Rural revitalization in action | Wuxi, Jiangsu Province: blooming and beautiful, activating the rural “beautiful economy”

The edible roses make the "food" enjoy themselves, the viewing roses make the tourists linger, and the beauty of the roses make the consumers love them… With flowers as the medium, Meiqi Village, Xushe Town, Yixing City, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, has built the entire industrial chain of edible roses, promoted the integrated development of the rose industry, and used the new technology of the Internet of Things and the new means of live broadcast and delivery to wade out a "fragrant" road to revitalize the countryside and activate the "beautiful economy" of the countryside.

"Flower economy" blooms in "soil"

Meiqi Village, with a total area of 4.4 square kilometers, is a plain polder area in the north of Xushe Town. Many years ago, because of the single village-level industrial structure and the lack of industrial projects, Meiqi Village was labeled as a "economically weak village" because of "people raising ducks in front of houses and chickens behind houses".

How to improve economic efficiency and lead villagers to become rich? Zong Huadong, secretary of the General Party Branch of Meiqi Village, believes that industrial revitalization is the key.

In 2016, Meiqi Village held the first Lantern Festival in Huatian, which started the exploration of industrial development. "Later, by chance, I learned that there are many kinds of derivative products of edible roses and there is a large space for development. So I tried my best to meet and introduce the experts who grow roses in Yunnan, so that Meiqi Village could embark on the road to change," recalled Zong Huadong.

Meiqi Village has many difficulties on its way to change, but it has not been difficult to revitalize the "dreamer". Without funds, Zong Huadong led the village cadres to "walk out of the iron feet and practice the golden tongue", and called for the investment of the villagers; Without skills, Zong Huadong and Xu Shezhen leaders went to Yunnan four times and invited Li Jie, the "expert" in rose planting; Without land, village cadres spent more than three months doing propaganda and resolving contradictions, concentrating on planting roses on the whole village land from point to face. In 2018, Meiqi Village also carried out village-enterprise joint construction in the form of "investor+technologist+village collective" tripartite cooperation, and established Yixing Chunmei Cultural Development Co., Ltd., which injected surging new momentum into the "beautiful cause". Through many "things out of nothing", thousands of acres of roses finally bloomed in Meiqi Village.

Rose beautifies the village and enriches the people. The "beautiful cause" of Meiqi Village has attracted more than 170 local villagers to participate in the flower industry, and has driven more than 500 "old farmers" to become "flower farmers" in the village and surrounding administrative villages, with an annual per capita income of more than 20000 yuan. Every time the edible rose picking season comes, the laughter in the flower field is endless. Speaking of the rose industry in the village, the old people are all happy, "I am old and can't do farm work, but this is not the same as picking flowers. I learn fast, and I am not too tired to work. I went with several old women to exercise, feel better, and the village will also pay wages."

It is understood that there are 1000 mu of edible roses and 23 mu of ornamental roses in Meiqi Flower Field. At present, the village can harvest more than 300 tons of high-quality edible rose raw materials, and nearly 200000 ornamental roses, with an estimated output value of more than 15 million yuan. "Flower economy" has brought good "money" to Meiqi Village, and "weak village" has become "model village".

Smart technology adds impetus to "beautiful economy"

Unlike the roses in other places, the roses in the Meiqi flower field are full of "technological content". In order to improve the quality and efficiency of rose planting, Meiqi Village has established an Internet of Things control system according to modern agricultural standards. There are 174 sensors and 77 controllers buried in the soil of the flower field. At the same time, several high-definition cameras are installed above the important nodes of the flower field to cooperate with the operation of drip irrigation and self-service feeding system.

"Through the 'intelligent brain' control, a round of drip irrigation can be completed automatically in more than 20 minutes, which used to take 15 people to spend 3 days." Jiang Yongbo, the head of the Internet of Things Control Center in Meiqi Village, said that efficient management means can set the first hurdle of product quality in the field, create a traceability mechanism, and achieve source control. "Every rose in Meiqi has an ID card to ensure that it has intelligence and quality."

The edible rose variety planted in Meiqi Village is "ink red". The flowering period can be extended from April to November. On average, 1 mu of flower field can produce 1 ton of fresh petals. The flowering period is long, the yield is high, and the quality is excellent. It has the conditions for industrial processing and production. In the automatic deep processing plant, several processing processes ensure the "fresh" quality of rose products. "Workers generally pick roses from the early morning to 9:00 a.m., and then send them to the cold storage for preservation. During processing, the automated production line of the sterile workshop will carry out processes such as cleaning and laser screening, and then use advanced low-temperature condensation extraction technology to make roses into a series of products." The relevant person in charge of the processing plant said that automatic production can "lock" the quality of roses to the maximum extent, Make the deep-processing products more competitive in the market.

Rose "opens" production chain

On the display shelf of Meiqi Village Gardening Center, there are a variety of rose derivatives such as freshly baked flower cakes, rose bud water, rose black tea, flower bud tea, rose paste, rose ultra-fine powder, etc. "Our flower cake has a very nice name, called 'morning flowers and evening food'," Zong Huadong explained pointing to the flower cake, "it means fresh roses picked in the morning, which can be tasted at sunset."

Zong Huadong said that these products are not only endowed with beautiful meanings, but also some are the "crystallization" of the cooperation between Meiqi Village, Jiangnan University, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other universities and institutes to carry out industry-university-research cooperation. Among them, the newly developed Meiqi edible rose fermented black tea has been patented and has been loved by consumers since its launch. In order to make the product go further, at the beginning of this year, Meiqi Village also tried to "test the ox knife", and tried two live broadcast with goods, exploring and opening up online sales channels.

During the holidays, the blooming sea of roses has also made Meiqi Village a "network red punch card". Rose fields, township roads, village lanes, amusement park areas… In the beautiful new Jiangnan villages, tourists are flocking to stop and take photos with the flower sea. Relying on the characteristic brand of "Meiqi Huatian", Meiqi Village will integrate the rose industrial park into the rural tourism to further extend the industrial chain of the rose industry and promote the integrated development of industries.

After several years of development, Meiqi Village has initially embarked on a path of industrial transformation and development of "characteristic leading, blooming Meiqi, emerging from nothing and diversified driving".

"Next year, we will further expand our product line and brand awareness." Standing in Huatian, Zong Huadong has new goals. He said that in the next step, Meiqi Village also plans to build a flagship store for product experience and create a store business model. At the same time, both online and offline channels will work together to form a "self-operated+agent" development model, so that the fragrance of Meiqi's roses can "float" further.

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