Pepper planting facilitates Qingzhen people's pursuit of happiness

Villagers from Xindian town, Qingzhen, Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou, weed the ground in the pepper fields. [Photo/Guiyang news network] 

When the summer comes, and the harvested crops are sent to be sold in farm produce markets in Qingzhen, peppers are among them. 

Unlike previous years, this year the pepper planting base in Xindian town has added a new pepper species, peperomia caperata, which is distinct from other common pepper breeds in that it features a wrinkled surface. 

According to Song Yuanfu from the Zhuqing New Agricultural Cooperative, which owns the pepper planting base, more than 1,000 mu (66.67 hectares) of peppers have been planted this year, on land in Fangjiazhai, Dazhai, Damawo and Xindian villages. The weather and land is highly suitable for the plants, and a good harvest is expected. Villagers from these places manage to make a living without having to leave home, and this very fact also boosts their happiness. 

The cooperative has signed an advanced product purchase agreement with a local company, which requires the company to buy fresh peppers at a price consistent with the market. The red peppers will be purchased at 2.4 yuan ($0.36) per kilogram. This agreement has, to a large degree, lowered the operational risks of the cooperative. 

Xindian town's pepper industry has actively sought markets outside the town in recent years. Peppers that are purchased will then be transferred to a processing factory in Zunyi, which is the last stop on the industrial chain. 

Having optimized its agricultural structure, the town now boasts an 8,000-mu pepper planting base, with an estimated output of 14,000 metric tons of fresh peppers worth 28 million yuan.