Maqiao Flower Bean

Maqiao Flower Bean

　　Maqiao Flower Bean is a specialty of Maqiao Township in Rucheng County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province. The flower beans from Maqiao are green, healthy, and excellent for making soups. Their good storability and transportability have increasingly won the favor of traders and consumers, making them a popular commodity. Tested by the Ministry of Agriculture, Rucheng Flower Beans have passed the national certification for pollution-free agricultural products.

　　Flower beans, also known as multi-flower beans, go by other names such as dampness-expelling beans, pocket beans, red-flower kidney beans, dragon-claw beans, large white kidney beans, showy beans, and snow mountain beans. They are commonly called flower beans due to their brownish-red seeds speckled with white patterns, and they have a history of over two thousand years.

　　Rucheng boasts beautiful mountains and rivers, a pleasant climate, and has been designated as a national ecological demonstration county, offering an exceptionally pristine environment. In addition, most areas here feature sandy loam soil rich in humus, which is suitable for large-scale cultivation of flower beans, resulting in superior bean quality.

　　Rucheng County began cultivating flower beans in the 1980s by introducing them from deep mountain wilds. Initially, they were grown sporadically in Maqiao mainly for self-consumption. Small-scale production started in the 1990s, with products appearing on the market. In the early 21st century, business owners from Guangdong began purchasing flower beans in large quantities from the county. Since then, the planting area has expanded year by year. By 2001, large-scale cultivation had begun. The rapid development of this product far surpasses that of many other agricultural goods. Its advantages can be summarized in six points: first, it is green and healthy, which makes it highly favored by consumers; second, it is excellent for soups, becoming a prized dish on the table; third, it stores and transports well, facilitating both production and sales; fourth, it requires high environmental conditions, and Maqiao Township, with its suitable temperature and soil, stands out as an ideal production area; fifth, it benefits from policy support; and sixth, it relies on years of technical accumulation. The scale of production grew from scattered plots to small-scale farming, and from small-scale to large-scale production. Local farmers’ awareness shifted from being guided to plant to voluntarily planting, leading to the establishment of the Maqiao Flower Bean Association. Especially this year, many industrial incentive policies have been introduced, offering interest-subsidized loans of up to 600 yuan per mu for flower bean growers, along with a reward of 50 yuan per mu, and complete tax and fee exemptions for trellis materials. These measures have greatly boosted the enthusiasm of bean farmers. The planting area has increased by more than 1,500 mu, bringing the total base area to over 6,000 mu. The expected total yield is about 1.5 million kilograms, with an output value of around 18 million yuan. The per capita net income of flower bean growers is projected to increase by 600–800 yuan. This has truly made Maqiao the “Hometown of Flower Beans,” and the industry has become one of the county’s few pillar agricultural sectors.