Goji berry cultivation fulfills the dream of farmers in Shaha getting rich

Wang Jun, legal representative of the cooperative, contacting buyers for goji berry sales

Picking goji berries

"Don't underestimate this small 4-liang bag; it's worth more than 20 yuan!" Wang Jun, legal representative of the Luchuan Shaha Goji Berry Farmers' Professional Cooperative, said to this writer while packing goji berries. Recently, this writer came to Qianjin Village in Shaha Town, where the most talked-about topics were this year's goji berry income and next year's plans.

Growing goji berries makes income growth more secure

Qianjin Village has more than 480 households, with less than 3 mu of arable land per person. In addition, the soil is highly saline-alkaline, so nothing grows well, and increasing income has always been a problem. Yet on this saline-alkaline land, goji berries grow large, plump and of good quality. In addition, goji berries are a traditional industry here, with guaranteed technology and a good market reputation, so they have become the unquestionable choice for local people to get rich.

"In recent years, goji berry prices have been good, with average prices above 20 yuan, and farmers are very enthusiastic about growing them." Wang Jishun, Party branch secretary of Qianjin Village in Shaha Town, has grown goji berries for several years. This year, he grew more than 3 mu of goji berries and produced more than 1,700 jin of dried fruit. When the market was good, each jin of goji berries could sell for 23 yuan. By this calculation, gross income was more than 40,000, and he plans to grow several more mu next year.

"Growing goji berries really brings good returns. Without the money earned from growing goji berries, I really wouldn't dare imagine turning a mud-brick house into a brick house," said Wang Jianbing of Group 8 of Qianjin Village, pointing to his newly built brick house. Wang Jianbing's family has 4 people and less than 12 mu of land. If they only grew sunflowers and corn, it would be hard to save money. This year he contracted another 10 mu of land and plans to grow 3 more mu of goji berries next year, so life will be more comfortable.

Unified selling, processing and packaging through cooperative membership increases goji growers' profits by another 70%

"In the past there was no cooperative, and goji berry growers were few and rather scattered, so they could not make much of an impact," said Yang Haiming, a town official. "Now it's better. With the cooperative, the goji berry planting area and scale are getting larger and larger, there is capital for raising sheep and cattle, housing conditions have improved, living standards have risen, and village customs and public morals are much better."

Wang Chengwei, head of the Luchuan Shaha Goji Berry Farmers' Professional Cooperative, introduced that the cooperative now has more than 120 farming households. Every year, farmers hand their goji berries to the cooperative for unified purchasing, and the cooperative then processes, packages and sells them to the market. This process reduces many intermediate links, and each jin can add another 70% in profit on top of the original basis, about 1 yuan per jin higher than other farmers who have not joined the cooperative. The cooperative also coordinated with China Insurance to provide farmers a loan of 500 yuan per mu of goji berries, giving farmers' income another layer of security. Now Shaha Town has also built a thousand-mu organic goji berry demonstration plot, which provides security for goji berries to develop toward high quality and the high-end market.

It is understood that Shaha Town has nearly 106,000 mu of arable land, of which the goji berry planting area reaches 23,000 mu. Most farmers grow the varieties Ningqi No. 1, No. 7 and No. 9. In 2015, the town's total goji berry output reached 7.5 million kg, and it is expected that in 2016 the town's goji berry planting area will increase by another 3,000 mu.