From ordinary Farmer to "selenium-rich King"-- the Entrepreneurship Road of Zhang Dongming, a Peasant in Guangping, Hebei Province

"selenium-rich wheat not only has a high yield, but also has a higher price than ordinary wheat. My family has planted 11 mu, which will increase the income by more than 3000 yuan." Recently, Zhang Ziming, a 61-year-old farmer from Tangzhuang Village, said happily at the selenium-rich agricultural base in Guangping County, Hebei Province, "thanks to the development of the village's' selenium-rich king 'Zhang Dongming to grow selenium-rich wheat!"

Zhang Dongming, known as the "selenium-rich king" by the local people, was originally an ordinary farmer in Tangzhuang Village, Guangping County, Hebei Province, born in 1954. In the countryside in the 1980s, walking in the sun and talking about mountains in winter is a true portrayal of the life of the villagers, but Zhang Dongming does not like this lazy way of life. At that time, when he returned to work in the village after graduating from junior high school, he gradually realized that if he wanted to shake off poverty and become rich, he must emancipate his mind and rely on science and technology to develop efficient and characteristic agriculture.

By chance, Zhang Dongming, who likes reading and reading newspapers, learned from a university journal that selenium is an essential trace element for the human body, and many human diseases are related to selenium deficiency. "can we develop a technology to make agricultural products contain selenium, which is easily absorbed by the human body, so that people can not only eat a full stomach, but also prevent diseases?" Zhang Dongming was tempted.

In 1992, Zhang Dongming, who had studied the fine varieties of jujube, took the lead in establishing the Handan selenium-rich Fruit Research Center. In the same year, the project of improving selenium content in fruits was established by Handan Science and Technology Commission. As this is a new topic, there is no relevant data at home and abroad at that time, experts can only provide some suggestions. To this end, Zhang Dongming began the arduous road of scientific research, selenium-rich jujube, is his first project.

"he has tried foliar spraying and soil fertilization, and has been soaking in the fields all day to do research." Zhang Dongming's son, Zhang Jing, said that after hundreds of experiments over the past three years, selenium-rich fresh dates were finally successfully developed. After being put on the market, supply fell short of demand, and at the same time attracted attention from all walks of life. In 1996, selenium-rich fruit was rated as a famous and excellent agricultural product by the Hebei provincial government and won the national patent.

Since 2008, Zhang Dongming has set his sights on the cultivation of selenium-rich wheat with short planting cycle, relatively simple technology and long shelf life. By applying selenium fertilizer during sowing, ordinary wheat can be transformed into selenium-rich wheat. "selenium-rich wheat is not only beneficial to health after consumption, but after four years of data comparison, we also concluded that wheat with selenium fertilizer is resistant to dry and hot wind and spring cold, which is about 15% higher than that of ordinary wheat by 5 days later." Zhang Dongming said. In order to increase the added value of selenium-rich wheat, Zhang Dongming also built a large automatic assembly line of selenium-rich flour and actively developed downstream products such as selenium-rich high-protein noodles and selenium-rich wheat kernels.

Over the past 30 years, Zhang Dongming has successively undertaken 11 national, provincial and municipal scientific research projects and obtained three national invention patents such as "methods for increasing selenium content in fruits".

The rich Zhang Dongming did not "take care of himself". By providing seedlings free of charge and carrying out technical training, he led 15000 people in four townships in Guangping County to develop the cultivation of characteristic crops such as selenium-rich wheat, selenium-rich dates and selenium-rich cherries, totaling 46000 mu. For selenium-rich wheat with more acreage, Zhang Dongming also signed an agreement with farmers to buy it at a price 10% higher than the market price.

Today, the selenium-rich industry has become a major characteristic industry in Guangping County. through his own study and research, Zhang Dongming has grown from an ordinary farmer to a senior forest and fruit engineer, and is even more famous as a "selenium-rich king".