Chili seedlings increase farmers’ income in Xiangxi Prefecture

Xiangxi Prefecture has many high mountains and deep valleys, with soft soil and suitable temperature, making it a good place to plant chili peppers. Luxi Glass Pepper has a bright red and transparent color, with a moderate spicy taste. It’s one of the main varieties of chili peppers exported from Hunan Province to countries like South Korea, Canada, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

It’s now the best time for growing chili pepper seedlings. “After low temperature weather, the growth of chili pepper seedlings is still slightly affected.” Li Chao, head of a cooperative said that a series of measures must be taken to ensure proper temperature for pepper seedlings. Li Chao introduced that last year, the price of chili peppers coming onto the market earlier was good. This year, the cultivation area of chili peppers has been expanded to 20 mu (about 1.33 hectares), and more than 33,000 chili seedlings can be cultivated in each mu (0.067 hectares) of land.

“Chili growers have ordered 10 mu (0.67 hectares) of seedlings before the chili peppers appear on the market, and the remaining chili seedlings will be sold to nearby villagers at a low price of 0.2 yuan per seedling.” The Luxi Xi’nong Chili Pepper Cooperative has an annual income of about 800,000 yuan.

There is a street gathering vendors from Hunan, Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces who purchase dried glass chili peppers in Xinglongchang Town. A local villager said that every household in Mideng Village of Xinglongchang Town grows glass peppers. And the fresh glass peppers sell at a price of 5 yuan per kg and dried ones 40 yuan per kg.

In recent years, the town has planted 9,000 mu (600 hectares) of peppers, and many farmers have built new houses through chili planting. Luxi Glass Pepper has obtained the certificate of pollution-free production in China and the A-level certificate of green good in Hunan Province. The unique climate and soil conditions, as well as technical support improved the quality of peppers, promoted the chili cultivation in towns such as Xiaozhang, Xixi and Pushi, and formed a chili planting, sales and processing industrial chain. In 2023, the output value of peppers in the county reached 180 million yuan.

Tati Village in Baojing County is also a main chili peppers producing area. Now, more than 150 households in the village plant chili seedlings.

Tati Village has developed chili seedling industry for more than 20 years. The chili seedlings in the village have a high survival rate, a high transplanting yield and a good quality, attracting chili growers from provinces and cities like Guizhou, Chongqing and Sichuan to purchase.

“In the past, we promoted chilies door to door, and now customers choose door-to-door pickup or online shipping,” said Zhang Fabiao, secretary of the Tati Village.

Now, the planting area of pepper seedlings in Tati Village reaches more than 200 mu (about 13.33 hectares), with over 200 seedlings, and the output value is expected to be about 5 million yuan.