The Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

Guizhou, once with the largest poverty-stricken population at the provincial level in China, has developed distinctive and advantageous agricultural industries, including three key industries -- beef, tea and chili peppers -- and five advantageous industries, Chinese medical herbs, edible fungi, rosa roxburghii, oil-tea camellia and bamboo, to promote rural revitalization and boost the income of villagers.

Seizing the opportunity to develop economy, Tongren City in Guizhou has built its development around local resource endowments, taking the matcha industry as a breakthrough to drive the transformation, upgrading, and full-chain development of the tea industry.

Currently, Tongren has established 61,600 mu (approximately 4,107 hectares) of high-standard tea gardens for matcha, set up one of the largest workshops for refined matcha manufacturing in the world, with its annual output amounting to 4,000 tonnes.

Tongren City, home to the natural heritage site Mount Fanjingshan, is regarded as the "capital of matcha in China." Its products have been exported to overseas markets including Japan, the United States and France.

Zunyi City, the birthplace of the renowned Zunyi Meeting during the Long March, has resorted to the chili pepper sector by strengthening chili variety research and development, quality control and policy support system construction.

Zunyi has shaped a marketplace, known as "China Chili City," in Xiazi Township. Here, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of chilies are readied each year for distribution across China and for export to countries like the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Italy.

The annual sales volume of dried chili peppers in Zunyi City has exceeded 1 billion yuan, and the total output value of the entire chili industrial chain has reached more than 2 billion yuan. The industry has driven income growth for 500,000 rural households in the city, covering more than 100,000 former poverty-stricken households.

Most areas of Guizhou feature karst terrain, a landscape that often leads to rocky, infertile soil. This unique geography once hindered local development; however, in recent years, the province has turned its barren hills and slopes -- a product of the karst terrain -- into an asset by development.

Zhenning Bouyei-Miao Autonomous County, Anshun City -- the hometown of the world-famous Huangguoshu Waterfall, boasts beautiful landscapes shaped by karst landforms.

In recent years, the county has made the most of its barren hills and slopes to develop the local specialty fruit -- the honey plums.

Zhenning, characterized by its scant rainfall, abundant sunshine and significant diurnal temperature variation, provides an ideal environment for plum cultivation.

The plums grown here, with their exceptional taste reminiscent of honey, have earned the moniker "honey plums."

At present, one mu of honey plums can generate more than 20,000 yuan in income. Over the past decade, the per capita annual income of local villagers has jumped from less than 2,000 yuan to 22,000 yuan.

Liuma Town in Zhenning has now become the province's first "town with an annual output value exceeding 1 billion yuan." The honey plums have been recognized as a national geographical indication product and become the pillar industry to drive Zhenning's rural revitalization.

The provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs noted that with rich cultural and tourism resources, Guizhou has ushered in new opportunities in agricultural industries, including the sour soup and buckwheat. The province will continue to build on its local features, ensuring that more people share the fruits of development.

Source: The Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs