Jungar Banner: Bumper Harvest of Pepper Makes Way for Wealth

The fiery red pepper embraces a bumper harvest and makes the way for the rural revitalization. In 2023, a total of 224.2 hectares of peppers were planted at a large scale in Jungar Banner, including 66.7 hectares in Nuanshui Village and 157 hectares in Shi'erliancheng Village.

At present, more than 120 hectares of peppers in Sanshiqingdi Village, Shi'erliancheng Village, Jungar Banner, are harvested, and the good quality attracts merchants to buy at villagers' home. Villagers are celebrating the bumper pepper harvest in the farmland.

Bumper Harvest of Pepper in Jungar Banner [Photo Provided by Jungar Banner Convergence Media Center]

Walking into the pepper planting base of Sanshiqingdi Village, rows of peppers are gratifying, bright in color and dazzling on the branches. Villagers are working busily there. More than 40 villagers are picking peppers in sunny weather. Everyone picks, sorts and bags them skillfully. Bags of red peppers are spread on the ridges. The red peppers outline a bumper harvest picture. "The overall growth of peppers this year is quite good, and the yield per hectare can reach about 2,500 kg," Said Wu Long, head of Jiayang Breeding Cooperative in Jungar Banner.

Industry is the key to rural development. In 2023, Jiayang Breeding Cooperative transferred more than 120 hectares of land to plant red peppers, including four varieties of peppers (Chaotian, Qianjinhong, Xinba and Qingyang). With the operation mode of "Company+Cooperative+Farmer", it implements centralized seedling raising and guaranteed purchase, and gradually forms an "order-based" industry value chain integrating seedling raising, production and sales. Meanwhile, it also transforms the local rich pepper resource advantages into economic advantages, and share benefits, so that farmers can transfer land with rent, work to earn salary, and allocate shares in cooperation. Three hundred people can be employed every day during the harvest period, and more than 600 people throughout the year.

In recent years, guided by the government and led by cooperatives, Jungar Banner has adjusted the agricultural structure, developed high-efficiency economic crops such as peppers, carrots, sweet glutinous corn and tomatoes, created a characteristic industry of "one village with one featured product", promoted the revitalization of rural industries, and helped farmers increase their income and become rich. "The price of corn fluctuates greatly. Pepper is a cash crop. If our management is in place and the market price is proper, the overall benefit of pepper is much higher than that of corn. If the benefit of pepper is good, we can also pay dividends to the villagers," Said Wu Long, head of Jiayang Breeding Cooperative in Jungar Banner.

Nowadays, the pepper industry in Jungar Banner has gradually realized the characteristic and large-scale development. Through the industrial agglomeration of "peppers", the fiery red peppers have made the way for farmers to increase their wealth. With these, the pepper industry are further developed in Jungar Banner.