wechat and JD.com. "doing retail and wholesale together, opening up sales channels in an all-round way is conducive to the formation of the industrial chain in the future." He said.