Pingxiang, Hebei: 10,000 acres of red peppers reflect red to get rich

The peppers at the chili pepper planting base in Xunzhao Village, Pingxiang County, Hebei Province, were harvested, and the grower Liu Mengqun had a look of joy at the harvest. Photo by Yao Youyi

Xingtai, China News Network, October 9 (Zhang Pengxiang, Li Bingbing) "The pepper picking period is relatively long, starting from the middle of July, and can be picked for two or three months. In the cold dew season, in the pepper planting base of Xunzhao Village in Pingxiang County, Hebei Province, Liu Mengqun, a grower who is organizing migrant workers to harvest the last stubble of peppers, is full of harvest joy on his face.

Walking into the pepper planting base in Xunzhao Village, Pingxiang County, looking around, in the pepper planting base of more than 110 acres, the red peppers are heavy and full of branches. "The variety planted this year is 'Spicy Red Feng', with an output of about 4,000 catties per mu, and according to the current market estimates, the income per mu is about 6,000 yuan." Liu Mengqun, 55, is the head of the pepper planting base, and since 2016, he has transferred more than 100 acres of land every year to grow peppers, becoming a well-known expert in getting rich.

Liu Mengqun not only lived a well-off life himself, but also led the surrounding masses to increase their income and become rich. "A few of them are from nearby villages, and after sending their children to school, they come to the field, and they can work without delaying the care of their children." Zhen Junlan, a migrant worker, said.

"Spicy Red Feng" is a hybrid generation of early and middle ripening croissant peppers, the fruit has good quality and is very popular with the market. "The peppers I planted are not worried about selling, and every year I sign an insurance agreement with Lao Kang's cooperative, and there is no worries about sales." The "cooperative" mentioned in Liu Mengqun's mouth refers to the Pingxiang County Folk Pepper Planting Cooperative, and "Lao Kang" is Kang Fengmin, the chairman of the cooperative.

"We provide unified seed supply, unified management, unified acquisition, and provide a full range of technical services from pre-seed to post-planting, ensuring the quality of peppers." Kang Fengmin said that in order to dispel the masses' concerns about pepper cultivation and protect their income, the cooperative signed a protection price purchase agreement with the growers, and the market price was higher than the protection price, and it was purchased according to the market price; the market price was lower than the protection price, and it was purchased according to the protection price.

Chen Shan, vice chairman of the Pingxiang County Science and Technology Association, said that in recent years, Pingxiang County has vigorously developed pepper planting and deep processing, with a pepper planting area of more than 20,000 mu and more than 10 pepper deep processing enterprises, driving more than 10,000 local farmers to increase their income and become rich. (End)

Source: China News Network