A virtuous cycle of grain, livestock and fruit, the rise of specialty crops, and initial success for Internet+ agriculture

Qiemo County, following its agricultural development approach of "stabilizing grain, adjusting cotton, expanding forage grass, promoting livestock, strengthening jujubes, developing facility agriculture, and expanding specialty crops," adopted effective measures that both ensured food security and increased farmers' incomes. The county government allocated funds to subsidize both primary and replanted corn, guiding farmers to grow corn, which provided forage for livestock development and also supplied rich organic fertilizer for the development of the forestry and fruit industry, safeguarding the quality of Qiemo red jujubes.

Making full use of local advantageous resources, it vigorously developed pigment chili peppers and plateau fragrant garlic. First, using cooperatives as a platform, it introduced pigment chili peppers in 2013, adopting a "company + cooperative + farmers" model, with more than a hundred farming households joining the cooperative and nearly ten thousand mu planted with pigment peppers, increasing farmers' incomes and offering a choice for adjusting the local planting industry. Cooperative leaders took the initiative to conduct research in areas producing doubanjiang such as Pi County in Sichuan and other places, connected with downstream enterprises, and organized pepper production according to customer requirements. Second, it developed plateau fragrant garlic and implemented industrial poverty alleviation. Plateau fragrant garlic is grown in Jianggalesayi Village, Kumulake Township, at a high average altitude, with high average yield per unit area and good returns. Third, Kushisamate Township took the lead in the county in carrying out experimental e-commerce and WeChat business sales models, completing an e-commerce base in May 2015 and bringing in three enterprises: Guozhen Xinjiang Fruit Industry, Gebi Jujube Industry Company, and 1789 Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Development Co., Ltd. At present, the base's online sales have exceeded 1 million yuan, training a group of new-type farmers who understand online sales, creating employment at their doorstep for 35 people, and selling 1.5 million tons of red jujubes.