“I grow choy sum on my farmland of over 200 mu (about 13.3 hectares). I also encourage villagers around to plant this vegetable. Every mu (about 0.067 hectares) is expected to yield more than 2,000 kg of choy sum and earns us over 500,000 yuan,” said Cao Youqing, head of Shanxi Cooperative in Jingpo Town of Rucheng County, Chenzhou City.

Photos taken show that villagers are busy harvesting choy sum. Jingpo Town adopts the plantation modes of “company + farmer” and “big planters + small planters” by uniting three cooperatives and two farms in building three choy sum planting bases of more than 100 mu (about 6.7 hectares) and three chili planting bases of over 50 mu ( about 3.3 hectares), creating more jobs for villagers in the town and making the town more prosperous.

“I’m too old to find a job outside our village, but picking choy sum earns me over 70 yuan a day. More importantly, I work for my fellow villager and I get my wages after finishing my work every day, which makes me feel so satisfactory,” said Song Sheyi, a 67-year-old villager from Gutang Village of Jingpo Town, working in a farm near her home and benefiting from the development of village.

Going forward, Jingpo Town, under the principles of ensuring steady vegetable supply, increasing peoples’ income and protecting ecological environment, and making villages prosperous through agricultural development, would combine agricultural development with rural revitalization and expand winter planting area, helping villagers increase their incomes and improve their living standards.