Chapter 359: Giving Face
If almost everyone knows about the largest plain in Sichuan Province, then far fewer people know about the second largest plain.
Panxi area, Anning Valley Plain.
It is known as the granary of southwestern Sichuan and is said to be ‘even if you stick a chopstick in it’.
It is also one of the key areas for the development of the western region. Around the valley, there are mountains gathering and vast mountain fields.
The relatively good light, water and heat resources also make this place the only place in Sichuan Province suitable for the development of south subtropical economic forests.
The lower reaches of the Jinsha River, Yalong River and Anning River Valley are rich in bananas, lychees, pineapples, mangoes, papayas, sisal, hevea rubber, etc.
Of course, the Panxi region is also one of the most suitable areas in the country for the development of jatropha, with hundreds of thousands of acres of wild jatropha resources.
This has also made this place a paradise for energy giants in the past few years.
Under the call of the policy, domestic and foreign energy giants announced that they would invest more than 20 billion in biodiesel in Panxi.
First, the British Solar Energy Group signed a cooperation agreement with Liangshan, planning to invest 4 billion yuan to plant 1 million acres of jatropha trees in Panxi to refine biodiesel.
Following this, the American Baker Hughes Company stated that it would invest US$1.6 billion to US$2 billion within 10 years.
Construct the world's largest biodiesel raw material planting base in Panzhihua - 3 million acres of jatropha trees and a 400,000-ton biodiesel refinery.
Subsequently, domestic energy giants joined one after another.
Huaxia Petroleum announced that it will cooperate with Sichuan Province to build a 5 million mu Jatropha energy forest base and a production base with an annual output of 100,000 tons of biodiesel.
Petrochemicals and CNOOC have also followed suit and increased their exposure to Yunnan, Guizhou, Hainan and other regions.
Suddenly, the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan regions set off a boom in biodiesel investment.
So much so that Jiahe, the latecomer, could not find land and had to turn to Guangxi and Fujian provinces.
Times have changed, and now when I return to Panxi, it is difficult to find those giants who once made people excited.
First, the American company Baker Hughes disappeared, and then the British Sunshine Group also quietly exited the market, and the plans of several domestic giants were shelved.
Today, only hundreds of thousands of acres of planted Jatropha trees are still growing.
The abandoned Jatropha trees were left unattended and overgrown, and a large part of them died.
It has become a fact.
The bloodshed caused by Wang Dashan and other villagers only tore off the last fig leaf.
It didn’t even count as tearing apart, because it was too remote and the news was suppressed at the first opportunity.
Ordinary people simply don't pay attention to the news here, and they may not even know what jatropha is.
For people in the industry, this is tantamount to a major earthquake.
It was a chain reaction after the price of crude oil plummeted. In the end, those who were still persisting gave up the industry one after another.
Jatropha curcas in the south and Amaranthus esculenta in the north, private enterprises will exit without hesitation, let it rot!
Keeping the money in your pocket is the most important thing.
Three Barrels of Oil is also busy finishing the work. At least the central enterprises have taken on their responsibilities.
For the base that has been launched, the promised investment of 400 yuan per mu has been fully paid, but the remaining 300 yuan investment is the subsidy promised by the local government.
Three barrels of oil pipes are missing.
Liangshan, Huili.
Li Deming, who is in his 40s, is the person in charge of the local Mingsen Afforestation, Nursery and Forestry Company.
Over the past few years, he has planted more than 30,000 acres of jatropha trees.
Until this year, of the more than 30,000 acres of Jatropha trees, only 1,000 acres were bearing fruit. Even if they were bearing fruit, the yield was very low, and one tree could not bear a few fruits.
I originally expected that these "burning" jatropha fruits would bring huge amounts of money, but unexpectedly it turned out like this.
Fortunately, he is not a mortal either.
Li Deming came to the Forestry Bureau, knocked on the door and entered Director Guan Zili's office.
There were other people in the office, and Guan Zili looked like he had a headache when he saw Li Deming coming in.
"Sit down, Lao Li."
"Xiao Chen, make a cup of tea for Mr. Li, and then go about your business."
The tea is ready , when the person doing the work turned around and went out, he could still see Li Deming standing stubbornly.
"Guanju, when will Huaxia Petroleum's refinery be built? I really can't hold on anymore, I have no money."
"Now when I open my eyes every day, I think about where to make money. The annual labor cost is at least 500,000 yuan, not counting other maintenance and operating costs."
"Now the fruit is hanging, and there is no refinery. There is no way to get back any money."
"Tell me the truth today whether this refinery should be built or not!"
"It must be built!" Guan Zili pulled Li Deming, "Sit down and talk, Lao Li, have a sip of tea first."
"It was you who invited me to invest in the first place." Li Deming sat down, "Not for the sake of my long-time comrades in arms. , can I jump into this pit? ”
"I am now like this, full of debts, Guan Zili, you have to take half of the responsibility!"
Guan Zili also got angry.
"Hey, Mr. Li, now the blame is on me. Did the bureau miss you a point in the subsidy that should be given? I begged my grandpa and grandma to get it."
“I also went to grind the oil side. There are too few raw materials. It takes 3 tons of leprosy nuts to refine one ton of diesel. A 100,000-ton factory requires 300,000 tons of leprosy nuts. But do you have that many raw materials? ”
“Even Huili and the entire Panxi area cannot receive so many leprosy fruits.”
"Okay, let's be honest now. What we just said about building a factory was just to fool people, right?" Li Deming stood up angrily.
“Then I won’t harvest the fruit, and I won’t care about the Jatropha base. Foreigners can run away, but I can’t run away? If you dare, put me in Panxi Prison.”
The sound spread far away, and some people passing by took a look.
Guan Zili stared back, stood up and closed the door. When he came back, he changed his appearance.
“Let’s make a fuss, make a fuss as hard as possible, the louder the fuss, the better.”
"The tea is good. You are living a good life. You can make money just by sitting in one day. I still have to go to the mountains and wander around twice." Li Deming drank the tea leisurely.
"Once this incident came out, the state no longer had the energy to care about subsidies, right?"
Guan Zili said: "Now they are busy suppressing the murder case, and there is no one to subsidize them. Yes, but you can’t go too far.”
“One year?” Li Deming was not happy, “The labor cost will really cost 500,000 yuan!”
“ You can just find some people to do the honorable work. Besides, you have already received the 5 million yuan subsidy, and you still need this little money.”
Thirty thousand acres of jatropha trees, the investment in three years is calculated to be 12 million yuan.
The government subsidy is 5 million yuan, and the remaining 7 million yuan is also a loan Li Deming obtained from a bank.
But the actual money invested went through many layers of hands, and maybe only a third or a quarter landed on the land.
In addition to these, most of the surrounding Jatropha saplings are supplied by his company.
In short, Li Deming doesn’t know how much others have lost in this Jatropha energy forest project, but he must have made a lot of money.
If you want to make money, you really have to rely on poverty alleviation!
But Li Deming knew well that to end the matter properly, he had to rely on money, otherwise he would really have to go to Panxi Prison.
“Oh, those two foreign companies ran away too fast. They were still busy organizing the villagers to relocate, and then they disappeared without even saying hello.”
"It's hard on those villagers. Now some people have lost their houses, so Petroleum still has some conscience."
"Huaxia Petroleum came with the task of poverty alleviation." Guan Zili said: "Poverty alleviation is good. Ah, it’s just about poverty alleviation.”
Li Deming drank tea happily, "What should I do next? I'm thinking that this Jatropha base can make some more money."
Guan Zili thought for a while, "There are two directions."
“First, I’ll see if I can get more subsidy funds, and I’ll report it to my superiors to promote the start of construction of the oil refinery.”
“Second, can you contact me if there is anything else? Small factories and pharmaceutical companies buy leprosy fruits, or is there anyone willing to take over the base? "
"If it doesn't work, we can manage it for a year and a half and then abandon it."
Li Deming smiled and said: "I said it, but I didn't say it. Which fool is willing to take over now!"
...
Guisheng, Baise, Tiandong.
This is known as the hometown of mango, surrounded by mountains to the north and south, and a gentle and open basin in the middle.
To the north of the basin, there are also hills first, and then to the north are mountains with higher altitudes.
Jiahe's jatropha planting base is located in these mountains and hills.
A total of 100,000 acres, half of which was planted in spring, and the other half will be planted soon.
On a dirt mountain, Ding Yi, the general manager of the base, was inspecting the planting status of jatropha trees.
Far away he saw a familiar car driving up the hill.
“People from the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau are here again?”
The car was getting closer and closer, and Ding Yi quickly confirmed that it was the car from the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau. It came seven times this week, even on weekends.
Ding Yi was waiting on the side of the road. After the car stopped, a middle-aged man with sallow complexion stepped out.
"Hey, Director Huang, are you here today?"
"Mr. Ding, I feel more relieved when I see you here." Director Huang greeted with a smile.
Ding Yi curled his lips and said teasingly: "What? You are also worried that I will run away. I am so flattered."
During this period, what are the villages, towns, and counties most concerned about?
That must be whether the wages of migrant workers are paid on time and whether various project payments are in arrears. As for the rent, Jiahe pays it as soon as possible.
Huang Ju laughed and looked at the newly planted saplings.
"The saplings of yours are very good. They are sixty or seventy centimeters tall. They are professional seedlings. They can make things happen at a glance."
Ding Yi said: "Then Jiahe wants to continue to circulate the second tree. Neither the county nor the city approved the land grant.”
"Um..."
"We have obviously signed the agreement, but now we have to ask the chairman to come over for a trip. It is not easy for me, a part-time worker, to explain to the superiors."
"Mr. Ding, As you know, the price of crude oil is falling endlessly, and the production performance of jatropha in southwest China is not good. The jatropha project is generally not optimistic. Now all places are promoting eucalyptus. "
"If others are not good, it does not mean that we are not good. The Jatropha species in Jiahe are different and have high potential, and they can also prevent soil erosion. Planting eucalyptus in large areas will cause endless troubles!”
“That’s why the city agreed to continue the discussion”
< br>
The planned forestry land area in Tiandong is just over 2 million acres, of which only 1 million acres include newly planted fast-growing eucalyptus forest land.
There is still room for the development of Jatropha.
On September 25th, Guo Yang arrived in Baise.
In the hotel that night, Ding Yi introduced the situation here.
It is still the chain reaction caused by bioenergy thunderstorms in the Panxi area, and the local government is afraid.
Jatropha's lie was exposed.
The rise in crude oil prices is only an inducement, and what actually weaves this lie is the policy documents issued by some relevant departments.
In this document, the yield per mu of jatropha is exaggerated to 1000kg/mu, or even 2000kg/mu.
But in reality.
The trees that were put into production in the first three years only weighed tens of kilograms per acre, and the better ones only weighed more than 100 kilograms.
Although there are reasons such as management, tree species, short tree age, and investment environment, the actual yield alone is enough to extinguish the enthusiasm of all investors.
In Baise, and even the entire Guangxi Province, it is not the fruit that affects the planting of jatropha, but the eucalyptus.
September 26th.
Guo Yang led a team to the municipal government and signed a supplementary agreement with the city’s second-in-command in charge of economy and agriculture.
The main concern of the city is that the business will be in trouble and will fail in the future.
So I don’t want to give land.
But Guo Yang never thought about running away. After more than a year of development, the nursery base in Tiandong is about to enter the peak period of nursery production. The Jiahe Jatropha variety seed store gives an estimated yield of 1,500kg/acre, and the oil yield is more guaranteed.
But the saplings are still waiting for the ground to be planted.
In Baise, you can plant trees all year round as long as you don’t encounter a snowstorm like the one at the beginning of this year.
So now we need to race against time.
As for the agreement, as long as it is not too harsh, Guo Yang basically agrees.
We also agreed to establish a special account. For each batch of land, the corresponding planting fees and two-year management and maintenance fees will be credited into the account.
The cooperation method will continue to use land transfer in the future, and the method of company + base + farmers is not applicable in these places.
The transfer fee can at least be guaranteed.
Baise is a vast area with sparsely populated areas. In some districts and counties, the per capita mountainous area can reach more than 100 acres.
The entire amount is transferred to Jiahe, and the farmers’ annual transfer fee is at least several thousand yuan.
You can also earn income from working.
Not taking the risk yet.
Large-scale transfer is also a good thing for Jiahe, and funds are not a problem for Jiahe.
After calculation, one acre requires a one-time transfer of 800 to 900 yuan into the special account. 100,000 acres is 800 to 90 million yuan.
Not much pressure.
Of course, these are the most basic investments, and subsequent refining and processing are the bulk.
In fact, the policies and subsidies promised by the city have not changed, but some communication has been made about the business operations.
After receiving Guo Yang's personal promise, the city felt relieved.
Ding Yi, who was watching, felt that things were magical.
He has explained the chairman's words to the county and city over and over again, but he still always suspects that you might run away.
When the chairman came forward, his words were still the same, but the city's attitude had obviously changed.
"Dr. Guo, the city will definitely provide strong support for forest land. The city and county will be responsible for getting back the lost circulation time for you."
The city's second-in-command said loudly, But then the conversation changed, “When will the biodiesel refinery be built?”
"Construction will start in two years." Guo Yang thought for a while, "If the city has concerns, Jiahe can take the industrial land first."
"No, the city has no concerns now." The second-in-command said with a smile:
“To put it bluntly, if Jiahe’s saplings are planted, their survival rate will be about the same regardless of maintenance.”
“Even if Jiahe runs away, this tree will remain. It also reduces the city’s greening tasks.”
Guo Yang said with a smile: “One million acres will definitely be developed.”
"Okay." The second-in-command smiled and said: "In addition to Tiandong, Tianyang, Tianlin, Lingyun, Napo, etc., there are a lot of mountainous areas in Baise that can be developed."
Although the trip was in a hurry, Guo Yang felt This meeting was quite pleasant, and there were some great words.
“Leader, in a few years, Baise will have an additional tens of billions-level energy industry.”
“As for the eucalyptus trees all over the mountains and plains, if they are all developed into jatropha in the future, they may achieve higher results. The economic value of jatropha is higher than that of eucalyptus. ”
Guo Yang came to Guangxi Province in his previous life.
Look at Guizhou Province for Chinese eucalyptus trees, and look at Baise for eucalyptus trees in Guangxi Province.
The forest coverage rate of Baise in later generations reached 66.7%, and the forest area ranked first in Guangxi Province.
But most of them are eucalyptus.
The eucalyptus planting area in Guangxi Province reaches more than 40 million acres.
As soon as you enter the Baise realm, basically every mountain is covered by Eucalyptus fastensis.
The rapid outbreak stage has been in the past few years. Since the 11th Five-Year Plan, Sufeng Eucalyptus has been developed as a provincial key project, leading many districts and counties to take off the label of poverty.
However, eucalyptus trees are also called by some people as ‘trees that cut off their children and grandchildren’. During their growth process, they extract the fertility of the surrounding soil, resulting in the loss of soil fertility. They are also large water consumers.
Jatropha, on the contrary, has significant soil-fixing ability and a well-developed root system, which can prevent soil erosion, protect the soil, and reduce land degradation.
But now the people of Baise have tasted the sweetness of eucalyptus.
According to the thinking of many districts and counties, Stud is over. Anyone who doesn't want to give up will probably have to use his life to fill it up. This is what happens after eating meat.
To put it figuratively speaking, eucalyptus gave Baise hope of getting rid of poverty and becoming rich. In the investment industry, it was just a step away from going public.
Jiahe’s Jatropha is still in the venture capital stage, so the risk is very high and it may die at any time.
The city's second-in-command also ran through countless thoughts in a split second, but finally laughed and said:
"Okay, Mr. Guo's words are enough. , Baise will definitely support it”
"Then I take it seriously, leader."
Guo Yang waved to Ding Yi, and after he came over, they discussed some problems encountered at the grassroots level.
The main thing is about eucalyptus trees. Some local forces originally wanted to plant eucalyptus trees, and they had the Eleventh Five-Year Plan as a basis.
After the bioenergy thunderstorm, this idea became even stronger.
At the ordinary people's level, if wages, land rent or service fees can be paid on time, the problem will be solved.
But township and district and county departments need higher levels to come forward to do the work.
After hearing this, the second-in-command said: "Well, Mr. Guo, let's arrange a dinner in the city tonight. I'll call all the comrades from the district and county and let's talk about it together."
"Listen to the leader. Arrangement. ”
At the dinner in the evening, everyone exchanged drinks and exchanged glasses with each other in a happy manner.
To put it bluntly, the local government just wants to attract investment.
If a company can show real money, it is the greatest sincerity.
However, many people are still puzzled by Jiahe’s insistence on developing Jatropha energy forests.
"Three barrels of oil have been given up, why is Jiahe still rushing forward?"
"Plant eucalyptus trees, Mr. Guo, eucalyptus trees can really make money, and wood is also needed for national development. ”
Guo Yang listened to such persuasion several times throughout the night.
Baise has an excellent natural ecological environment and is an important ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Pearl River.
But Baise is now one of the key poverty alleviation targets in the country.
If you have no choice, planting eucalyptus trees is indeed the best way to get rid of poverty and become prosperous.
But now there is a better solution. Guo Yang believes that with the development of time, people here will embrace the Jatropha energy forest.
After the administrative matters were settled, Guo Yang, under the leadership of Ding Yi, saw the appearance of the Jatropha base for the first time the next day.
Surrounding the group are Jatropha trees ranging from tens of centimeters to over one meter high.
Row after row, they are arranged neatly, with 200 trees planted per acre, and the density is not low.
The transplanted Jatropha tree seedlings require no special management, the main ones are regular pruning and fertilization.
Sufficient soil fertility and good tree shape can greatly improve the growth of Jatropha and enter the fruit-bearing period earlier.
When it comes to fertilizing, Ding Yi couldn't help but say a few more words.
"For the trees planted in the spring, dozens of kilograms of base fertilizer were applied to each tree. However, in the second half of the year, the supply of organic fertilizers from the pasture stopped, so no base fertilizer was applied."
Guo Yang said lightly: "I told him to stop."
"Huh?"
Ding Yi remembered that applying organic fertilizer as base fertilizer seemed to have been suggested by his boss, and he suddenly became silent.
“We will overcome it for the time being and use some chemical fertilizers. The supply of organic fertilizers will be restored next year.”
Jiahe's base is a mountainous area with poor and degraded soil. It lacks fertilizer and is prone to drought.
But the rent is also cheap, dozens of yuan per acre.
It’s just right to be a pioneer.
Compared to the southwest, the trees here grow faster, which is perfect for leading the charge.
After staying in Tiandong for a long time, Guo Yang went to Zhangzhou, Fujian Province in the evening.
The face of Gui Province has been given, and the face of Fujian Province must also be given. He came out this time just to give face.
Fujian Province is known as having eight mountains, one water and one field. It is surrounded by mountains and faces the sea. It is one of the important forest areas in the country.
However, the main tree species are pine and fir.
During the wave of bioenergy in the past few years, it also appeared to be quite cautious and was the only province that carried out jatropha provenance experiments.
The planned area for planting Jatropha is only a few hundred thousand acres, concentrated in Changtai and Hua'an in Zhangzhou.
Jiahe’s planting base is in Changtai, which is also 100,000 acres.
When Guo Yang arrived in Zhangzhou, the price of crude oil had just fallen below 60 US dollars, which also made the city even less optimistic about Jiahe's jatropha energy project.
But fortunately, Fujian Province conducted provenance experiments, and Jiahe’s Jatropha species showed special characteristics during the nursery stage.
Fujian Province is a province with little coal, no oil, and no natural gas. The province has a certain emphasis on the energy industry.
So this trip went smoothly.
At the same time, we have also reached verbal cooperation with the Forestry Department in forest tree breeding research.
In addition to Jatropha, the native tree species Pistacia chinensis and Moringa oleifera in Fujian Province are also energy tree species.
The cooperation method is also simple. Jiahe provides money and the research institute provides personnel, and the total funding is only a few hundred thousand.
After the administrative matters were settled, I hurriedly went to the planting base to take a look, and then returned to the northwest without stopping.
Face has been given to the south, and even more face should be given to people in the northwest.
The calls from the city and provincial leaders came one after another, "Mr. Guo, are we still planting vines?"
"The following cities and counties have communicated well. Jiuquan, Zhangye, Wuwei, Baiyin, Qing Ten prefecture-level cities and counties including Yang, Pingliang, Tianshui, Longnan, Dingxi, and Lanshi are all interested. Jiahe can choose at will.”
“Whether you want 1 million acres, 3 million acres, or 5 million acres, You can have as much as you want!”
“Mr. Guo, haven’t you come back yet?”
Guo Yang: “I’ll be back soon”
Qin Lijun: "I asked, and they said you went to Fujian Province again. The leader asked me to ask you who is there in the south?"
"Or is it that the provincial policy is not in place?"
< br>"What is better about the south?"
Guo Yang: "..."
One needs to come to your door to give face, while the other wants to stuff things into your pocket.
Guo Yang felt the warmth of home.
Yeah, what’s so good about the south?
In other words, it has more solar and thermal resources, is closer to the consumer market, has convenient sea transportation, and has a more dynamic economy...it seems to have many advantages.
But there are many places in the northwest!
When people in my hometown hear the name Jiahe, they won’t have any doubts at all. You can do whatever you want with the land.
Listen to the names of this series of cities and take your pick!
On the plane back to the northwest, Guo Yang was thinking about the location and scale of Wengguanguo.
Asparagus has an advantage over Jatropha.
In addition to biodiesel, it can also produce highly recognized products such as high-end vegetable oil and tea.
At the same time, A. elegans is also a tree species used to prevent and control desertification in the northwest. It has both economic and ecological benefits.
If you want to do it, then do it in a big way all at once.
(End of this chapter)