Potatoes in Dingxi, Gansu, become "golden eggs" for farmers escaping poverty

A stiff wind blew, and yellow leaves lay everywhere. "Have some potatoes." In Yangzhuang Village, Huichuan Town, Weiyuan County, Dingxi, Gansu, 48-year-old farmer Liu Shiquan took a few roasted potatoes out of the coal stove and invited the reporter to taste them. As the steam rose, the room filled with the aroma of potatoes.

In recent years, in places such as Dingxi, Gansu, once known as "the most bitter place under heaven," the creation of a potato industry has promoted the upgrading of the entire industrial chain from seed potato breeding to staple-food processing. The "life-saving potatoes" and "potato tubers" that once merely kept farmers fed have now become "golden eggs" for getting rich.

In the past, the more than 10 mu of farmland in Liu Shiquan's household could only barely keep the family fed. "At that time, the purchase price of 1 jin of potatoes was one or two jiao. Selling part and eating part, the days passed somehow," he said.

"Muddling through" began to change in 2009. He signed an order contract with Gansu Tiandi Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd., under which the company provided him with high-quality potato pre-elite seeds for free, and then bought back the potato elite seeds he bred at a price higher than the market price. This year, Liu Shiquan earned more than 8,000 yuan from the elite seeds of 3 mu of potatoes he bred. "The pre-elite seeds provided free by the company are worth more than 6,000 yuan. High-quality seeds can guarantee income."

Du Honghui, a technician at the company, said that in recent years the company has consistently adopted the "enterprise + farmers" model to provide farmers with high-quality potato pre-elite seeds for free, and then buy back the elite seeds bred by farmers at 10% above the market price. At present, the company has built 4,345.5 mu of elite seed bases in 4 townships in Weiyuan, involving 1,258 households and 5,510 people. "This increases the per capita net income of farmers by about 1,500 yuan per year."

Xu Jingyun, director of the Weiyuan County Potato Office, told reporters that Weiyuan has a high altitude and a large temperature difference between day and night, and is a typical cold, overcast, damp and cool region. Its geographical conditions and climate characteristics are very suitable for potato seed breeding. In 2015, the county built 18 potato industry bases, drawing in 7,530 poor households to participate in the construction of industry bases, with an average increase in income of more than 2,500 yuan per household.

In Dingxi, the "potato capital," the continuously expanding scale of improved potato seed breeding has promoted major industrial development. Since 2008, the potato planting area in Anding District, Dingxi, has remained above 1 million mu, and total output has stayed stable at more than 1.3 million tons. Moreover, a number of local enterprises have already taken the lead in trying out the strategy of making potatoes a staple food and have achieved some results.

In fact, potatoes have long been a major food staple for farmers in western China. For some time now, in potato-producing areas such as Dingxi, the mud-covered "life-saving potatoes" and "potato tubers" have gradually been upgraded and transformed into beautifully packaged mass-market foods.

Data show that Dingxi has now developed 18 categories of potato staple food products, and the processing capacity for potato staple food products has reached 100,000 tons. Potato mass-market staple foods and snack products cover steamed buns, bread, biscuits, French fries, potato instant nutritional powder, and more.

Data provided by Dingxi City show that local farmers derive 1,488 yuan in disposable income per capita from the potato industry, accounting for one quarter of farmers' per capita disposable income. In 2015, Anding District had become one of the counties and districts with the largest potato planting area in the country, the largest income increase relying on potatoes, and the highest share of GDP.

Zhang Hong, a researcher at the Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, believes that if potatoes replace one tenth of existing rice and flour staples, China would be equivalent to adding more than 100 million tons of fresh potato consumption. "The future of making potatoes a staple food is worth anticipating."

The setting sun melted into gold, and red clouds filled the sky. Liu Shiquan told reporters that next year he plans to continue expanding the scale of potato planting, "support my youngest son through university, and have ever-more prosperous days." Behind him, the large characters on the village wall, "Hometown of Improved Potato Seeds in China," shone brightly.