Yunnan Xiangyun Wild Yam Cultivation Helps Farmers Increase Income and Get Rich

Wild Yam Cultivation Helps Farmers Increase Income

"Old Li, are you digging yams? Is the yield good? Do they sell well?" "Yes, I'm digging them. The yield is high, and they sell well too." At the wild yam cultivation base of the Keshi Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative in Xiangyun County, Yunnan, the town mayor inspected the base while urging Li Yinghua to cultivate the yams well and play a leading role in helping others get rich.

Li Yinghua is from Yongsheng, Lijiang. He recognized the broad prospects of cultivating wild yams. In 2014, he selected this "feng shui treasure land" in Ciba Village, Hedi Town, Xiangyun County, with its four distinct seasons and suitable climate. With the help of the Hedi Town Party Committee and Government, he transferred 100 mu of land in Ciba Village to develop wild yam cultivation.

Thanks to his previous experience in yam cultivation and his bold, innovative spirit, Li Yinghua successfully explored a shallow-trench horizontal planting method, breaking through the bottleneck of wild yams growing underground - delicious but difficult to dig out. This method not only benefits growth but also facilitates harvesting, saving labor costs. At the same time, by controlling apical dominance and regulating water usage during the growing period, the yield of wild yams also increased multiple times over.

"Wild yams grown with the new technology save labor, water, and labor costs. Compared with traditional planting methods, it can save 3000-4000 yuan per mu in costs. Moreover, the yams grown this way taste good, store well, and are large - the longest yam is nearly 3 m." Li Yinghua proudly displayed the freshly dug yams as he spoke.

Li Yinghua explained that yams are sown from March to April each year and harvested from October to November, with a yield of 4 to 5 tons per mu. The market price is 13 to 14 yuan per kg, and the output value per mu can range from 35,000 to 50,000 yuan, with local market demand exceeding supply. This year, more than 90 mu of yams were planted, and sales revenue is expected to reach more than 3 million yuan.

"When you drink water, do not forget the well-digger; when you get rich, do not forget your fellow villagers." He hopes that through the planting demonstration at the base, he can help his fellow villagers get rich together. During the planting process, for the villagers who come to the base to learn, he provides free training and free technical guidance, patiently passing on his experience and techniques for cultivating wild yams, providing seedlings, informing villagers of the hardware facilities needed for yam cultivation, making door-to-door technical guidance, and helping growers connect with sales channels.