"Work harder, everyone will call it a day after digging this piece of licorice!" On April 9, in Shangjie Village, Dongba Town, Minqin County, Xu Kaiping, a large medicinal herb planter, led the villagers to harvest licorice at the licorice planting base. As the harvester drove by, ridges of licorice broke through the soil, and dozens of workers were busy picking up and sorting.
Xu Kaiping has been planting traditional Chinese medicine licorice for six years, this year more than 300 acres of licorice under the technical guidance of agricultural technology experts, the yield is gratifying, the yield of one acre of land can reach about 2 tons, and one acre of land can earn more than 10,000 yuan.
"Licorice root is not worried about sales, and pharmacists come to buy it at the doorstep. Xu Kaiping said that licorice is cold and drought tolerant, with no more than 300 cubic meters of water per mu per year, simple field management, and much higher income than other crops.
Harvesting licorice photo by Wang Juhong
The small Chinese herbal medicine has not only plugged in the wings of increasing income and getting rich for the people of Minqin County, but also has become a new economic growth point for radiation to drive regional economic development and help rural revitalization.
Minqin County has long sunshine hours, large temperature difference between day and night, sufficient sunshine, low precipitation, fertile soil, low incidence of diseases and pests, suitable for the growth of a variety of precious Chinese medicinal materials, good quality of Chinese herbal medicines, high content of active ingredients.
This year, Minqin County has adopted multi-variety introduction, multi-point experiments, step-by-step, and actively guided the masses to develop the cultivation of characteristic Chinese medicinal materials, opened up new ways for the masses to increase their income and get rich, and injected more vitality into the development of rural industries.
Villagers harvesting licorice Photo by Wang Juhong
Mid-spring is an important period for the cultivation of Chinese herbal medicine. In the 1,000-mu wormwood industrial park in Dongba Town, large-scale Chinese herbal medicine planting machinery is working, and migrant workers are busy planting wormwood.
Wu Binrui, general manager of Shaanxi Ruiyousi Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., said that the company has adopted the operation mode of "village collective + enterprise + base + farmer", and has built a 3,000 acres of standardized planting demonstration base of Chinese medicinal materials in accordance with the development idea of "building a park, cultivating a leader, expanding the scale, and radiating and driving".
Wormwood cultivation consumes less water, has fast effect, easy to grow, high yield, good management, convenient storage, has high medicinal value and economic value, and has broad market prospects.
Through land circulation, the land resources are effectively integrated, large-scale and intensive management are realized, and the mode of unified planting and order recovery is ensured, which ensures the quality and yield of Chinese medicinal materials, reduces market risks, and provides farmers with a stable source of income.
With the unique climatic conditions and geographical environment, the Chinese herbal medicine industry in Minqin County has risen strongly, with the planting area of Chinese medicinal materials in the county reaching 103,900 mu in 2023 and 130,000 mu planned to be planted in 2024, mainly licorice, ephedra, wormwood, astragalus, etc.
Villagers planting wormwood Photo by Liang Xia
Zhan Wenping, senior agronomist of Minqin County Agricultural Technology Center, said that Minqin County will further optimize the varieties of Chinese herbal medicines, choose varieties that are easy to plant and have good market prospects, promote the large-scale, refined and industrialized development of Chinese herbal medicines, and achieve sustained and stable income increase for farmers.
At the same time, Minqin County has accelerated the modernization, industrialization and chain of traditional Chinese medicine, and promoted the development of the Chinese herbal medicine industry through the promotion of reward and support policies, scientific and technological support services, consolidation and development, and the combination of planting and processing.
"We are ready to expand the scale of wormwood planting, introduce more varieties of Chinese herbal medicines to plant, and let more people participate in the development of Chinese herbal medicine industry. We also plan to build a processing plant to further increase the added value of our products through slicing and drying, and strive to develop our Chinese herbal medicine industry into a characteristic industry in our local area, and lead the surrounding farmers to benefit from it. Wu Binrui is full of hope for the future development of the Chinese herbal medicine industry.
Reporter: Yang Yan