China News Service, Yichang, December 30 (Dong Xiaobin, Wang Dengfu, Shi Jianfeng) "I hope I can use this'century sugar' to make everyone's life sweeter." Liu Wei, a young entrepreneur who returned to his hometown in Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province, on the 29th Say.
In the past 9 years, Liu Wei has produced and sold local specialty Yagu sugar with annual sales of over 15 million yuan, and has driven the surrounding villagers to increase their income and become rich.
In 2012, 27-year-old Liu Wei returned to his hometown of Wufeng to start a business, relying on his savings as a migrant worker, to produce and sell local characteristic Yagu sugar.
Yagu Sugar is a simple and authentic food with a long heritage of Tujia people, with a history of more than 100 years.
"When I was young, my family used to cook for me, which brought a different kind of sweetness to poor families," he said.
Liu Wei's annual sales of Yagu sugar exceeds 10 million yuan (data map) Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Yagu Sugar is processed from a crop with the scientific name of grain amaranth. In the early days of entrepreneurship, with the support of his family, Liu Wei solved the problem of the cultivation and planting of grain amaranth.
Because planting amaranth grains costs 1,000 yuan to 1,500 yuan per mu more than planting corn.
Driven by Liu Wei, nearby villagers began planting seed amaranth.
After solving the problem of seed amaranth planting, how to sell Yagu sugar became a problem again.
Liu Wei said that although Yagu candies are crispy and delicious, they are "difficult to be elegant". Not to mention in big cities, such as Changyang and Hefeng near Wufeng, there are almost no vendors selling them. .
Therefore, Liu Wei and his mother rented a van to introduce their own Yagu candies from door to door in the market town.
After achieving a "breakthrough" in the local area, he moved to major cities across the country to display Yagu sugar at various trade fairs.
After hard work, the reputation of Wufeng Yagu Sugar gradually opened up, and more and more customers cooperated.
Liu Wei relied on the cooperative to provide jobs (data map) Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In 2019, Liu Wei led the cooperative to implement the brand strategy. He explored the "cooperative + farmer + company" trinity industrialized business model. Based on the Yagu sugar, he explored and developed new products such as Yagu wine, and the product sales area is gradually Extending to "North, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen" and other places.
Today, Liu Wei's grain amaranth base has a planting area of 1,027 mu, with an annual output of 300,000 kilograms, and annual sales of Yagu series products more than 15 million yuan.
In addition, he also drove more than 200 farmers in the surrounding areas to plant amaranth, and provided more than 20 jobs relying on cooperatives.
On December 28 this year, the company founded by Liu Wei was listed in Wuhan Equity Custody and Trading Center.
As his career enters a new track, Liu Wei still maintains his enthusiasm and confidence, "I have always had a dream to make Wufeng Yagutang out of the mountains and into the world." (End)