Chilli peppers in Southern China are entering mature season in June. Rows of chilli peppers are growing well in the base of Nongshengda Planting and Breeding Professional Cooperative of Pengyan Village, Shilan Town, Huayuan County. Long Chunhui, head of the base, is busy picking, transporting, sorting and packaging chilli peppers with workers.
“I am a native of Pengyan Village. I want to lead villagers to plant chilli peppers, so they can work and earn money at their doorstep.” Two years ago, Long Chunhui, who is in her early thirties, was a real estate executive in Changsha and shareholder of a home decoration interior design company. Two years later, in the plantation of her hometown, she is invigorating the chilli pepper industry.
In 2022, Long Chunhui contracted about 50 mu (3.33 hectares) of land in Pengyan Village to plant chilli peppers. After two years of market investigation and risk assessment, she returned to the village to invest 5 million yuan to establish a cooperative. With a model of cooperatives plus farmers, she established a cooperation mechanism with farmers and provided comprehensive services for farmers.
Now, the cooperative has driven over 50 large growers in townships such as Longtan, Shilan and Malichang to jointly plant chillies, providing job opportunities for more than 2,000 people at different stages of chilli production, and continuously expanded the planting area in surrounding counties and cities.
Zhang Yuansheng, a 61-year-old villager from Jinniu Village in Malichang Town, works in the chilli pepper base nearby.
“We have extensive sales channels, such as online and offline platforms, and major vegetable wholesale markets. We have signed orders with over 30 processing plants. We also plan to build a processing plant to increase the added value of vegetables, so that villagers can fatten their wallets,” Long Chunhui introduced.
In the future, Long Chunhui will further expand the scale of the chilli pepper industry to help villagers get jobs near their homes while taking care of their families.
