Vegetables from Dongcaowan Village

Vegetables from Dongcaowan Village

　　Dongcaowan Village in Wangtai Town, Jiaonan City, Qingdao, currently has 1,478 mu of arable land. In recent years, the village has focused on "strengthening the village through industry and enriching the people through industry" as a breakthrough, concentrating superior resources to develop vegetable cultivation, effectively boosting farmers' income and prosperity. Currently, 93% of the households in the village grow vegetables, with the total vegetable cultivation area exceeding 1,200 mu, averaging 3 mu per household. In 2010, the per capita net income of farmers was 11,960 yuan, 80% of which came from the vegetable industry. The village was recognized as a Qingdao "One Village, One Product" vegetable demonstration village in 2008, and as a national "One Village, One Product" demonstration village by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2011.

　　Dongcaowan Village has a long-standing tradition of vegetable cultivation. To further strengthen and expand the vegetable industry, the village has tapped into its existing advantageous resources to promote the scaled and industrialized development of vegetable farming. In 2006, the village built 860 large vegetable greenhouses, with an average of 2–3 greenhouses per household. In 2008, a vegetable professional cooperative was established, with 406 member households.

　　The village has introduced and promoted over 30 high-quality new vegetable varieties, such as Israel’s Komanche bell peppers and South Korea’s Black Coral purple eggplants, as well as more than 30 advanced production technologies, including greenhouse drip irrigation and biological sterilization. The coverage rate of new varieties in the vegetable base has reached 100%. Agricultural experts from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, as well as municipal and county-level agricultural technicians, have been stationed in the village to provide guidance on production. A record management system has been established, and regular pesticide residue testing is conducted. Currently, tomatoes and bell peppers have been certified as national-level green food products.

　　The village has built a marketing network and established an information platform. An information center has been set up to collect and release agricultural product marketing information in a timely manner, actively engaging in online sales. Currently, the village’s vegetables are sold well in major supermarkets and markets in Qingdao, and are also exported to Russia and the three northeastern provinces. In 2010, the village produced 38 million kilograms of vegetables annually, with an output value of over 20 million yuan.