Potted ornamental vegetables gain popularity among residents in Mancheng District, Baoding
[Introduction·China Vegetable Network]In the coldest days of winter the wind is biting cold, yet inside the vegetable greenhouses of Hefa Agricultural Cooperative in Mancheng District, Baoding, it feels like spring. On row upon row of neat steel frames, colorful potted vegetables have become a beautiful sight, and residents from Baoding and surrounding districts and counties come one after another to sightsee and take photos as souvenirs.
On the 11th, in the coldest days of winter the wind was biting cold, yet inside the vegetable greenhouses of Hefa Agricultural Cooperative in Mancheng District, Baoding, it felt like spring. On row upon row of neat steel frames, colorful potted vegetables became a beautiful sight, and residents from Baoding and surrounding districts and counties came one after another to sightsee and take photos as souvenirs, and bought pots of bitter chicory, rapeseed greens, celery, Panax notoginseng and others to take home to admire and taste.
According to Liu Tiejun, head of vegetable sales at Hefa Agricultural Cooperative, in order to raise its profile, the cooperative used internet and WeChat promotion and carried out promotional activities such as getting free vegetables by liking posts on WeChat. At present, residents visiting and buying vegetables come in an endless stream, and sales are extremely brisk; in just a few days more than 2,000 pots of potted ornamental vegetables were sold, and this year facility vegetables ushered in a good start by changing their sales approach.
Liu Tiejun said the cooperative will also sell its own tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and other vegetables, along with various coarse grains, sesame oil, free-range farm eggs and other specialty agricultural products, as a “package”, building a green food chain from “field” to “dining table”, to provide convenience for group purchasing by work units and convenient home delivery for families.
Speaking of the “golden ideas” for sales, cooperative president Wang Yanhui said: “This year's severe smog affected the output of flatland greenhouses, so we launched a series of distinctive ‘potted ornamental vegetables’, which not only let residents bring green, ecological, reassuring vegetables home, but also let them enjoy the pleasure of planting and harvesting.”
Hefa Agricultural Cooperative in Mancheng District was founded in 2012, covers an area of 1,130 mu, and now has 128 standardized steel-frame greenhouse sheds for strawberries and vegetables. At present, the free farmer training and technical service activities carried out in the park have driven more than 180 surrounding farming households, with a radiating total planting area of more than 1,700 mu, making it an important facility strawberry and vegetable planting base around Baoding.