The unique natural ecological conditions of Guidong County have nurtured high-quality and delicious mountain vegetables such as chili peppers, radishes, cabbage, satisfying the taste buds of people outside the mountains and becoming a new path to prosperity for local villagers.

 

“In general, the harvest period of chili peppers is up to three months. Thanks to the cool climate in Guidong County, we can crop chili peppers three times, with the harvest period of nine months.” 

 

 

 

On the afternoon of July 16, in the chili pepper greenhouse, Deng Furong, head of Quanxin Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative in Datang Town, Guidong County, together with over 20 villagers, were busy bagging soft skinned chili peppers. 

 

“Chili peppers are thick, fragrant and moderately spicy, making it the first choice for customers. We picked 2,000 kg today and will send them to the county before 8:00 p.m.”

 

Deng Furong has been engaged in vegetable planting for 15 years, and the planting area has grown from 10 mu (about 0.67 hectares) to 300 (20 hectares) now. And about 50 villagers are engaged in planting vegetables now. 

 

 

 

Currently, nearly 70% of the fresh chili peppers sold in Guidong County come from Deng Furong’s cooperative. 

 

In the planting base of Hunan Zuiyang Alpine Ecological Agriculture Company in Oujiang Town, 200 mu (about 13.33 hectares) of radishes and cabbages are growing well, and villagers are busy harvesting vegetables.

 

“The base is located at an altitude of over 1,300 meters, and the large temperature difference between day and night in Guidong County is conducive to the accumulation of vegetable nutrients and the conversion of sugars.”

 

 

 

In 2020, Wang Zhen and his classmate returned to their hometown and established a company. In just over three years, the company has built five planting bases.

 

Wang Zhen introduced that the county with fresh air and low pollution provides a good ecological environment for the growth of vegetables. The vegetables planted here have good quality and taste.

 

Now, the company’s alpine vegetable brand has passed the green certification of 5 single products, which win much praise from customers and bring a constant flow of orders.

 

In 2023, the company achieved an annual output value of over 10 million yuan, created job opportunities for over 100 villagers, with a wage expenditure of over 2 million yuan. Alpine vegetables became a good way for Wang Zhen and local villagers to earn money. 

 

In 2024, the vegetable sorting center of the company was put into use. With an area of 2,000 square meters, the sorting center has one sorting assembly line and one set of ice making equipment, which can sort 10,000 kg of vegetables daily. 

 

“What attracts me to Guidong is its superior natural conditions like climate, soil and water resources, as well as industrial policies.” Xiang Ruihong, the legal representative of Guidong Xinrong Ecological Agriculture Company, is from Hengdong County, Hengyang City. At the age of 52, he has been planting vegetables in many places in Guizhou, Guangdong, and Guangxi for over 26 years.

 

 

 

Xiang Ruihong introduced that Guidong County has joined hands with institutions such as Xiangnan University and Chenzhou Institute of Agricultural Sciences to help solve technical bottlenecks that hinder agricultural enterprises, such as vegetable rotation, soil testing formula, and pest control, proposed efficient crop cultivation plans to ensure the steady development of the industry. 

 

At the same time, with the help of local governments, facilities in the planting bases of agricultural enterprises like water storage tanks, steel frame greenhouses have been improved, which can ensure the quality of vegetables.

 

Since its establishment in Guidong County in 2015, Xinrong Agriculture has 8 planting bases with a total area of 1,560 mu (104 hectares), distributed in mountainous areas at an altitude of 800 to 1,600 meters. It has created over 500 permanent job opportunities for local villagers. 

 

The high-quality vegetables produced by the company, such as chili peppers, celery, fruit cabbage and morel mushrooms, are mainly sold to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the Yangtze River Delta Region. 

 

In 2023, the total revenue of the company was 83 million yuan. 

 

Now, the county plants 51,400 mu (about 3,426 hectares) of vegetables, with a yield of 150,000 tons and a production value of 276 million yuan. The alpine vegetables of Guidong County have been recognized as the “Xiangjiangyuan” vegetable public brand and a “Vegetable Basket” for the GBA.