Vegetable Farming Helps Hohhot Farmers Get Rich

The photo shows farmers harvesting vegetables in a vegetable greenhouse.

On the 23rd, in Genbao Village, Jinhe Town, Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, farmer Chen Junying was working in her vegetable greenhouse, pulling mature baby bok choy and garland chrysanthemum up by the roots, then doing some simple trimming and sorting. These vegetables will eventually become delicious dishes on the tables of Hohhot residents.

Chen Junying is a typical "model worker." In her 20 years of working the land, her farming business has always done well, from planting her family's few plots of land in 1997 to contracting greenhouses in 2004, with annual income reaching more than 200,000 yuan. She has harvested both wealth and happiness in the fields.

"I like staying in the fields and greenhouses," Chen Junying said. Now 45 years old, although her face is slightly dark and rough, she is full of energy and vitality.

In 2006, the government of Saihan District, Hohhot City, planned to develop the facility vegetable industry in Jinhe Town, Huangheshao Town and Bayan Town through channels such as government subsidies, village committee funding and farmers' own contributions. Taking this opportunity, Chen Junying rented 15 greenhouses to grow vegetables.

In order to make the vegetable industry go further, in 2010, Chen Junying and her husband founded the Lvlian Planting Professional Cooperative. The cooperative absorbed farmer shareholders, opened up planting bases, introduced planting and irrigation technology, and its planting area reached more than 100 mu.

"The cooperative has also reached cooperation with the Vegetable Research Institute of the Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural Sciences," Chen Junying told reporters. The seedlings planted are scientifically cultivated by the research institute, and combined with planting some new varieties, the vegetables have made breakthroughs in both yield and quality.

"In 2015, the cooperative increased its registered capital by 4 million yuan, planning to build a farm integrating sightseeing, picking, dining and vacationing. Now, the coffee shop is almost fully decorated," Chen Junying said.

Reporters learned from the government of Saihan District, Hohhot City, that there are many other farmers like Chen Junying who have benefited from the facility vegetable industry. At present, the district has established more than 100 professional cooperatives and built 8,031 facility vegetable bases. Each high-efficiency solar greenhouse can achieve an annual income of 50,000-60,000 yuan. Vegetable planting has become the main way for farmers to increase income and get rich.

The Baisui Fruit and Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative in Hohhot City, which is also committed to developing facility agriculture, was established in 2012. After several years of development, the Baisuiyuan Fruit and Vegetable Planting Park has become an important industrial demonstration base and a college student entrepreneurship incubation base in Hohhot City.

Staff at Baisuiyuan told reporters that in addition to planting safe and high-quality fruits and vegetables and carrying out customized delivery according to market orders, the park is also vigorously developing industries such as leisure picking and sightseeing farm tours. The park's daily visitor flow can reach up to 3,000 person-times at its peak.

"Citizens can spend more than 5,000 yuan a year to contract a happy farm and plant the vegetables and fruits they like. During holidays, they can come to the suburbs to pick strawberries, grapes, etc. These fruits and vegetables do not use chemical fertilizers, and there will be no excessive pesticide residues," said Zhang Xiyin, head of the Vegetable Technology Promotion Station of Saihan District, Hohhot City, pointing to a 30-sq-m plot of land in Baisuiyuan filled with various vegetables. "If the contractor does not have time to take care of it, the cooperative's farmers can help, and when the vegetables are ripe, they just need to be notified to come and pick them."

Reporters learned that the main industry of Jinhe Town, Hohhot City, for many years has been dairy cattle breeding. In recent years, with the acceleration of urbanization, the cost of dairy cattle breeding has increased and benefits have declined. Under policy guidance, farmers have shifted their attention to the vegetable industry to get rich and achieved results.