NW China's Qinghai supplies cool-season vegetables nationwide

In mid-October, farmers were busy harvesting vegetables in the fields of Huzhu Tu Autonomous County, Haidong city, northwest China's Qinghai Province. From May to October each year, a variety of cool-season vegetables are shipped from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, and Haidong to reach markets across the country within just two days.

By leveraging its unique natural conditions, Qinghai has turned cool-season vegetables into a signature of its agricultural development.

"We've processed and sold about 3,000 tonnes of vegetables like broccoli, with an output value of around 4 million yuan (about $563,000), and there are still some crops left to harvest," said Xiang Chenggui, head of a farmers' cooperative in the county.

Broccoli, a cool-season crop, grows best at temperatures between 15 and 22 degrees Celsius. According to Xiang, the broccoli produced by the cooperative is organically grown, resulting in excellent quality and high popularity among buyers.

Sitting at an average elevation of more than 2,600 meters and boasting abundant sunshine, large temperature differences between day and night, and cool summers, the county provides ideal conditions for growing cool-season vegetables, said Li Youquan, deputy director of the vegetable office of the county.

In recent days, vegetable dealers from places such as Shanghai, Guangdong and Hong Kong have flocked to the county to make purchases. To help them choose, staff members from the county's vegetable office set up canopies and hotpot tables right in the fields, inviting buyers to pick fresh produce and enjoy it on the spot. Impressed by the freshness and flavor, many buyers placed orders immediately.

Similar scenes can be seen in many other places in the province, including Huangzhong district of Xining.

"Huangzhong district began developing a 'vegetable basket' as early as 2010," said Hu Jiankun, director of the vegetable office of Huangzhong district. Over the past 15 years, cool-season vegetable farming in the district has progressed from open-field cultivation to greenhouses and is now transitioning to facility agriculture.

What started as small plots of just a few mu (1 mu equals about 0.067 hectares) has grown into cooperative operations spanning more than 1,000 mu. The industry has expanded from mainly supplying local markets to reaching consumers nationwide.

Huangzhong district offers a glimpse into Qinghai's thriving cool-season vegetable industry. Last year, the province's total cool-season vegetable planting area reached about 660,000 mu, producing around 1.58 million tonnes of vegetables, with 700,000 tonnes sold outside Qinghai.

In recent years, a team led by Zhong Qiwen, president of the Qinghai Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, has independently developed 28 new plateau vegetable varieties and introduced more than 50 varieties bred by experts in the vegetable industry.

Qinghai's cool-season vegetables are not only popular across China but are also gaining traction in international markets. To date, Haidong city has established 29 export-oriented vegetable bases certified by customs, accounting for 54.3 percent of the province's total vegetable exports.

"This year, we expect Haidong's exports of specialty agricultural products to reach 10,000 tonnes. In the first half of the year, Ledu district of the city exported more than 4,200 tonnes of vegetables worth $1.28 million, selling color peppers to Russia and potatoes to Kyrgyzstan," said Chen Dong, deputy director of the bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of Haidong.

The booming plateau cool-season vegetable industry has become a powerful driving force for rural prosperity. According to Zhu Anxiang, director of the vegetable technology service center in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County, the county produces 170,000 tonnes of vegetables annually, of which 130,000 tonnes are sold outside Qinghai. The total output value of the local vegetable industry exceeds 760 million yuan and over 20,000 farming households are engaged in the industry.