In the sunflower planting base, villagers were busy weeding in the field. 

 

As a drought-tolerant extensive crop, sunflower not only has a strong ornamental value, but also can bring considerable economic benefits.

 

Sunflower seeds have high oil content and can be fried to make a leisure snack or extracted for oil, which are in great demand on the market. 

 

 

 

Mentou Village is located in the northeast of Wanshui Township. It was originally a provincial-level poor village because of steep terrain and barren land.

 

After study and investigations, the village decided to plant sunflowers on a large scale to develop the collective economy of the village. 

 

 

To consolidate and expand the achievements made in poverty alleviation in coordination with the extensive drive for rural vitalization, with the financial support of related units, the village government transferred more than 80 mu (about 5.3 hectares) of idle land to develop the village collective economy, which created more than 60 job opportunities and achieved an annual income increase of 6,000 yuan per capita. 

 

The sunflowers not only add different scenery to this land, beautifies the appearance of the village, improves the rural living environment, but also creates a new channel for farmers to become rich. 

 

Deng Bowen, first secretary of the village said that next, the village will continue to explore suitable industries, make the existing oil-tea forest, ginger and sunflower industries stronger, to break the bottleneck that restricts the industrial development.