Qindu Sweet Potatoes

Qindu Sweet Potatoes

Qindu sweet potatoes are a geographical indication agricultural product.

　　Qindu sweet potatoes are a specialty of Qindu District in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. Located on the Guanzhong Plain with a mild climate, the district has nearly 20,000 mu of sweet potato planting area, yielding nearly 200,000 tons per year. The "Mangyuanhong" brand, known for being pollution-free, having high starch yield, and producing high-quality starch, enjoys a strong reputation across Shaanxi and even the entire northwest region. Qindu sweet potatoes are a nationally protected geographical indication agricultural product.

　　The cultivation of Qindu sweet potatoes dates back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the great drought in the Guanzhong region in the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929), sweet potatoes, with their ability to serve as "half a year’s grain supply in a single season," helped relieve the hunger of hundreds of thousands of people in Shaanxi. In the 1960s and 1970s, during periods of tight food supply, sweet potatoes played a significant role in addressing food security and helping people survive famine. Starting in 2001, the Qindu District Party Committee and District Government placed high importance on the development of the sweet potato industry. They actively organized agricultural departments to strengthen technical expertise and promote the plastic-film mulching cultivation technique for sweet potatoes. After years of effort, they initially established a sweet potato production base primarily centered around Mazhuang and Shuangzhao, which gradually became a pillar industry for local farmers' household economies.

　　The areas around Shuangzhao and Mazhuang towns in Qindu District, Xianyang City, have a long history of sweet potato cultivation due to their deep soil layers, low precipitation, and minimal pollution. To enhance the competitiveness of sweet potatoes, village party branches gathered party members to brainstorm and actively collaborated with the Sweet Potato Research Group of Northwest A&F University. They introduced new varieties such as "Qinshu No. 4" and "colored sweet potatoes." Through party member demonstration projects, experts were invited to teach villagers about cultivation techniques and pest control. The area also actively promoted mechanized planting and harvesting, registered the "Mangyuanhong" trademark, and implemented a series of other measures that greatly motivated local participation.

　　Today, the Mangyuanhong Sweet Potato Farmers’ Professional Cooperative in Qindu District, Xianyang City, has over 280 member households, driving the local community to develop sweet potato cultivation on 20,000 mu of land and generating an annual income increase of more than 60 million yuan for residents. Qindu sweet potato products, thanks to their excellent quality, are exported to countries and regions such as South Korea and Hungary.

　　In 2013, the "Qindu Sweet Potatoes" application submitted by the Mangyuanhong Sweet Potato Farmers’ Professional Cooperative in Qindu District, Xianyang City, passed the review of the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and expert evaluation, leading to its implementation under the national geographical indication agricultural product registration and protection system.

　　Geographical Scope

　　The planting area of Qindu sweet potatoes is located in Mazhuang Town and Shuangzhao Subdistrict Office on the northern plateau of Xianyang, approximately 15 kilometers from downtown Xianyang. The geographical coordinates are longitude 108°37′–108°45′ and latitude 34°18′–34°26′. It spans from Sanhe Village in the east to Xiadiwang Village in the south, Longbei Village in the west, and Jiangxiang Village in the north, covering 57 villages with a total area of 20,000 mu and an annual yield of 60,000 tons of sweet potatoes.