Village benefits from honeysuckle industry in Xifeng

Farmers work in the honeysuckle field. [Photo/WeChat account of Xifeng county]

In recent years, Zhongba village of Xifeng county in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, has benefited a lot from growing honeysuckle.

Honeysuckle, with a wide range of market applications, can be used in medicine and refined medical raw materials or used to make herbal tea. In order to solve problems related to the purchasing and preservation of honeysuckle flowers, the village has established a professional cooperative for honeysuckle planting farmers, responsible for the flower purchase and primary processing.

Chen Xianwu, head of the cooperative, said that during picking season, the village was able to produce a mere 250 kilograms or so of honeysuckle per day in the early stages, but that number has risen to approximately 8,500 kilograms with the arrival of the peak period, while the maximum is 10,000 kilograms.

Through several years of planting, the honeysuckle industry in Zhongba has achieved good returns, with the output value of honeysuckle exceeding 900,000 yuan ($124,290) last year. 

With the increasing enthusiasm for planting honeysuckle, the planting scale expanded from more than 60 mu (4 hectares) in 2017 to over 600 mu this year, which also led to surrounding villagers coming to work at the planting base. The village is expected to produce 125,000 kilograms of honeysuckle and achieve an output value of 1.6 million yuan this year.

Next, the village will strive to develop high-quality processing, enhance the added value of products, and open up sales channels to aid in the development of the industry.