Characteristic cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs paves the way to prosperity in Songduo Township, Huzhu County
Early in the morning on May 16, Lin Danchengzhahua, who lives in Shibadonggou Village, Songduo Tibetan Township, Huzhu Tu Autonomous County, walked to his largest angelica cultivation plot and carefully checked whether the newly sprouted angelica seedlings had been visited by rats. Seeing the angelica growing well across the plastic-mulched terraced fields on the hillsides, he felt reassured.
Lin Danchengzhahua is the chairman of Danhua Planting Farmers' Cooperative. It was his persistent dedication that drove local villagers to expand the cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs, mainly angelica, codonopsis, rhubarb, astragalus, chrysanthemum and safflower, to 270 mu, with plans to gradually expand to 1000 mu.
Lin Danchengzhahua explained that Songduo Tibetan Township is located in the southeastern part of Huzhu County and is a semi-shallow, semi-mountainous, semi-farming, semi-herding ethnic minority area. Songduo Township has complex terrain, large climate variations and frequent natural disasters, and is a provincially designated poverty-stricken township. In recent years, Songduo Township has made full use of abandoned and idle land in the shallow and mountainous rural areas and surplus labor resources, and developed characteristic cultivation through the operational advantages of farmers' cooperatives. The cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs has become a new path for local farmers to increase income and achieve prosperity.
"I began trying to grow some medicinal herbs in 2007. Through several years of study and experimentation, I summed up cultivation experience, and my income was much higher than growing crops before. So I mobilized several households in the village to establish a cooperative. At the beginning, there were only 5 households, and after the first year the angelica cultivation yielded good returns. So he hopes to use characteristic cultivation to help the entire village escape poverty and become prosperous," said Lin Danchengzhahua.
Villagers can voluntarily choose to join or withdraw, and order-based cultivation is implemented, with the cooperative contracting with farmers for purchase and sale. To ensure product sales channels, after the crops mature, the cooperative recycles all products, which can both reduce cultivation risks and ensure that cultivating farmers increase their income.
"I also have a Tibetan incense factory, and angelica leaves and root fibers are also used to make Tibetan incense." This was an idea Lin Danchengzhahua had from the very beginning, and now it has been realized, reducing quite a lot of costs. Lin Danchengzhahua said that the Tibetan incense factory is paired with the cooperative. The Tibetan incense factory uses the branches, leaves, flowers, roots and stems of Chinese medicinal herbs discarded by the cooperative, as well as the trimmed scraps of medicinal herbs after sorting, to make a series of purely natural Tibetan incense products with Qinghai-Tibet characteristics and sell them across the country, forming an upstream and downstream industrial chain. At present, some Tibetan incense products have already been exported to Thailand, Australia and other countries.
"In the past I grew highland barley, rapeseed and other cash crops, but because of the poor climate and environment, the harvest was not good, and with going out to work, the annual income was only more than 10,000 yuan. When I first started with Chinese medicinal herbs, I tried growing half a mu or one mu, and this year I expanded the scale and planted 15 mu. My income has increased several times over. Our whole family works in the cooperative, we do not need to go out to work, and we can earn 50,000 to 60,000 every year." Local villager Lin Niurourenqian said happily.
"Our Songduo Township has high mountains and deep valleys, and conditions in all respects are relatively backward. In recent years, through changes in policy, the village has developed characteristic cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs, and the villagers' lives have gradually improved. At present, the village has five cooperatives in total, and Danhua Cooperative is the largest in scale and the best in economic returns in terms of cultivation." Yang Linshan, deputy township head of Songduo Township, told the reporter: "This year we will provide certain assistance to characteristic industries, invest part of the development funds, and actively seek policy support for related projects, so that the people of the entire township can join in, and while promoting the further development and growth of characteristic industries, help villagers escape poverty and become prosperous."