Zhang Guangke, an expert at planting flat fruit.

The flock of geese flies high, thanks to the head geese. For more than a decade, Zhang Guangke, an expert fruit grower in pingguo County, relying on science and technology to grow fruit, not only enriched himself, but also led and radiated the vast number of farmers to grow fruit to become rich, becoming a leading goose on the road to wealth.

Zhang Guangke, 42, is a villager of Shanglatun, Longpan Village, Sitang Town, pingguo County. In 1994, Zhang Guangke and several young people in the village succeeded in planting Hongjiang oranges. In 1998, he also succeeded in planting grapes, with a net income of more than 8000 yuan per mu. In 2004, some Hongjiang orange fruit trees in Shanglaatun were aging, and the market advantage gradually declined. in order to introduce new varieties suitable for development, Zhang Guanghe and Cungan visited and studied in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sihui, and other places, and learned that the market sales of sugar oranges were large and the price was high. so they came back to mobilize the masses to transform the aging Hongjiang orange and plant sugar orange. At the same time, with the support of the county and township governments, a 200-mu sugar orange planting demonstration base was developed. Zhang Guangke contracted 15 mu and was responsible for providing technical guidance to growers. "although my life is rich now, a person is not rich when he is rich, but only when the villagers are rich." Zhang Guangke's sincere and simple words deeply moved everyone present.

Since 2000, Zhang Guangke has successively contacted 12 poor households in the village as his object of poverty alleviation, helped them find suitable projects for development, and taught them new techniques for planting fruit trees free of charge. Today, under the influence and drive of Zhang Guangke, there are 87 farmers growing fruit in Shanglatun, with a total annual fruit output of more than 2600 tons and an output value of 3.1 million yuan. With fruit alone, the annual per capita income of Shanglutun people amounts to more than 4000 yuan. As a result, Shanglatun is also known as a banner of industrial structure adjustment in pingguo County, and has become a well-known fruit village.

Zhang Guangke (first from right) teaches the planting technology of sugar orange. Photo taken by Huang Jia