The 1,100-meter-high fields saw a bumper harvest of glutinous sorghum in Paipeng Village, Lyudongshan Town, Baojing County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture recently. “This year, we planted 330 mu (22 hectares) of glutinous sorghum, and next year we will have 1,500 mu (100 hectares). At the same time, we will also promote the cultivation of characteristic agricultural products such as Jade Pepper and Tianguo No.1 Rice,” said Long Changjin, Party secretary of the village.
In 2023, Paipeng Village achieved a collective economic income of over 1.5 million yuan by developing characteristic industries, ranking first among the 8 villages of Lyudongshan Town.
In 2021, the collective economy income of the village was only 50,000 yuan. Young people in the village went out to work and abandoned a large amount of fertile land, because most crops are difficult to grow in Lyudongshan Town due to high altitude and cold climate.
In 2022, Peng Wu, first secretary of the rural revitalization work team stationed in the village along with his team members made investigations, worked out a plan and determined to develop characteristic industries.
In the same year, Lyudongshan Mythical Culture Tourism Company newly established in the village reached a cooperation agreement with Jiugui Liquor Co., Ltd., and planted more than 30 mu (2 hectares) of glutinous sorghum with a net income of 80,000 yuan.
In 2023, Paipeng Village cultivated 330 mu (22 hectares) of glutinous sorghum. “At the beginning, we were also doubtful about planting glutinous sorghum. The village officials told us that we didn’t have to bear the losses with a poor harvest, so that we decided to plant glutinous sorghum. It’s unexpected that glutinous sorghum grows well in our village, and we needn’t go out to work,” said a villager.
“Paipeng Village is particularly suitable for sorghum to accumulate nutrients due to its high altitude and large temperature differences, and the liquor brewed with sorghum produced here are tastier,” said Peng Wu, adding that the Paipeng Qiongye Sorghum Liquor brewed with the ancient method has received unanimous praise.
In addition, with abundant sunlight, and long growth cycle and high nutritional value of crops in Paipeng Village, the work team also actively led the villagers to develop characteristic agriculture, and established Hunan Lyudongshan Buwabi Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. to purchase Jade Pepper and Tianguo No.1 Rice planted in the village, and sell the uniformly packaged natural bamboo shoots and wild Chinese toon picked by villagers to Jishou, Linxiang, Changsha, and other places.
“Three companies have been established in Paipeng Village, covering agriculture and tourism,” said Zhang Xiangyang, deputy minister of the Publicity Department of the Baojing County Party Committee.
He added that Paipeng Village will continue to promote the planting of glutinous sorghum and develop rural tourism with unique Miao characteristics based on agricultural sightseeing and liquor culture.
