"Tudou King" Hou Xianxu

In Guocun Town, when it comes to potatoes, we have to mention Hou Xianxu. Hou Xianxu is skilled in potato cultivation, knows the market, and is good at marketing. His potato has high yield, large size and high price. Guocun people respectfully call him the "potato king".

In early 1995, Hou Xianxu, who graduated from the Agricultural Broadcasting School in Suiyang District, planted half an acre of potatoes with the help of Xiong Xiuchao, director of the agricultural technology promotion station in Guocun Town, produced more than 2600 jin and reaped a bumper harvest. At that time, the wheat was more than 40 cents per jin, with a yield of seven to eight hundred jin per mu. In that year, potatoes were more than 50 cents per jin, and the profit of growing one mu of potatoes was eight or nine times that of one mu of wheat. The impact of the money-making effect is huge-since then, the planting area of potatoes in Guocun Town has expanded year by year. By the year 2000, Guocun Town has become a major potato growing town in our city, attracting potato buyers from Shanghai, Guangdong, Hubei and other places to come for large-scale acquisitions.

Speaking of the decline in potato prices this year, Hou Xianxu said eloquently: "potatoes are vegetables, but also a commodity, price fluctuations are normal." In 2001, the price of potatoes across the country fell as sharply as this year, which was also more than 3 cents per jin, mainly affected by the increase in transportation costs at that time. In that year, the national inspection of truck overloading was relatively strict, and the cost of merchants increased by more than 40%, forcing the purchase price of Tudou down. The main reason for the decline in potato prices this year is that the financial crisis has affected potato exports. According to Guangdong merchants who bought potatoes, China's potato exports fell by nearly half in the first half of this year. Secondly, some small and medium-sized enterprises in the south have closed down in the first half of this year. Millions of migrant workers have lost their jobs and returned home, and the demand for potatoes in the south has also declined. In this way, in the case of external contraction and internal decline, the price of potatoes in Guocun Town has also come down. "

In the face of the impact of the financial crisis on the potato industry in Guocun Town, the town party committee and the town government actively responded by providing guidance and help to farmers in potato production and sales. From the beginning of this year to April, Guocun Town organized more than 200 members of the "Potato Association" in Suiyang District to teach potato planting knowledge in every village in the town. In terms of sales, Guocun Town has repeatedly organized 50 potato sales brokers in the town to contact non-local buyers through various channels such as telephone, mobile phone text messages, and the Internet, to ensure that potato growers do not worry about selling potatoes.

Liu Zhongrun, secretary of the party committee of Guocun Town, told reporters: "the potato industry in Guocun Town has grown into a mature industry to adapt to the market." Now, farmers interplant spring corn (or chili peppers) in potato fields, grow cabbage after corn harvest, and spinach after cabbage harvest-so that they grow four crops a year. This year, potato farmers in Guocun Town can earn more than 2000 yuan per mu of land, which is still about double that of 'wheat stubble sticks and stick stubble wheat'. "