Business opportunities for leisure agriculture sniffed out in coffee

The king of mushrooms became the "director" of the coffee garden.

Huang Wenguang, the king of mushrooms, has created the largest production base of Pleurotus eryngii in the province, which is nothing new. When he said that his greatest wish was to build a big coffee estate so that coffee lovers could drink coffee under the coffee tree, it sounded a little puzzling. From Pleurotus eryngii to coffee beans, Taiwanese businessman Huang Wenguang made a wonderful U-turn.

The experience of spending a weekend in Gukeng Township, Yunlin County, made Huang Wenguang lamented that the ancient pit had changed from a "rural land" into a "city that never sleeps." Since the first Coffee Festival was held in Gukeng Township in 2003, Gukeng tourism has become very popular. Small cafes and farm hotels have attracted a large number of tourists, which inspired Huang Wen to build a leisure tourist attraction with coffee culture as the theme. He brought several Arabica coffee seedlings from Gukeng to the town of Nankeng in Nanjing for trial planting. Practice has proved that the climatic conditions of Nanjing without severe cold in winter and hot summer in summer are very suitable for coffee growth.

What finally made Huang Wenguang make up his mind was the success of the Tulou application in 2008. Nankeng is a necessary place to go to Nanjing Tulou. Watching the increasing number of tour buses passing through their homes every day, Huang Wenguang thought that if one in 10 people could stop and come in to have a rest, wouldn't it be a great business opportunity! But what does it take to attract tourists to stay? The strong aroma of coffee, of course. At the end of 2008, Huang Wenguang invested 5 million US dollars to set up Zhangzhou Tianlu Coffee Food Co., Ltd., built more than 300mu coffee garden, including 100mu for sightseeing, 200mu for plantation, and successfully registered the trademark of "Nankeng Coffee".

The first coffee museum in the province

"growing coffee is different from growing vegetables. You can't sell it as soon as it blossoms and bears fruit." Huang Wenguang said that the coffee industry chain is very long, from planting, roasting to sales, no link can be careless. In order to ensure the quality, he specially invited people from the Dongshan District of Tainan, the famous coffee hometown on the island, to guide the whole process. Driven by Huang Wenguang, there are now 400 farmers growing coffee in Nankeng Town, covering an area of 600 mu, with an annual output of 2 tons of coffee beans and a net profit of 10,000 yuan per mu.

Huang Wenguang said: at present, the tourist park has 600 visitors a day, and coffee beans are in short supply, and the annual income of coffee beans alone is 800000. "after the launch of the Gabi Mountain coffee brand in Gukeng, it led to the hot sale of Gukeng coffee, and soon made the surplus of the supply and marketing department of the local peasant association the champion of the whole Taiwan peasant association," says Huang Wenguang. His next top priority is to expand and standardize planting and build the "Nankeng Coffee" brand.

In November last year, the province's first coffee museum was opened in his coffee garden. There are all kinds of coffee pots, coffee beans, coffee roasters and so on. Visitors can learn about the history, culture and production technology of coffee here, and make a pot of freshly ground coffee by themselves. Today, the coffee garden has also opened up dining areas, camping areas, and planted large tracts of lavender. Huang Wenguang plans to build a slippery meadow and cabin area in the future. "after seeing the tulou, tourists do not have to rush back to the city. They can live here, have a cup of coffee and watch the sunset."

Take the coffee festival to Taiwan.

In order to develop and strengthen the coffee industry, under the influence of Huang Wenguang, Nankeng Town actively docked with coffee towns such as Gukeng and Dongshan in Taiwan. In 2009, Nankeng Town and Gukeng Township of Yunlin County signed an agricultural cooperation agreement to introduce improved varieties and planting techniques of Taiwan's Gukeng coffee. After that, Nankeng Town docked with the Dongshan District of Tainan, and the two sides discussed to carry out in-depth cooperation and exchanges in the coffee industry.

In October last year, Nankeng Town successfully held the first Cross-Strait (Nanjing) Coffee Culture Festival, further strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan's coffee industry. At present, the coffee industry in Nanjing has been included in the development plan of the modern agricultural cooperation park on both sides of the Taiwan Strait (Nanjing, Fujian). This year, Nankeng Town is actively planning to hold the second Cross-Strait Coffee Culture Festival in Dongshan District, a township opposite to Taiwan, to promote Nankeng Coffee to Taiwan.

Huang Wen-Kuang says that in Taiwan's Gukeng Township, the Taiwan Coffee Festival, which is becoming more and more popular year after year, has brought business opportunities of more than NT $1 billion to Gukeng Township. The purpose of holding the coffee festival is not only to boost popularity, but also to contribute to the accumulation of local coffee culture. It is hoped that with the holding of the Coffee Festival and the exchange of guests, the coffee in Nankeng will have a more humanistic flavor.