Man from north China's Hebei brings prosperity to rural residents through flower planting

Li Jianyao, a 30-year-old man from Weixian county, Xingtai city, north China's Hebei Province, used to be a construction worker, but nowadays he runs a flower plantation in his hometown, earning a better life for himself while helping other villagers increase their incomes.

A salesperson arranges flowers in a gift box at a flower shop. (Photo/Zhao Guohua)

At Li's flower plantation, flowers are planted both in greenhouses and outdoors, which can guarantee a supply of freshly cut flowers to the market throughout the entire year.

The plantation produces more than 2 million freshly cut sunflowers, over 400,000 lilies, over 3 million daisies, and over 30,000 bunches of Solidago flowers, which have been sold to various places across the country, including Hebei Province, east China's Shandong Province, Beijing and Shanghai.

Li's business didn't get off to a good start at the beginning. "I invested more than 800,000 yuan ($114,900), but I lost most of the investment in the end," said Li. After figuring out the reason why he had failed and pulling himself together, Li started to import flower seeds from foreign countries, including the Netherlands and Japan, and that he started mainly growing sunflowers, supplemented by daisies, lilies, and Solidago flowers.

Li Jianyao checks on growth of sunflowers inside a greenhouse. (Photo/Zhao Guohua)

Li's flower plantation covers an area of 200 mu (13.3 hectares) and it is able to provide jobs for over 100 local villagers during harvest seasons. Besides, influenced by Li, other villagers in the locality have also planted flowers on over 200 mu of land.

According to Zhao Xiaofei, director of the bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of Weixian county, in recent years, the county has mobilized farmers to engage in a high-efficiency and characteristic planting industry, including flower planting, and planting of fruit trees, with the total area of land planted with fruit trees and flowers exceeding 200,000 mu. Thanks to this, more than 50,000 local villagers have found jobs near their homes and each of them can earn an extra more than 20,000 yuan in a year.

Li Jianyao checks freshly cut flowers. (Photo/Zhao Guohua)