China News Network Yuncheng, November 11 Topic: Xinjiang, Shanxi: Qiaodong Village "said" yam
Author: Wei Shixin, Yang Jianyi
After spreading the plastic bag on the ground, sitting firmly, I picked up a special shovel and dug down, and when I dug to a depth of more than 1 meter, the whole yam was finally exposed, and it was immediately lifted.
On the morning of November 11, Guo Long, a villager in Qiaodong Village, Longxing Town, Xinjiang County, Shanxi Province, was digging yams. Digging standing, kneeling, sitting and digging... Although the temperature was not high, his forehead was still covered with beads of sweat.
Digging yams is both physical and technical. Photo by Wei Shixin
Qiaodong Village, to which Guo Long belongs, is known as a "professional yam planting village" throughout the country, with a history of yam cultivation for 15 years, and 350 households in the village are engaged in yam planting. When the yam market is good, the income per mu is 1,<> yuan.
In a field adjacent to Guo Long, villager Wang Jide and his daughter-in-law Zhang Baohong are also digging yams.
"Digging yams is a heavy physical job, but also a technical job." Mr. Wang said he and his daughter-in-law were able to dig more than 60 meters a day and produce 200 kilograms of yams. "The yam I planted was just dug yesterday and has already been sold once at a price of 6 yuan per kilogram."
"I have been growing yams for 10 years, and this year I planted 5 acres of land, and my income is about 5,<> yuan." Yam grower Wang Aiju also came over to say.
The good economic benefits have made the scale of yam cultivation in Qiaodong Village larger and larger, but yam is extremely forbidden to be planted continuously, especially in heavy furrows, which is easy to cause serious diseases and reduce yield due to soil nutrient imbalance. As a result, the average land can only be cultivated for two years.
"Of the 3000,200 acres of land in Qiaodong Village, only <> acres are now suitable for growing yams." Wang Aimin, deputy director of the village committee, said that because the land in the village was difficult to meet the needs of the villagers for yam planting, the villagers went out one after another to contract land to plant yam in the neighboring towns of Gujiao, Sanquan, Wan'an and Yangwang.
"Some villagers also went to Jishan County, Wanrong County, Xiangfen County, and Hejin City to contract land to plant yams, and the planting area is generally dozens of acres, forming a large-scale operation." Wang Aimin said that farmers in Qiaodong Village currently plant 1,2 mu of yams, with an annual income of more than <> million yuan.
This year, Guo Long contracted 15 acres of land in nearby Yangwang Town to plant "white jade" yams, with a yield of 4000,<> kilograms per mu. "Originally, our village planted hemp yams, and the year before last we introduced a new variety of 'white jade', which is easy to manage, with fewer pests and diseases, and high yield, which is very popular with the villagers, and many villagers have planted it, and the benefits have improved a lot." Guo Long said.
After being packed, the yam will be sold to more than 10 provinces and cities across the country. Photo by Wei Shixin
After the yam is ripe in October every year, professional yam diggers from other places will gather in the area of Qiaodong Village. At its peak, more than 10,2000 people were digging yams in Qiaodong Village at the same time. They worked together, the men dug the yams, and the women collected the dug yams and transported them, which could be worked until the Qingming Festival of the following year.
Sun Youan, a villager in Qiaodong Village, is a new type of farmer who has relied on yam to get rich. At first, he also planted yams with the villagers, and gradually, he began to help the villagers sell yams. He and four villagers in Qiaodong Village contracted the Longquan Yam Market next to National Highway 4 to sell the villagers' yams to more than 108 provinces and cities across the country.
In the evening, the villagers digging yams pulled the yams to the Longquan yam market, which was crowded with electric vehicles and agricultural vehicles. During this time, it was the busiest time for Sun Youan, a yam dealer, who inspected the goods, paid the villagers, and organized large vehicles to deliver them, and they had to be busy until after 9 o'clock in the evening every day.
"Due to the remote location of the yam market in Qiaodong Village, it can no longer meet the demand for yam trading in the village, so the villagers have to go to other markets to sell. Next year, we plan to build a large-scale yam market to burn another fire and drum up more energy for yam production. Wang Aimin said. (ENDS)