Yangxian Sweet Potatoes

Yangxian Sweet Potatoes

　　Yangxian sweet potatoes are a specialty of Yangxian County, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province. They are known for their superior varieties, early market availability, large size, smooth surface, bright color, good taste, high yield, high starch content, and being pollution-free. They have obtained organic conversion food certification.

　　The county plants over 50,000 mu of sweet potatoes annually, yielding 100,000 tons of fresh produce. Currently, aside from household use, all locally produced sweet potatoes are snapped up by outside buyers and sold to major cities. To increase added value and achieve agricultural industrialization, plans are underway to process sweet potatoes into a range of products such as edible citric acid, starch, potato chips, vermicelli, dried fruit, maltose, sweet potato sugar, and vinegar.

　　In response to the rising prices and growing benefits of sweet potatoes and their derivatives in recent years—due to their eco-friendly nature and health benefits—Huai Shuguan Town has leveraged its decades-long tradition of sweet potato cultivation. The town’s Party committee and government have capitalized on this trend by promoting sweet potato farming as a key pillar industry for “increasing farmers’ income and boosting upgrading.” Following a “cooperative + farmers + enterprises” model, the town has vigorously developed the sweet potato industry, establishing a development path led by the government, driven by exemplary cases, and supported by technical training and product sales through cooperatives. This has formed an integrated sweet potato industrial chain centered around Huai Shuguan Village, Wanling Village, Zhangshan Village, and Shicaosi Village, radiating outward to cover production, processing, and sales. The chain has attracted buyers from Xi’an, Gansu, Zhejiang, and other provinces and regions to set up purchasing operations in the town.

　　In 2012, the town cultivated over 16,000 mu of sweet potatoes, including more than 6,000 mu of the new variety “purple sweet potato,” yielding 26,000 tons and generating an output value of 44 million yuan. Zhou Wenyi, a major sweet potato processor in Wanling Village, processes over 20,000 jin of sweet potato starch and handmade sweet potato noodles annually, earning a net income of over 100,000 yuan per year. Across the entire town, sweet potatoes alone contribute an average of 1,354 yuan per farmer annually, accounting for 38% of per capita net income, significantly advancing the town’s rural party organizations in their “upgrading” efforts.