Crimson radish cultivation helps farmers increase income
Turning the soil, making holes, sowing seeds... Recently, in Ping'an Village, Lengshuiguan Township, Nanchuan District, villagers are busy with autumn sowing and autumn planting. This year, the village planted 400 mu of crimson radishes to help villagers escape poverty and become prosperous.
Ping'an Village is one of the 40 poverty-stricken villages in Nanchuan, with a current population of 1,632 people, including 64 impoverished households and 198 people. Villagers have a tradition of growing crimson radishes, but in the past, most were used for their own consumption or as feed, and few people sold them as a cash crop. Last year, when village officials solicited opinions on developing poverty-alleviation industries, 90 percent of villagers were willing to grow crimson radishes. The whole village trial-planted 200 mu, harvested 600,000 jin at the end of the year, and brought villagers an income of 216,000 yuan.
After tasting the benefits, this year many villagers asked to continue planting, and some farmers who did not plant last year also joined in. The planting scale expanded to 400 mu. The crimson radishes grown are mainly used to extract food coloring. In order to better develop the industry, the village allocated 150,000 yuan in funds to harden and widen the farming roads in the contiguous planting base, making cultivation and transportation easier. Seeds and fertilizer were covered by the village's industry funds, with a subsidy of 20 jin of fertilizer for each jin of seeds, and technical personnel were invited to provide free guidance and training.
How is the sales channel resolved? "We implement contract farming." said Cai Shaojuan, "First Secretary" of Ping'an Village. At the beginning of the year, the village committee signed a purchase order with an enterprise in Fuling, which purchases all the radishes grown in the village and also provides free technical support.
"The order stipulates a floor price of 0.31 yuan per jin. If the price is higher, it follows the market, and the village subsidizes 0.05 yuan per jin." Cai Shaojuan said that with a floor price, even if the market is sluggish, buyers cannot arbitrarily the price, and growers will not have their income affected by market changes.
Reported by our correspondent Liu Min