China News Service, Bayannaoer, October 6th, Title: New Scenery at the "Several" Bends of the Yellow River: Characteristic Industries Paint a Golden Autumn Harvest Picture
China News Service reporter Zhang Linhu
In the golden autumn, the special crops of Hetao land gradually enter the harvest season. In Bayannaoer City, Inner Mongolia, onions are being harvested from 2,200 acres in Xuguang Village. Colorful peppers from Jiguang Village are exported to Russia through orders. Seabuckthorn, a Chinese small fruit on the edge of the Ulan Buh Desert, bears fruit on a large scale for the first time... Specialty planting, land transfer and order sales are becoming important channels for local farmers to increase their income.
Export orders for colored peppers are booming
At the colored pepper planting base in Jiguang Village, Linhe District, red, yellow and green peppers are hanging all over the branches. They are being picked, sorted, packed and transported, making it a busy scene. This year, the village has planted more than 1,000 acres of special color peppers. Since harvesting began in August, a total of about 600 tons of color peppers have been sold, of which more than 70 tons of high-quality color peppers were exported to Russia via Manzhouli Port by air, and more than 300 tons of color peppers were sold to Shandong, Jiangsu and other places. At present, all colored peppers in the village are sold to order.
"This year's colored peppers are of good quality and even size. The order has been signed long ago, so we don't have to worry about selling them," said Wang Haitao, secretary of the Party branch of Jiguang Village.
In the past, the land in Jiguang Village was scattered, and villagers planted scattered crops, and the planting efficiency was not high. Relying on the "unified planting and common prosperity" model, the village uniformly transfers scattered idle land, and introduces enterprises to carry out large-scale, standardized and order-based operations. The enterprises are responsible for unified planting, management and sales.
"You don't have to invest your own labor, the land can generate money." Villager Zhang Wu said that after the land is transferred, the villagers will receive stable rent every year. At present, more than 1,000 acres of colored pepper planting land in the village have been transferred in a standardized manner.
Wang Haitao introduced that the company signed export orders and formed a closed-loop production and marketing model of targeted planting, harvesting, and export sales. During the peak harvest season, the base employs more than 100 people every day, with a daily salary of about 230 yuan. Only the two industries of colored peppers and onions have driven more than 200 surrounding villagers to work and increase their income.
"In the past, I could only stay at home during the slack season, but now I come to the base every day to pick colored peppers. After a month, my income is no worse than working outside," said villager Li Yulian.
Sea buckthorn fruit bearing ecological development
At the Seabuckthorn Planting Demonstration Base in Dengkou County, contiguous seabuckthorn forests are dotted with golden fruits. This year, 2,000 acres of local Chinese small-fruited seabuckthorn will bear fruit on a large scale for the first time. This is also the first high yield since the construction of the demonstration forest in 2024.
"The Chinese small fruit sea buckthorn is known as the 'King of Vitamin C'. It is rich in sea buckthorn flavonoids, various amino acids and trace elements, and its comprehensive development value is extremely high. The fresh fruit can be processed into puree and juice, the peel can be used as medicine, and the seeds can be squeezed into high-end sea buckthorn oil. The industrial chain is complete." Project leader Jiang Jianping said.
According to reports, the seabuckthorn industry in the base implements order-oriented sales. The purchase price of fresh fruits reaches 9,000 yuan per ton, and the average annual economic benefit per mu is stable at 1,000 yuan to 2,000 yuan. "Sea buckthorn has the characteristics of both trees and shrubs. It has low management and maintenance costs and strong stress resistance. It can bear fruit continuously for 30 years after one planting. It has long-lasting ecological sand fixation effect and stable industrial income. It can not only protect against wind and sand, but also broaden the channels for villagers to increase their income." said He Wenqiang, deputy director of Dengkou County Desertification Prevention and Control Bureau.
The Desert Forestry Experimental Center of the Chinese Academy of Forestry has long carried out seabuckthorn seed selection, experimental domestication and demonstration promotion, cultivated more than 20 million high-quality seabuckthorn seedlings, and promoted seabuckthorn cultivation in suitable areas of 3.5 million acres across the country.
"The Mongolian-Chinese hybrid seabuckthorn clones we screened and domesticated are cold-resistant, drought-tolerant, stress-resistant, highly adaptable, and have high yields. They are suitable for planting in deserts, arsenic sandstone and other barren lands," said Luo Hongmei, a senior engineer at the experimental center.
As a key area in the "Three North" project to tackle the "several" bends of the Yellow River, Dengkou relies on the unique light and heat resources of the Ulan Buh Desert Area to empower industrial desertification control with technology. At present, more than 90 companies have settled in the Ulan Bhe Desert to develop desert industries such as desert Chinese medicinal materials, desert melons, organic pasture cultivation, and new energy photovoltaic desert control. A total of 800,000 acres of ecological control have been completed through industrial desert control, and the output value of the desert industry has exceeded 400 million yuan.
Busy work at onion harvesting
In the onion planting base of Xuguang Village, Linhe District, mature onions are plump and bright in color. Harvesting workers shuttle between them, either bending down to harvest or sorting and bagging, and vehicles are constantly coming and going.
This year, the onion planting area in Xuguang Village is about 2,200 acres. Thanks to the good precipitation conditions, the onions are growing well overall, with large sizes and high quality. The local area develops large-scale specialty planting through land transfer, which makes the land more fully utilized and brings tangible benefits to the villagers. At present, the income from land transfer is about 1,400 yuan per mu per year. Through land transfer and participation in work, each villager can increase his income by about 20,000 yuan per year.
"I have been harvesting here for more than a month, and I can earn more than 100 yuan a day." Abi Morige, a migrant worker from other places, said that during the picking season, migrant workers participated in the harvest, which not only helped farmers complete the harvest of agricultural products, but also increased their personal income.
From a seed to a full field of harvest, specialty planting not only enriches farmers' "vegetable basket", but also gradually becomes an important carrier to increase farmers' income and promote employment.
