Developing characteristic industries to drive increased income for farmers (High quality Development Research Tour)
Industrial revitalization is of utmost importance in rural revitalization. Expanding industrial functions, extending industrial chains, promoting the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, and expanding channels for increasing farmers' income... Walking on the vast land of Jingchu, the picture of developing and strengthening characteristic industries is slowly unfolding.
——Stabilize the ecological bowl and cultivate new business models.
Xujiachong Village, Taipingxi Town, Yiling District, Yichang City, Hubei Province, is known as the "first village at the head of the dam". It only takes 10 minutes by car from here to reach the Three Gorges Dam tourist area. The flat cement road, exquisite exterior wall paintings, and intricately arranged residential buildings are nestled among the green mountains and waters.
For over 5 years, the cadres and masses of Xujiachong Village have kept in mind their instructions, based on the ecological advantages of the Three Gorges, continuously expanded the various functions of agriculture, explored the diverse values of rural areas, developed new formats such as ecotourism, and solidly promoted rural revitalization.
"A good ecological environment is our greatest advantage and wealth," said Xie Rong, the party branch secretary of Xujiachong Village. The village has invested 12 million yuan to improve the living environment; Encourage villagers to do a good job in garbage sorting and exchange civilized points for daily necessities. Nowadays, Xujiachong Village has a more beautiful ecology and a better environment, and the villagers have also developed good habits of caring for the environment.
A good environment drives the vigorous development of the ecological industry. Now Xujiachong Village has built 38 homestays and restaurants, launched multiple characteristic tourism routes such as Gaoxia Pinghu Tour and Three Gorges Tea Valley Tour, and received 160000 tourists annually. Wang Huaxin, a girl born in the 1980s, also tasted the sweetness of developing characteristic industries. Now she has quit her job in the city and returned to the village to take over the operation of her father's tea cooperative. At present, the cooperative has stably solved the employment problem of nearly a hundred Three Gorges immigrants.
——Extend the industrial chain and amplify new advantages.
Located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Xishui County has the largest egg laying chicken breeding base in Hubei, with an annual output of 4.3 billion fresh eggs.
In the packaging workshop, fully automated conveyor belts are running, and eggs are sorted, disinfected, cleaned, dried, and packaged before being sent to various places; In the breeding farm, the feeding, egg retrieval, and manure cleaning processes are all automatically completed by machines, greatly improving production efficiency.
Last year, Xishui County invested 210 million yuan to promote the construction of the Central China Egg Trading Center, introduce egg chicken related enterprises into the trading market, and promote industrial agglomeration. Currently, 19 egg distributors have settled in, with a daily transaction volume of 5 million yuan.
"After the trading center is officially put into operation, the annual output value is expected to reach 3 billion yuan, which will further improve the overall quality and efficiency of the entire industry chain of Xishui Egg Chicken," said Fu Yu, Secretary of the Xishui County Party Committee. Now, Xishui has formed a complete industrial chain of egg chicken breeding and trade, with a total output value of about 8.3 billion yuan last year, driving 150000 people to find employment and 230000 people to increase income.
——Moving towards branding and increasing added value.
From traditional wormwood, moxa sticks and moxibustion stickers to essential oils, facial mask and shampoos, there are more than 100 kinds of artemisia argyi products in the exhibition hall of Qichun Lishizhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Technology Industrial Park. A small mugwort has formed a billion dollar industrial cluster in Qichun County.
Qichun County is located at the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains. In recent years, Qichun has focused on the characteristic variety of Qi'ai, strengthened scientific research, carried out deep processing, and focused on building the Qi'ai brand.
Deng Aiming, a medicinal herb grower, has been planting mugwort for most of his life and has witnessed the development of the Qi'ai brand. Nowadays, many companies come to their homes to place orders in advance. As of the end of 2022, Qichun County has a total planting area of 220000 acres of Artemisia argyi, with more than 530 professional planting cooperatives and more than 560 Artemisia argyi processing enterprises, and a total of 18 series and over a thousand types of products have been developed.
In addition to researching and developing high-value Qichun products, in recent years, Qichun County has also opened more than 15000 Qichun Moxibustion Halls nationwide, trained nearly 60000 moxibustion professionals, and cultivated over 3000 business entities in the mugwort industry.
"At present, we are promoting the extension and development of Qi'ai from consumer goods to traditional Chinese medicine with higher technological content." Qichun County Magistrate Chen Dan said that Qichun will continue to enhance the brand value of Qi'ai around planting, processing, cultural tourism, and health care, and help farmers increase their income and become prosperous.
