Wang Zhengguo was the former director of Yunnan Provincial Tropical Crop Science Research Institute. He was born in 1939 in Fengqing, Lincang, Yunnan Province. In 1962, he graduated from the Department of Biology, Yunnan University. Later, he was assigned to Yunnan Provincial Tropical Crop Science Research Institute in Xishuangbanna, and engaged in the research of new varieties of natural rubber. In 1989, he devoted himself to the development of Yunnan macadamia and went to the front line of seedling and cultivation. He was honored as the founder of the development of the Yunnan macadamia industry.

Wang Zhengguo

Wang Zhengguo never thought that the macadamia that he once planted would develop into a tight industry; his hometown of Yunnan would have the largest macadamia planting area in the world, and its total area was over the rest of the world. When talking about the macadamia, the 80-year-old man became excited and seemed to be hale and hearty. Although he had retired for many years, people who know him well still call him "the old director." Someone once said that the development of macadamias is a typical case that technology is transformed into productivity. Wang Zhengguo made a difference in every important period of macadamia development.

Macadamia

That Year, There Were Only 7 Macadamia Seedlings in Yunnan

    In 1981, in order to conduct academic observation and research, Yunnan Provincial Tropical Crop Science Research Institute, where Wang Zhengguo was located, introduced 12 macadamia seedlings from Hainan and only seven of them survived. At that time, for Yunnan people, the macadamia is just a term of academic research.

    In 1991, Dr. Ma Tiansong, President of the US-China Talent Exchange Center (CAPS) visited Yunnan Provincial Tropical Crop Science Research Institute and was surprised to discover that the macadamias in this institute are as good as the native Hawaii’s. "Can we cooperate with you? we provide technology, capital, talents, and we study the cultivation of the macadamia together ?" Dr. Ma Tiansong’s question made Wang Zhengguo happy.

    In the days that followed, the two sides exchanged ideas on how to carry out researches of the  macadamia cultivation in Yunnan. But no one would imagine that the seven seedlings in the institute, in the next few decades, was developed into an industry that affected the world in Yunnan Province.

   In 1993, Yunnan Provincial Government implemented the “18 Biological Resources Development Project” in the whole province. As one of the 18 biological resources development projects, the macadamia was planned to plant 30,000 mu in the province. Yunnan Provincial Tropical Crop Science Research Institute fully undertook the work of growing seedlings. As a specific executor, Wang Zhengguo was responsible for land selection and nursery in the province. At that time, the rubber industry was the economic pillar of Yunnan Province. How about the macadamia nut? No one knew it! No one wanted to provide land. Wang Zhengguo could just find a relatively flat small dam in the foothills to start the cultivation of macadamia, and all the work started from the land reclamation.

Wang Zhengguo

From 7 Seedlings to 30,000 Mu Seedlings, One Person Led The Team to 15 Counties

Seedlings were the first difficulty that must be solved in the development of the macadamia industry. However, there are varieties of macadamias. No one could say which variety was suitable for planting in Yunnan.

The only solution was to choose more than a kind of macadamia, to plant them in more than one area, to graft them and repeat these steps.

In 1996, Wang Zhengguo chose a piece of land in Mengding, Lincang. He decided to build the seedling base there. Due to the high demand for water and soil , the irrigation of 150 mu of nursery base became a new problem. Wang Zhengguo transferred eight technicians and two senior engineers from Yunnan Provincial Tropical Crop Science Research Institute, and pulled two large water pipes from Kunming for the watering system of the Mengding layout base. During the day, they reclaimed the land. During the night, they arranged the wires and pipes.They 10 people were busy working for several months to build 150 mu of seedling base.

Then, how can we complete the sowing work of 25 tons of seeds by these 10 people?

Wang Zhengguo found the county party secretary of Mengding County, and asked the secretary to mobilize the masses in the neighboring. He went to Zhenkang County to mobilize the masses. After several twists and turns, 25 local minority farmers were found to join in the work, and the sowing problem was temporarily solved.

The biggest difficulty was no food!

Mengding is located at the border of Yunnan. The weather was hot and food was scarce. The seedling base was 25 kilometers away from the county seat. At that time, the supplies of the base were from the Kunming belt. However, it took five days from Kunming to Lincang. In case of rainy days or road blockage, the supplies would delay longer and the food, such as meat and vegetables, would rot on the way. They could only eat the noodles and soy sauce in the base.

    "Sometimes there are no noodles,but we are so hungry. We could only catch bamboo rats!" Wang Zhengguo said.

    Under this condition, Wang Zhengguo worked four years and finally completed the construction of a 150-mu seedling base in Mengding County. From 1993 to2000, Wang Zhengguo led the team to travel through fifteen counties in Yunnan Province, led the construction of 30,000-mu macadamia seedling base and all of those laid the foundation for the take-off of the macadamia industry in Yunnan Province.

The Original Road Was More Muddy Than This.

Training The First Batch of Macadamia Professional Technicians for Yunnan

    Talent is another core element of industrial development. But at that time, no one could tell what  the macadamia nut was. Let alone the techniques of planting management of it. In 1996, Wang Zhengguo sent 20 people from the 25 minority farmers who participated in the planting of the Mengding base to Xishuangbanna for training and learning grafting and management techniques. These 20 people became the first batch of professional and technical personnel in the development of the macadamia industry in Yunnan Province.   

 Wang Zhengguo organized five training sessions and personally prepared the textbooks, invited Australian and national macadamia experts to teach the students, and explained the cultivation, grafting and management techniques of macadamia nuts. Until today, there are still some people from the training sessions working in the front line of seedlings and planting of macadamias in Yunnan.

     The first on the right：Wang Zhengguo

Postscript:

     In 2016, according to Yunnan Provincial Tropical Crop Science Research Institute, Yunnan became the largest area of macadamia planting in the world, accounting for 57% of the total area of macadamia in the world. The nut seedlings Wang Zhengguo planted in those days later became the key industry in the development of plateau characteristic agriculture and green ecological economy in Yunnan Province. With the support of the Yunnan Provincial Government and the dedication of the Yunnan nut industry colleagues, today's macadamia industry has become the precision poverty alleviation industry transforming science and technology into productivity. It has become the "money tree" and "get rich tree" for the local fruit farmers. At this time, Wang Zhengguo was 80 years old. At the end of the interview, Wang Zhengguo said: "I am worthy of my heart and won’t regret forever in my life."

The 8th International Macadamia Symposium has opened a registration channel for participants from all over the world. Click the picture below to enter the official website of the conference (www.ims2018.net) for more details.