Traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivation drives herdsmen and farmers to increase income and become wealthy
In the height of summer in Zhuoni County, Gansu Province, green waves of wheat roll across the fields, and the faint medicinal fragrance of Angelica sinensis drifts with the wind, intoxicating the senses. "Last year my family made money growing Bupleurum chinense..." "His family also earned very well from growing Angelica sinensis..." The herdsmen and farmers' faces are filled with happy smiles, and when everyone gathers together, what they talk about most is their experience of becoming wealthy.
In recent years, Zhuoni County has taken multiple measures simultaneously, adjusting the structure of the agriculture and animal husbandry industry, optimizing regional layout, and developing industrialized operations, so that characteristic industries of agriculture and animal husbandry have gradually grown and strengthened. The social situation in agricultural and pastoral areas has remained stable for a long period, and the quality and level of herdsmen and farmers' lives have noticeably improved. In 2015, the per capita disposable income of herdsmen and farmers reached 4,627 yuan, and the added value of agriculture and animal husbandry reached 400 million yuan.
In recent years, Zhuoni County has focused on training and strengthening cooperatives and planting associations in the Tibetan traditional Chinese medicinal herb and vegetable industries. Through the bridging role of cooperatives and planting associations, it has made every effort to build a demonstration zone for intensive management of Zhuoni traditional Chinese medicinal herbs. It focuses on training in the Tibetan traditional Chinese medicinal herb and vegetable industries, and strengthens cooperatives and planting associations. Through the bridging role of cooperatives and planting associations, it makes every effort to build a demonstration zone for intensive management of Zhuoni traditional Chinese medicinal herbs.
With the continuous innovation of planting industry development methods, Zhuoni County has gradually formed multiple development scales led by leading enterprises, cooperatives, and large-scale growers. Large-scale growers have continued to grow, forming a medicinal herb industry development model of "company + base + professional cooperative + farmer households," cultivating and introducing 13 new medicinal herb varieties such as Salvia miltiorrhiza, Inula racemosa, Rhodiola rosea, and Fritillaria cirrhosa, establishing 5 medicinal herb demonstration sites and more than 10,000 mu of various traditional Chinese medicinal herb breeding bases. 18,000 mu of Chinese and Tibetan medicinal herbs have passed provincial-level pollution-free certification. At the same time, cooperation in research and development has been intensified with universities and enterprises such as Gansu Agricultural University and Qizheng Tibetan Medicine Co., Ltd., forming an industry chain integrating medicinal herb seed selection, seedling cultivation, processing, and sales, achieving new breakthroughs in scale development.
Zhao Mei, Wang Zhilian, excerpted from "Gansu Daily"