Photo taken on May 31, 2024, shows Xiaomiaozi village in Songshan district of Chifeng city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Planting new future with herbal medicines

A village in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region is planting traditional Chinese herbal medicines to raise people's income and living standards.

From a specialized cooperative set up to plant the herbal medicines in Xiaomiaozi village in Songshan district of Chifeng city in 2014, the planting field has increased from 500 mu (33.33 hectares) to 2,000 mu in 2023. Last year, another 2,000 mu fields belonging to individual households also began planting the herbal medicines.

Now, the average comprehensive net income of the field per mu exceeds 5,000 yuan ($688), a tenfold increase in 10 years.

The herbal medicine variety expanded from a single platycodon grandiflorum to more than 10 varieties such as achyranthes bidentata, belamcanda chinensis, scutellaria baicalensis, and saposhnikovia divaricate.

Apart from expanding plantation areas, the cooperative also invested 8 million yuan to set up a factory to process these medicinal ingredients, improving the added-value of these products and also increasing employment opportunities for the villagers.

Zhao Huijie, secretary of the Party general branch in Xiaomiaozi village, Songshan district of Chifeng city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo by Zhang Jie/chinadaily.com.cn]

"Villagers can work flexible hours based on their time and strength to participate in herbal medicine processing," said Zhao Huijie, secretary of the Party general branch in Xiaomiaozi village.

For example, removing the platycodon grandiflorum peel can earn a worker at least 100 yuan a day.

The original ecological environment and green planting methods have made the quality of the medicinal ingredients recognized by many pharmaceutical factories, and the processed products have been exported to South Korea and Japan in recent years, Zhao said.

Photo taken on Sept 30, 2019, shows Ma'anshan forestry farm at Chifeng city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ma'anshan forest farm diversifies its economy
Through scientific afforestation, forest cultivation, and transformation of degenerated forest, Ma'anshan forestry farm in Chifeng city has achieved 6,800 mu of afforestation, 4,000 mu transformation of degenerated forest, and 12,000 mu of forest cultivation, forming a high-quality forest ecosystem that provides support for development of forestry economy and tourism.

The forest farm is actively developing the understory economy, experimentally cultivating forest fungus such as black wood ear fungus, hericium erinaceus, and pleurotus citrinopileatus, as well as medicinal and edible plants such as ginseng, providing new growth points for the local economic development.

Moreover, the farm has introduced a total investment of 800 million yuan for a tourist scenic area construction and a forest homestay project. After completion, the two projects are expected to attract an annual visitor visit of 500,000.

Photo taken on July 6, 2019, shows a car camping site at Ma'anshan village in Chifeng city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Integrating red wine industry and tourism projects

Relying on ecological advantages, Ma'anshan village in Chifeng city forged a development path led by rural tourism and mountain grape industry.

The village invested over 80 million yuan to establish a red wine manor that integrates mountain grape sightseeing, mountain grape beverages developing, red wine producing and selling, as well as red wine culture displaying.

Another two tourism projects, a car camping site and a knight shooting range, have been introduced to create a new experience for leisure and vacation.

By the end of 2023, the village welcomed at least 350,000 tourist visits.