Featured agriculture thrives in Kaili, SW China’s Guizhou

Kaili city in southwest China’s Guizhou Province has boosted the development of featured agriculture by promoting local specialties such as blueberries, chili peppers, tomatoes, ginger, and morel mushrooms.

Based on local resources, the city has turned local specialties into prosperous industries that bring wealth to locals.

Combo photo shows blueberries and blueberry bases in Kaili city, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo courtesy of the forestry bureau of Kaili)

It aims to add 30,000 mu (2,000 hectares) of blueberries by 2025 so that the total planting area of the fruit will reach 40,000 mu. By that year, the city will be home to a blueberry industrial park spanning 10,000 mu, eight blueberry industrial parks with each covering 1,000 mu, and more than five blueberry processing enterprises. By then, the total output value of the blueberry industry will exceed 300 million yuan ($43.7 million).

Photo shows blueberries produced in Kaili city, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

So far, 6,300 mu of blueberries have reached full bearing, with an average yield of about 800 kilograms per mu. The industry has offered long-term jobs to 300 people and seasonal jobs to over 1,000 people, with the annual per capita income exceeding 7,000 yuan.

Farmers show harvested morel mushrooms in Kaili city, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

At a morel mushroom base in Youshi village, Bibo town, Kaili, over 10 villagers were busy harvesting.

“My family has over three mu of land. I also work at the morel mushroom base, earning a monthly salary of about 3,000 yuan,” said Jin Peijiang, a resident of the village.

According to Huang Lin, head of the base, the harvest season of the base’s morel mushrooms lasts four months. The base generates an annual output value of three to five million yuan, helping 60 people increase their income.

Photo shows a high-standard farmland in Kaili city, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

“We have promoted the development of featured agriculture such as sour soup, and blueberries and nurtured leading enterprises to advance agricultural modernization in Kaili,” said an official of the municipal bureau of agriculture and rural affairs.

Kaili red sour soup was recognized as a geographical indication product in China and the technique for cooking Kaili sour soup fish was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. A local company’s blueberry wine is a certified organic product in the country. Ginger, chives, rice and chickens from Kaili have also been sold to other places.

Photo shows a sour soup production base in Kaili city, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

Kaili has cultivated seedlings of chili peppers and tomatoes, both of which are raw materials for sour soup, on 300 mu of land, planted 3,000 mu of edible mushrooms, and added 7,500 mu of blueberries. This year, the city will build 10,000 mu of high-standard farmland, equivalent to that of last year.

Photo shows chickens in Kaili city, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

Farmers breed seedlings of chili peppers in Zhounan village, Zhouxi town, Kaili city, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)