Shanghai Daily News

Shi Caiying, a farmer "scientist," has discov-ered a new method to increase her annual tomato harvest in Chongming County despite having a  limited education.

Shi, who had only eight years of formal education, has become a leader in the island community for teaching farmers about the latest tomato-planting technologies.

"It has been a long path of exploration and adventure," the 49-year-old island native said. "What we are producing now is the result of our experiments in planting over the last 17 years."

Many years ago, Shi and her husband, Huang He'an, were producing about 2,000 kilograms of tomatoes annually on their farm. The couple then began a series of experiments in an attempt to increase their yield and to make the tomatoes grow better. This went on for eight years and resulted in numerous failures. However, they achieved a breakthrough last year and now produce about 6,000 kg of the vegetable annually.

The couple's small farm covers about 4.5 hectares near their house in Nanhai Village. At the beginning, they planted various kinds of vegetables such as beans, hot peppers and cabbage. They gradually found, however, that those types of produce could not fetch a decent price at the market. With that in mind, they turned to tomatoes.

"Tomato is a kind of vegetable which is relatively easy to grow," Shi said. "However, it only grows once a year ordinarily. I said to my husband that we should find a way so that we can produce crops many times over a single year."

With that in mind, the couple went to the library and began to study many different books on agriculture and farming. By day, they did their farming while at night, they studied books to learn information about the plant's growing period.

They also visited with plant experts and explained their difficulties. They shared their new ideas about planting tomatoes.

Traditionally, tomatoes are planted in October. The growing period lasts five months and the vegetable is harvested in March.

With their new-found knowledge, Shi and her husband decided to experiment. They wanted to find out if the plant could bear fruit again after its first harvest. Tomato plants traditionally die after producing once.

In their experiments, the couple picked the plant clean of its fruit and then fertilized to protect the stalk from bugs.

Shi said timing was very important for the re-growth as the plants needed to be sprayed with insecticide in the days following the first harvest. If this wasn't done, the plants would soon die.

Over a period of eight years, they repeated the procedure of re-growing nearly 100 times. Last year, the couple received a big surprise when they discovered the ideal schedule was 10 days.

"Because of the changing climate, it's better to do the procedure 10 days after the first harvest," a delighted Shi said.

Last year, the couple realized two big harvests. The re-grown tomatoes are bigger and much more red than the first crop. This new technology has brought the couple about 70,000 yuan (US$8,750) annually, twice as much as previously.

With their surprising discovery, the farmer couple has became famous in the county. Many people, including some from other provinces, came to ask Shi about their secret.

Shi tells them about her experiments and even helps them with their farm work for free. Currently, most of the county's farmers have increased their income because of the discovery.

With her great success, Shi made up her mind to devote herself to experimenting with other kinds of vegetables.

"I want to make the plants grow several times a year, so that the farmers can increase their yields and income each year. That's the most important thing for me."