Carrots from a small town in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia are exported overseas, earning foreign exchange

During an interview in Xiaomiaozi Village, Damiao Town, Songshan District, Chifeng City, village director Li Yongbo told reporters: "Last year the village planted more than 2,000 mu of carrots, and this year 3,500 mu, all under contract farming, so income is guaranteed, and the situation of the past where carrots could not be sold will never happen again. Each mu produces more than 10,000 jin of carrots, with income reaching more than 10,000 yuan. We are especially happy in our hearts; growing carrots is precisely targeted poverty alleviation, it is the way to prosper. "A farmer who was carrying out late-stage management of carrots in the field said joyfully: "The considerable returns have inspired our enthusiasm as farmers for growing carrots."

Damiao Town's carrot industry already has a development history of more than ten years. Carrot cultivation is one of the leading industries in Damiao Town's crop farming and benefits 12 river-valley villages across the town. Although it fell into a trough in 2014, it reached a new high again in 2015. At present, carrot cultivation in Damiao Town has been incorporated into the national cyclical production chain, and the products are sold to South Korea, Japan, Western Europe and other places. The person in charge of Damiao Town introduced that last year our town planted more than 20,000 mu of carrots, and direct export sales reached 100 million yuan. This year, with 40,000 mu planted, we estimate export sales can reach 200 million yuan. The growers are mostly large-scale growers, some from Hebei, some local, and some from other townships. They are directly linked with carrot marketing enterprises or export enterprises. Direct exports account for half of total output, and the other half is sold to the Jiangsu-Zhejiang and Guangzhou areas in the south.

With technology in place, output value is high. In recent years, Damiao Town has taken carrot cultivation as an important channel for increasing farmers' income. This year, on the basis of traditional cultivation techniques, it has achieved the spread of experience from a single point to the whole area and the integration of point and area, making every effort to develop carrot cultivation. Through lectures and compiling cultivation technique manuals, the town agricultural station has promoted new cultivation technologies across the town, including ridge planting with drip irrigation under film, micro-sprinkler irrigation, integrated water and fertilizer management, and precision sowing with seepage irrigation, increasing the number of established carrot plants and the yield per plant, and achieving higher yield and efficiency. At the same time, it actively promotes high-quality carrot varieties and pays attention to green brand building to ensure quality. This year, the carrot planting area is expected to reach more than 40,000 mu, second only to Hualong Town, Shouguang City, Shandong Province, ranking second nationwide and making it a veritable hometown of carrots in northern China. From carrot cultivation alone, the town's per capita net income of farmers increased by 4,000 yuan.

Damiao Town has 110,000 mu of cultivated land. Large day-night temperature differences, abundant sandy soil, and conditions such as climate, soil and water conservancy determine that the whole town has advantages for developing the carrot industry. In order to make the carrot industry bigger and stronger, the Damiao Town government established a carrot industry cultivation association, using the association to face the market and striving to improve farmers' awareness of market competition. In the carrot production process, unified mechanical sowing, mechanical film covering, mechanical rotary tillage and mechanical harvesting are implemented, and unified mechanized operations such as pollution-free well-water sprinkler irrigation are used for irrigation. This both saves labor and improves the quality of the carrots. At the same time, in order to increase the visibility of the carrot industry, the Damiao Town government uses online information platforms to promptly release cultivation information and investment promotion information, taking multiple measures simultaneously to improve the carrot industry's ability to withstand market risks.

A merchant from Beijing said, we all come during the period from late July to early August to buy Damiao carrots. Damiao carrots mainly have several advantages: first, hybrid seeds are basically used, and the finished-product rate per mu is very high; the shape is especially beautiful, and the carrots are relatively suitable for export processing. In addition, the period from late July to early August is exactly when Shandong's carrots have already finished harvesting and the Hebei market has not yet come in. This base in Damiao has a unique climate environment, so at this time carrots are very much in demand, and merchants generally come to purchase. The notable feature of carrots here in Damiao is that the finished-product rate is very high, generally reaching 80 to 90 percent.

In spring, Damiao Town also held a carrot training and exchange meeting, organizing rural officials to go deep into each village and each group to conduct scientific and technological training, guiding farmers in scientific planting, scientific irrigation and scientific fertilization, thereby increasing farmers' income and strengthening the carrot industry.