Saffron "leading Big Brother" leads more than 100 members to become rich together.

At the three-level cadre meeting of Wangdian Town held not long ago, Tianhe Saffron Professional Cooperative, located in Taipingqiao Village, Wangdian Town, won the title of "excellent Enterprise", and Sun Yongzhong, a member of the cooperative, also won the plaque of "Top Ten characteristic Agricultural Entrepreneurship leaders" in the town. This is a cooperative that has been established for less than six years, has developed 106 members, and has planted more than 500 mu of saffron in Jiaxing, with annual sales of more than 10 million yuan. Last week, the reporter interviewed Zhu Zhiming, the head of the cooperative, and listened to him talk about the development of his saffron industry.

"as soon as everyone heard about saffron, the first reaction was that it was planted in Xizang. In fact, this is a misunderstanding. Xizang is not the origin of saffron." Zhu Zhiming told reporters that saffron, also known as saffron or saffron, was first produced in Spain, and it also has a long history of cultivation in Iran, Saudi Arabia and other countries. It was introduced from Iran through Xizang, so it is called saffron. In fact, due to climate and other reasons, the yield of saffron is very high in northern Zhejiang, and he is the "leading brother" of saffron cultivation in Jiaxing, which has been engaged in this industry for 11 years. At present, in addition to Wangdian Town, he also has bases in Xinyi Town and Haiyan County.

In 2010, Zhu Zhiming, his hometown in Chengnan Street, rented 35 mu of land in Wangdian Town, set up Tianhe saffron professional cooperative, and began the introduction and cultivation of saffron. After learning from experts from Zhejiang Institute of traditional Chinese Medicine and soil improvement in the experimental field, Zhu Zhiming mastered a unique set of planting standards and became the general agent of Iranian saffron in Jiaxing. His early bulbs were imported from Iran.

Bulbs are planted at the end of November every year, and dug up and cultivated indoors in the middle of May next year, beautiful purple flowers will bloom half a year later, and what is really precious is the stamens wrapped in flowers, each with only three stamens, which has high medicinal value. "every year after flowering is the busiest season for the co-operative, and we need a large number of people to work overtime to pick the stamens, and if they are not picked three hours after flowering, they will be 'scrapped'." "the economic benefits of saffron are very good," he said. "the market price of first-class stamens is about 180 yuan per gram, so it is also called 'red gold'." It is reported that saffron produced by Tianhe Cooperative is currently mainly sold to Xizang, Guangdong and other places, and there are also related stores in Jiaxing.

Although the cost of the early investment is relatively high, it can basically recover the cost after planting for a year or two, and the income in the later period is also very high. This is the strength of Zhu Zhiming's development of more than 100 members. He said that the net income per mu of saffron is about 10,000 yuan, and the number of acres planted by members ranges from a few mu to dozens of mu. Since he planted saffron with him, members' pockets have gradually bulged up. As a "leader", he promised to give free technical services to each member for a period of two years, while trying to help members open up a market. At the Jiaxing Agricultural Exhibition held on the eve of the Spring Festival, just a few days of exhibition and sales brought in more than 100,000 yuan, which made Zhu Zhiming more confident. However, he said that in the next few years, he intends to reduce the scale of planting and pay more attention to serving the members and driving everyone to get rich together.