Remote county in Xinjiang develops characteristic planting base with support of pairing assistance from city in east China

At a modern vegetable growing industrial park in Shule county, Kashgar prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, workers were busy picking and wrapping up tomatoes, which were to then be transported to different markets by truck.

A worker picks tomatoes in a greenhouse in Shule county. (Photo/Liu Mengxin)

The high-quality tomatoes produced at the industrial park have seen their sales channels expand and their prices rise to as high as 30 yuan ($4.49) per kilogram with the support of pairing assistance from Dongying city, in east China’s Shandong Province, after having received a boost to the development and research of new varieties and the construction of the industrial park, including making improvements to planting, wrapping and sales techniques.

Shule county, where seasons are comparatively distinct and the duration of sunshine is longer, is suitable for developing crop farming, and yet its agricultural foundations remain weak.

“It is necessary to cultivate high-quality agriculture by introducing advantageous agricultural resources from Shandong to facilitate rural revitalization in the county,” said Zhang Zuoxia, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China Shule county committee, who also serves as head of the command center of Dongying that provides pairing assistance for Xinjiang.

Leading companies in Shandong have provided a boost to the industries and employment in Shule county. Shandong Shuifa Group Co., Ltd., for instance, invested 1.06 billion yuan to build greenhouses and seedling cultivation centers in Shule, which can provide 3,000 jobs for local people.

As characteristic local industries have flourished, residents’ income has also grown. “I can earn an average of over 80,000 yuan a year from the three greenhouses I have contracted,” said a villager in the county.

To cultivate talents for Shule, Shandong Shuifa Group Co., Ltd. established an agricultural school, which, according to Liu Yanshi, principal of the school, can provide training for more than 6,000 people on agricultural production, management and operations each year. After training, they can independently contract and operate greenhouses.

The command center of Dongying, which provides pairing assistance for Xinjiang, has encouraged agricultural experts from Shandong to teach local farmers in the fields, each helping instruct a dozen local farmers in all.

The vegetable planting area in Shule has now expanded to reach 16,667 hectares, and high-quality agriculture in the county is becoming an increasingly attractive industry.