A small piece of "sweet potato" has developed into an industry, and one enterprise has brought nearly 700,000 farmers on the road to wealth. Through technological innovation, this traditional agricultural product that is not worth a few cents has quickly shed its "rusticism" , became a popular series of convenience foods. In Mianyang, Guangyou's entrepreneurial story is widely circulated among the people. Zou Guangyou, the nationally famous "fan king", has spent more than ten years turning his sweet potato processing enterprise from a small workshop to a leading domestic agricultural enterprise, relying on major technological innovations. The first technological innovation: He led the technical R&D personnel to develop white sweet potato vermicelli to solve the problem of blackening of the vermicelli in traditional processes; the second technological innovation: the invention of convenient sweet potato vermicelli to increase the added value of sweet potato products; the third technological innovation Innovation: The first alum-free fan, getting a "green" pass to enter the international market. There is no end to the road to innovation. Zou Guangyou's company has obtained 42 Chinese patents, including 8 invention patents. It is precisely the technological innovations that have increased the value of sweet potatoes time and time again.
"Technology" has increased the value of sweet potatoes by more than 40 times
Zou Guangyou, who graduated from Southwest Agricultural University, "went overseas" in 1992 and began to engage in scientific research and production of sweet potato starch and vermicelli processing. After 14 years of development, the Guangyou Sweet Potato Industry he founded has grown from a small business with assets of 5,000 yuan to a national agricultural industrialization leading enterprise with annual sales of 140 million yuan. He has also become a famous "fan king" in the country.
After four major technological innovations, the value of sweet potatoes has doubled continuously. Vermicelli turned from black to white; from vermicelli to convenient vermicelli; alum-free vermicelli was invented; whole potato nutritious vermicelli was launched. After injecting technological content, the price of convenience fans has become higher and higher, while the value of sweet potatoes has increased several times.
Zou Guangyou calculated an account for the reporter: 3 kilograms of fresh potatoes = 1 kilogram of whole potato starch = 12 bowls of whole potato instant vermicelli. From fresh potatoes to vermicelli, the value varies by more than 40 times. Because of the huge value-added space, Guangyou Sweet Potato Industry has driven more and more farmers to invest in the production and processing of sweet potatoes, adding more than 300 million yuan to potato areas across the country and adding nearly 100 million yuan in new profits and taxes.
A new path for industry to feed back agriculture
In May last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations listed Guangyou Potato Industry as the Chinese Science and Technology Demonstration Base of the International Potato Center. This is because Guangyou Potato Industry masters sweet potato deep processing technology with its own intellectual property rights. At present, Guangyou Potato Industry has obtained 47 national patents.
More importantly, Guangyou has also successfully explored a new industrial path to help farmers get rich. Guangyou regards the potato area as a "workshop without walls", and potato farmers are the workers in this workshop. Guangyou passed on its scientific research results to potato farmers, and the processing of one enterprise turned into millions of farmers participating in the processing. At the same time, Guangyou Potato Industry has long-term purchases of sweet potato starch from farmers, and the company and farmers have formed a community of interests.
This model has enhanced the continued vitality of Guangyou's potato industry industrialization, and at the same time brought nearly 700,000 potato farmers in more than 20 provinces, including Sichuan, Henan, and Hebei, on the road to wealth. Under the guidance of Guangyou Potato Industry, the yield of sweet potatoes per mu in the sweet potato area has increased from about 1,000 kilograms to more than 2,500 kilograms, and the income per mu has increased from 200 yuan to more than 500 yuan. Last year, Guangyou Potato Industry built more than 50,000 acres of potato bases in Mianyang and surrounding areas, driving an average annual income increase of 720 yuan for 50,000 potato farmers.
At present, in addition to its headquarters in Mianyang, Guangyou Potato Industry has also built factories in Nanyang, Henan, and Qinhuangdao, Hebei. It is understood that Guangyou Potato Industry is planning to establish multiple branches in other places in Hebei and in traditional sweet potato vermicelli production areas such as Shandong by adopting various cooperation methods such as joint ventures, cooperative operations, and OEM production with local governments or enterprises. In addition, Guangyou Potato Industry has also successfully sold Sichuan specialty foods to the North American market.