In 2016, Xu Liqin, with many years of experience in doing business, saw many fertile fields left abandoned and a lot of agricultural products left unsold when she visited relatives in her hometown, Chujiang Town of Linwu County. 

 

“At that time, I thought that it would be great if I could do something for the villagers to help them fatten wallets,” she said.

 

She gave up the promising prospect of starting a business in Guangdong and chose to return to her hometown. After on-site inspections, she leased 600 mu (40 hectares) of wasteland in Xiacheng Village of Chujiang Town to plant vegetables and fruit. She established the Youpinyuan Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative to begin her business in her hometown.

 

Taro-scented pumpkins are a mid-early maturing variety. They prefer warmth and have strong disease resistance. Xiacheng Village, located in the west of Chujiang Town, with suitable climate and sandy soil, has natural geographical conditions for planting taro-scented pumpkins. 

 

In 2017, Xu Liqin began large-scale cultivation of taro-scented pumpkins. Due to the lack of experience in planting and technical management, she invited experts to the base for guidance and participated in agricultural technology training courses. She also visited other planting bases multiple times to learn experience. 

 

 

After unremitting efforts, the taro-scented pumpkins planted by Xu Liqingenerated revenue in the first year.

 

In 2020, in order to promote the development of “one village, one product”, Xu Liqin, together with Xiaoyantang Village and Gucun Village, hired relevant agricultural technicians at her own expense to give planting technology training lectures, established two taro-scented pumpkin planting bases, and was responsible for product sales.

 

In 2019, Xu Liqin also planted Linwu pomelo trees on a large scale. “We need to develop the fruit tree industry in mountainous areas based on local conditions. Linwu County mainly promoted Linwu pomelo at that time. Our plan is right in line with the local policy,” she said. 

 

As the director of the Nanling Mountain Citrus Research Institute and the leader of Linwu pomelo industry, Xu Liqin also reached out to the Chenzhou Municipal Agricultural Science Research Institute, provided a test base for the study on the “identification of self-incompatibility of Linwu pomelos”, assisted in revising the local standards of Linwu pomelos, promoted the standard production measures of Linwu pomelos, improved the quality of Linwu pomelos, in a bid to advance the high-quality development of Linwu pomelo industry.

 

Meanwhile, Xu Liqin also launched the Linwu pomelo and taro-scented pumpkin symbiotic planting project. “The intercropping of the two improves land use efficiency, and increases income,” she said.

 

Nowadays, the 500-mu (about 33.33 hectares) high-standard Linwu pomelo planting base and the 400-mu (about 26.67 hectares) vegetable base have been established, with an annual output of 2,000 tons of vegetables and 550 tons of pomelos. The cooperative has achieved an annual output value of 12 million yuan, with a profit of 1.3 million yuan. 

 

In 2019, the cooperative was recognized as an authorized enterprise for the “Xiangjiangyuan” vegetable public brand in Hunan Province. In 2020, it was recognized as a provincial-level industrial poverty alleviation cooperative. In 2021, it was recognized as a “vegetable basket” production base for the Guangdong-Hong Kong -Macao Greater Bay Area. 

 

Taro-scented pumpkins won the gold medal at the 2020 Hunan (Chenzhou) Vegetable and Fruit Industry Expo. Linwu pomelos won the gold medal at the 2023 Hunan (Chenzhou) Vegetable and Fruit Industry Expo, and obtained the China Green Food Certificate in 2023. 

 

In order to drive villagers to increase income, she has launched contract farming for farmers, with unified varieties, technical services, management, and procurement adopted, driving nearly 500 households to increase their average income by more than 6,000 yuan. More than 200 people have been offered jobs, with an average income increase of over 20,000 yuan per person.

 

“Next, we will promote our products nationwide to drive more farmers to boost income,” said Xu Liqin.

 

 

Chinese source: czxww