In recent years, in addition to improving cold chain facilities for the storage and preservation of vegetable products, Helan county, in Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has also gradually supplemented the vegetable cold chain, reduced the loss of vegetables and logistical costs, and promoted more export-oriented products to follow a standardized and market-oriented development path.
Famer picks broccoli in a field [Photo/ chinadaily.com.cn]
At the end of September, in Lanxing village, Ligang town, Helan county, Ningxia, famers are busy picking broccoli. "This variety of broccoli can be eaten without cooking. In the supermarkets of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the price of 'Yinchuan broccoli' is two to four times that of broccoli from other regions," said You Xiangfeng, the "expert" from Taizhou, Zhejiang, who has been working on vegetable variety research. This variety of broccoli is the one that he cultivated to have a "cold resistant ability."
"We have planted broccoli for 5 years, and the quality of the vegetable has improved. This is a result of the farmers pressing the leaves into the soil with a roller after picking the broccoli to increase the organic matter of the soil, making it more fertile and nutritious. This vegetable does not absorb soil nutrients like some other crops - the more of which you plant, the poorer the soil will be. Therefore, the the broccoli industry is strong, and employment is stable for the local people." said Ma Jinbao, a local famer from Helan.
In 2015, Ma and his partners established the "Helan Ligang Xinyuan Vegetable Production and Marketing Cooperative", and he became chairman of the board. Over the past seven years, the planting of broccoli in the cooperative has grown from 1,400 mu to more than 30,000 mu. During the harvest season, 600-700 workers are employed each day to pick broccoli. More than 9,000 tons of broccoli is provided to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Famers pack broccoli in a field [Photo/ chinadaily.com.cn]
The broccoli base is only one of the six special industries in Ningxia. Helan county, as a major vegetable-planting area in Ningxia, has natural advantages and development potential to cultivate agricultural products that prefer colder climates.
Ding Shutao, the director of the Helan Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, pointed out that the government has encouraged local famers and agricultural enterprises to build vegetable processing plants and cold storage facilities, improving the risk resistance of agricultural products by completing the industrial chain.