At the pesticide sales outlet of the plant protective station of Haiyan county that is operated by Shen Weizhong, we can see a lot of fruit packaging boxes imprinted with Chinese characters “Fengxiang” piling up here and there. “Fengxiang” is a registered trademark for grape products since 2011. "Here’s a free distribution centre where farmers can bring their own grapes and make a fair deal with purchasers every year at the harvest season". Shen Weizhong said, revealing shrewdness in his eyes as a typical Zhejiangnese. He added, "Of course, I can also make some money by selling fertilizer here."
20 years ago when people rush to squeeze into township enterprises to work, Shen Weizhong dug a pond covering 2 mu in his own contracted field and began raising bullfrogs. A year later, to promote the bullfrog raising industry, the township government set up a collective bullfrog raising base. Hearing this, he ran to sign up and join the base. In 1992, a contracting business model was adopted by the raising base, and with an entrepreneurial zeal, he contracted for 12 mu of bullfrog raising ponds. In order to create a cool and humid environment for the bullfrogs, Shen Weizhong planted grapes on the ridges around each pond. When the grape leaves grew and spread, the ponds look like a vineyard from afar. He carefully raised the bullfrogs, and at the same time, he also carefully tended to his "vineyard".
Just as the old saying goes, “a watched flower never blooms, but an untended willow grows”, the bullfrog market was not promising, and he did not gain much from the bullfrogs, but over the next year, the revenue from grapes brought him a surprising net income of RMB 18,000. The revenue was 4 to 5 times more than the salaries of the workers in the township enterprises. Since then, Shen Weizhong has decisively abandoned bullfrog raising and begun seeking his fortune in the grape industry.
"Grapes are drought-tolerant plants, so they are susceptible to fungal diseases when grown in the hot and rainy south region," explains Shen Weizhong, who has begun using climate control systems. In his grapes test garden, one can see greenhouses, drip irrigation, and other modern agriculture environmental controls everywhere.
Apart from this, Shen Weizhong also attaches great importance to the introduction and updating of various grape varieties. Fujiminori grape, Zuijinxiang grape, and Red Globe grape are three top varieties in his grape fields. Due to high quality grape varieties and his leading cultivation techniques, the average production value per mu between 2010 and 2011 reached over RMB 20,000, achieving a net income of RMB 15,000 per mu. Especially in the cultivation techniques of the Red Globe grape, he has successfully explored a set of cultivation models, featuring flower volume control, stable yields, early maturity promotion, and sugar content improvement. This model has greatly improved the grape quality, with the market wholesale prices reaching RMB 15 per kg. Thanks to pre-maturity stimulation technology, the grapes mature earlier, thus avoiding the possible impact from an August or September typhoon, which are common in this region. Therefore, since 2009, his highest production value per mu reached over RMB 30,000 for 3 consecutive years, with the highest net income reaching RMB 25,000 per mu, far surpassing his peers. Recently, his grapes have received certification as national pollution-free agricultural products, becoming a demonstration base for green agriculture. The grape planting area has also expanded from 1,000 mu in the preliminary stage of the cooperative to nearly 2,000 mu, with the average net income reaching RMB 15,000 per mu.
"I recently began a joint venture with two Italians. They invested in a leisure agriculture zone in Jianning, Fujian, which covers an area of 2,500 mu. They intend to build villas, race courses, and grow grapes and other fruit for vacationers to enjoy. This year, they purchased 100 mu of seedlings from me, as well as fertilizer and cement columns used for building the structures," said Shen Weizhong as he showed us his transaction records that had been completed through WeChat on his phone.
Master Farmer believes that teaching and learning are interlinked.
"I find my studies in the OUC to be very helpful, and I learned a lot there." Hearing that we have come from the OUC, Shen Weizhong repeatedly expresses his gratitude for the OUC. He adds, "For example, benefiting from the course Practical Management Basics, I find my management skills have improved, and my marketing capability has also improved through the course Marketing..." He is hardworking and can always put theory into practice. In 2011, he was awarded "Outstanding Student Cadre" by Haiyan School, and in 2012, he was recommended as one of the candidates for "Top Ten Farmer College Students" in Zhejiang Province.
20 years ago, Shen Weizhong left the bullfrog raising farms and came back to the village and contracted 10 mu of land to grow grapes. Then his grape land was gradually expanded to more than 20 mu. He first experiment on the main variety Fujiminori grape that is also called "Ping-Pong grape". But at that time his educational background was limited and he had only attended junior middle school. As he began growing grapes, he realized that his knowledge was insufficient. In order to promote the quality of the grapes, he participated in the grape cultivation technique training provided by Yang Zhiyuan, who is responsible for providing technical guidance from the Agricultural Science Institute of the Rural Economic Bureau of the County.
Shen Weizhong recalled clearly, "Since the establishment of the cooperative in 2008, President Feng of Xitang workstation of Haiyan School came to persuade me to go to the school." He added, "The development of the cooperative requires us to be equipped with more management knowledge, so I went for the major of Township Enterprise Management. Since then, I studied at home reading books and went to the workstation to participate in online learning on a regular basis. With the help of the teachers, my computer skills have greatly improved, and I learned how to use multimedia courseware."
"Where ever there was someone whose grapes grew well, with high yields, good quality, and high prices, I would personally pay a visit to them and learn from them." He continued to implement the things he was learning. Eventually he mastered the whole scope of grape cultivation management technology and became an expert in viticulture.
He gradually became famous for his grape cultivation skills, and many institutions outside his county or even province have invited him to give guidance on grape cultivation. In the past two years, he has been invited to Haining, Tongxiang, Jiashan, and Ninghua of Fujian Province to pass on his cultivation experience. "Xitang workstation has, in turn, hired me to work as a part-time teacher to teach grape planting," he said proudly.
“Great Leader” guides the public to get rich.
During the interview, a farmer from Henan Province came to consult with Shen Weizhong, holding a sick grape seedling in his hand, asking "are the grape seedlings frozen because I forgot to cover the greenhouse?”
Every day, many farmers come to consult on grape planting, and he receives them with great hospitality, offers guidance for free, and often visits their fields personally to give instruction. Under his support and guidance, many people are also gradually growing rich.
In addition, in order to better implement scientific cultivation and improve quality, in 2008, eight major cultivation farmers represented by Shen Weizhong collaborated to establish Xitangqiao Fruit Cooperative and attracted 101 local and nearby farmers to participate in the cooperative. Shen Weizhong was elected as Chairman of the Cooperative. Since the establishment of the Cooperative, he has begun to focus on how to improve the quality of grapes of the region, how to build and expand its brand, and how to improve the revenue of the cooperative’s members.
To disseminate advanced agricultural concepts and technology to the members, Shen Weizhong opened training courses at home. In the second half of 2009, under the support of Adult Education of Xitangqiao School, the training courses were moved into the multimedia classroom. He actively mobilized members to participate in the training courses of the School. In addition to inviting experts inside and outside of the county, he himself also gave lectures and shared his grape planting experience. The training contents include introducing new technology in grape cultivation, promoting new varieties, pollution-free agricultural production technology, and market management knowledge. Through the training, the cultivation technology of the members continues to mature, their enthusiasm for planting is growing, and the cooperative continues to reach new heights.
From 2009 to 2011, Shen Weizhong was successively selected to be Advanced Individual of Haiyan County Grape "Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand," Project, Advanced Individual of Haiyan County Grape "Ten Thousand Mu, One Hundred Million Yuan" Project, and Model Household of Jiaxing Rural Science and Technology. Even with these honors, he is never content with his current achievements. When new opportunities opened up with the government's recent promotion of "land conversion" in the rural areas and the development of modern agriculture at the end of 2014, he expanded his grape planting area by 100 mu, reaching 120 mu, and launching his second business start-up.
A photo of Shen Weizhong and teachers from the OUC and Zhejiang RTVU
By Yu Minsheng, the OUC