She gave up 150000 of her annual salary and went back to her hometown to grow chili peppers: to become a leader in getting rich in the mountains.

Zhang Xuelian gave up her 150000-salary job in Guangzhou and went back to her hometown to grow chili peppers.

Luogang town is a mountain town in the north of Xingning, about 45 kilometers away from Xingning city. From Luogangwei Town, we still have to walk 15 kilometers of Panshan Road to Yuanqing Village in the depths of the mountains. People are intoxicated by the fresh air, the beautiful scenery surrounded by layers of terraces and mountains. Standing among the vast fields, Zhang Xuelian bent over to lift the film covering the field and picked up a piece of soil to check the soil.

This is the third year that Zhang Xuelian returned to her hometown to open up wasteland and start a business. In January 2014, Zhang Xuelian gave up her job with an annual salary of 150000, gave up the comfortable life of having a house and a car, ignored the eyes of others, and returned to her hometown to reclaim wasteland and become a new farmer.

Fly out of the mountains of "Phoenix" back to his hometown

"the weather is relatively late this year. We began to sow seeds in January last year, and this year we have to wait for warmer weather before pepper seeds can easily survive." Zhang Xuelian's neat short hair sets off Zhang Xuelian's ability, and the glasses on the bridge of her nose show a scholarly flavor, and if her skin is not slightly dark, she can never be connected with the farmers. Zhang Xuelian called young people like her who returned to the countryside to start a business with technology after graduating from university as "new farmers". "it is necessary to change the old impression that farmers can only grow and sell grain."

Growing up in a ravine, Zhang Xuelian was determined to leave the nearly isolated mountains by reading. At the age of 12, her father died of illness and left a debt of more than 20,000 yuan. Zhang Xuelian's mother had to leave their brother and sister in the village and go out to work alone. The uneducated mother worked as a cleaner in the factory, and her monthly salary of 500 yuan was unable to feed the family of three. Zhang Xuelian and her brother relied on relatives and neighbors for a long time. "from then on, I had the desire to take the villagers out of poverty and become rich."

Although the teaching conditions in the village are poor, the studious and determined Zhang Xuelian got the ideal score through her own efforts. Considering the difficulties of her family, Zhang Xuelian specially chose the agriculture major with the cheapest tuition.

After graduating from the Agricultural College of Zhongkai Agricultural Engineering College, Zhang Xuelian applied to a vegetable seed import and export company in Guangzhou. Working in the company for 8 years, Zhang Xuelian joined the management of the company and enjoyed an annual salary of 150000. And met the other half in Guangzhou to get married and have children, buy a house and a car, and live a happy and comfortable life. When she settled down in the provincial capital, Zhang Xuelian became the "golden Phoenix" envied by the villagers.

The days are getting more and more dull, and Zhang Xuelian always feels that there is a lack of passion in her life. On National Day 2013, Zhang Xuelian returned to her hometown to play with her colleagues. Seeing that the natural environment is very suitable for farming, Zhang Xuelian's colleagues jokingly suggested, "Why don't we grow vegetables here?" The conditions here are so suitable. " The unintentional joke took root in Zhang Xuelian's heart. After the National Day holiday, Zhang Xuelian decided to give up her job at the end of her career and resolutely resign and return to her hometown to grow chili peppers.

Her decision was unconditionally supported by her husband, but it was difficult for her mother to accept it. She worked hard to bring up her eldest daughter. Seeing that she had got married and started a career in a big city, she said that she wanted to go back to ploughing the fields in the gullies. This made Qiu Juying, Zhang Xuelian's mother, unable to understand. But Zhang Xuelian's stubbornness still shook Qiu Juying's heart of loving her daughter. Zhang Xuelian started her entrepreneurial career with two colleagues who resigned together.

From white-collar workers to leaders of getting rich

Although Yuanqing Village is located in remote and deep mountains, it has the conditions to grow high-quality vegetables because of its undamaged natural ecological environment, high-quality soil and large temperature difference between day and night. Zhang Xuelian's 8-year business experience in the vegetable seed company has enabled Zhang Xuelian to choose vegetable varieties and have good interpersonal relationships and resources in the industry, which provides technical support and market guarantee for Zhang Xuelian's start-up.

In the first year of her business, Zhang Xuelian and two other partners rented the villagers' land, took root in the mountain village, and went to work in the fields. "the villagers are very supportive and rent it to us at 100 yuan per mu, an annual increase of 20% from the second year onwards. The rent is very low, all symbolically. "

In the first year, they rented 100 mu of land, growing half of the chili and half of the wax gourd. As a result, the pepper made a profit in the first year, while the wax gourd was high-yielding, but lost money because of the high labor and transportation costs. After learning the lessons of the first year, they used 90% of the 180 mu of rented land to grow chili peppers and the remaining 10% to grow special melons and fruits. "after real farming, I found that there are still a lot of problems with the application of theory in practice." Zhang Xuelian said that nowadays, people around her like to call her "Hot Pepper Girl". Although chili earns high benefits, she also likes to introduce new things, such as chestnut-flavored pumpkins and fruit-flavored corn. "these vegetables, melons and fruits with special taste are quite popular on the market."

In order to manage the more than 100 mu of land, Zhang Xuelian bought two micro-tillers and taught herself how to use them. The more difficult the work, the more she had to do it in person. after only a year of farming, her skin was tanned and a few fine lines were added to her face.

From the first year, Zhang Xuelian hired six middle-aged and elderly people who stayed in the village to do long-term work, each earning 1600 yuan a month, so that the elderly could have something to do and earn at the same time. Aunt Qiu in the village said that since she helped in Zhang Xuelian's field, she no longer had to go to the mountains to cut firewood because she was reluctant to buy gas. "now I work for two days to earn money for burning gas in January." During the busy agricultural season, Zhang Xuelian will also hire people from the village as temporary workers. According to 1 yuan per jin of chili peppers, the villagers can earn 80 to 100 yuan a day.

This is the third year of the venture. Zhang Xuelian and three partners work together. Zhang Xuelian is still in charge of the overall construction and management of Yuanqing planting professional cooperatives. One of the two partners is responsible for Yuanqing Agricultural Co., Ltd., which sells vegetable seeds in Guangzhou. the other is in charge of agricultural technical support. In addition, Zhang Xuelian's entrepreneurial project attracted two other female college students, both post-80s, who returned to their hometown of Xingning from Guangzhou to be responsible for online sales of agricultural products and local products. "everyone has his own place and does his own job."

More talents will join in agriculture.

Large investment, long cycle and slow return are the three major characteristics of agriculture. Familiar with the characteristics of agricultural production, Zhang Xuelian is psychologically prepared for losses. However, for two consecutive years, Yuanqing planting professional cooperatives have made profits to varying degrees. In 2014, the company's turnover was 2.6 million yuan, with a net profit of 630000 yuan. In 2015, its turnover reached 6.2 million yuan and net profit reached 1.26 million yuan. This is inseparable from Zhang Xuelian's rich market experience and broad contacts.

At the beginning of her business, Zhang Xuelian's project was supported by her former company's old customers. After Zhang Xuelian resigned to start a business, the old customers turned to her company to buy seeds and results. At present, 40% of Yuanqing's products are sold to Taiwan, 50% to the Pearl River Delta region, and 10% to Meizhou.

Zhang Xuelian, who loves to study new things, is not only thinking about how to plant crops well, but also thinking about constantly extending the industrial chain. In addition to owning a vegetable seed company, a professional planting cooperative and developing a WeChat business platform to sell agricultural products, Zhang Xuelian also opened a local cuisine restaurant in Xingning City, which uses her own crops as raw materials to make dishes, forming an industrial chain from seeds to table food.