Developing smart agriculture, helping farmers increase incomes

Deng Difang was born in Conghua, in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing from George Fox University, in Newberg, the United States, in 2015. After that, she returned to her hometown to start an agricultural business. "As I was born into a farmer's family, I should actively respond to the nation's call for rural revitalization, serve my motherland with my knowledge and lead farmers to better lives," Deng says.

During her studies in the US, Deng visited farms in several agricultural states in the US. Inspired by her parents' rose garden, Deng decided to make a career, in her hometown, of growing oranges that smell like roses. She has introduced foreign citrus varieties, and she has made innovations, in terms of planting, business model and technology.

She planted the citrus varieties she imported from Israel, and she used rose petals from her parents' rose garden to make bio-organic fertilizer.

Deng also adopted an intelligent water and fertilizer integration system, intelligent material transfer system and intelligent data processing (remote monitoring and control) system to realize modern, standardized planting.

In the orange garden in Aotou Town, crawler-type conveyors are used to carry fruit and other materials, a three-dimensional drainage pipeline system has been installed to irrigate, fertilize and spread pesticides on the plants, and drones are flown to monitor the garden in real time. The application of new technology saves labor costs, and greatly improves work efficiency.

During the first harvest season, Deng used online and offline channels, including supermarkets and various social-media and e-commerce platforms, to promote the oranges and raise brand awareness. At the end of 2017, the first batch of oranges, weighing more than 300 tons, sold quickly. Deng earned more than 1 million yuan ($153,846).

The oranges have proven to be popular with consumers, many of whom have said the oranges are "very sweet and fragrant." Compared with each other, the oranges almost have the same aroma, sweetness and shape and size. That is the result of standard-quantitative production.

Deng has adopted a business mode that connects her company (cooperative) with both the production base and farmers. She and the farmers established a cooperative in 2019, and that cooperative has since led 350 households in planting orange, lychee and other fruit trees. Their production base helps nearly 10,000 farmers find employment each year, and the fruit farm's employees earn an annual income in excess of 36,000 yuan (US $5,538).

In February 2020, Deng donated oranges to medical workers in Guangzhou, to thank them for their efforts in combating COVID-19. Zhong Nanshan, a leading respiratory disease expert and head of China's COVID-19 expert team, said the oranges were very sweet, when he expressed appreciation for the support from enterprises, during a news conference on February 18, 2020.

From an overseas returnee to a new farmer, Deng has always relied on new technologies, new ideas and new thoughts to develop modern agriculture. She has won a national rural innovation and entrepreneurship award, and she has also been honored as a Guangdong March 8th Red-Banner Holder. In 2022, she was selected a national new woman farmer by the ACWF and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Deng not only focuses on planting oranges, she also pays special attention to the integrated development of the secondary and tertiary industries. She has cooperated with Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences to develop deep-processed products, such as orange extract, orange-flavored pastries and orange juice.

In 2020, she developed the orange production base into UMIZZ Orange Planet, a pastoral complex that integrates agriculture and tourism. Tourists can eat and pick oranges and enjoy themselves on the site. Today, UMIZZ Orange Planet, as a provincial leisure agriculture and rural tourism demonstration project, has become a popular rural tourist destination among young people, and families with children.

Deng has provided educational training to women, to help them improve their ability to find jobs or start businesses. To date, Deng has helped more than 1,000 rural women find jobs.

This year, Deng and her team began developing prepared dishes made from oranges, such as orange soup.

As a new farmer, Deng says her biggest hope is to achieve greater success in her career, and, in doing so, lead farmers to better lives and to make a contribution to rural revitalization. "I couldn't have gotten where I am today without my parents' experience and unconditional support," she says.

Deng believes the development of agriculture and rural areas must rely on advanced science and technology, which can alleviate farmers' burdens and mobilize more farmers to strive for better lives and rural revitalization. "I hope to develop smart, modern agriculture through innovation of science and technology, and lead farmers to start their own businesses and realize common prosperity," she says.

Photos Supplied by Deng Difang

(Women of China English Monthly July 2022 issue)