Virus-free sweet potatoes help Guangshan farmers increase income and escape poverty

On June 20, 2017, members of the Tianbao Vermicelli Processing Professional Cooperative in Yinpeng Village, Yinpeng Township, Guangshan County, were weeding, turning vines and loosening the soil in a sweet potato field. The cooperative adopts a "cooperative + farmers + base" model, vigorously developing virus-free sweet potato cultivation and vermicelli production and processing. It provides cooperative members with unified seedlings, unified technology, unified storage, a unified brand and unified sales, and insists on order-based purchasing to reduce members' market risks.

The cooperative and its members together grow more than 2,100 mu of virus-free sweet potatoes. This autumn, the yield of virus-free sweet potatoes is expected to reach 8,000 jin per mu, with the cooperative's total output reaching 16 million jin of fresh potatoes and 2.7 million jin of vermicelli produced, achieving a profit of more than 3 million yuan. This has driven 152 impoverished households in the village to grow virus-free sweet potatoes, increasing each household's annual income by 5,000 yuan. (Henan 100du - Xinyang Channel, correspondent Xie Wanbai)