China’s dedicated organic eco-village
‘Eco-villages are intentional communities with the goal of becoming more socially, economically and ecologically sustainable . . .’
CHINA is embracing a new green, organic revolution with one of the world’s first dedicated organic eco-villages in the Chengdu region. Chengdu is home to a dedicated developing 1,000-hectare organic ecovillage, called Sunshine Earth Organic Eco-Village, at Xing-Yi town.
“Many people in China already expect this rural development model to be the key solution to China’s Rural Urbanisation Movement.
“Hopefully, Xing-Yi Town can be duplicated to tens of thousands of other towns around the world,’’ said Jane Tsao, the public relations director of the organic summit’s organisers, the Organic Trade Union of China - a young NGO (trade membership association) dedicated to growing the country’s organic agricultural industry.
“We see this eco-village as being the platform to make China a good quality food producer, not utilising conventional farming techniques, but promoting organic agriculture,” Ms Tsao said.
“Eco-villages are intentional communities with the goal of becoming more socially, economically and ecologically sustainable.
“This eco-village is built around the development of an organic industry concentrating on making the eco-village beyond just a lifestyle but something sustainable business-wise.
“Xing-Yi is a traditional town in rural China with agriculture a major source of income to 90 per cent of its residents.
“The town was under-developed with only a few factories offering employment and as a result many young villagers decided to find careers outside of their birthplace,” Ms Tsao said.
“BIOFarm, one of the partners of this eco-town project, had previously established a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) and promoted the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement in Shanghai, China.
“BIOFarm also offered alternative solutions to the balance of rural-urban development by means of organic agriculture.
“Xing-Yi Town is a region where many rivers pass through the agri- cultural lands and so water supply.
“The water quality is good because it is upstream of the Yangzi River and thus has no nearby polluting industries.
“However, local residents need to be encouraged to take good care of their hometown by not disposing of their waste into the river.
“Environmental education programs have been put in place to teach residents alternative waste disposal methods,” Ms Tsao said.
“The agriculture lands are geographically on a plain which has been known as ‘the land of abundance’ ever since ancient times.
“This old name reflects a rich foodsupply region in the ancient Sichuan province. Fruit trees and forests are scattered throughout the plain.
“In the eco-town’s center there is a Pupa garden (a botanical garden featuring many bamboo trees and trees that are hundreds of years old). This is the biggest forest in the region.
“Organic farming began at Xing-Yi in September, 2010 with the planting of seasonal organic vegetables, fruits, herbs, Chinese traditional medicine plants, grains, flowers for honey production, mushrooms and more.”
Ms Tsao said that up to 100 varieties of produce were grown on 34 hectares of land in Stage 1 of the project, with the target increasing in stages to a total of 1,000 hectares under production - a combination of organic vegetables, fruit and mushrooms plus organic livestock,’’.
Many markets have been developed to support the eco-town’s produce including supermarkets and restaurants in Chengdu city; a farmers’ market; home-delivery CSA baskets; organic restaurants in Xing-Yi town; on-site consumption during farm tours; and cafeterias in schools, government agencies and supportive private enterprises.
“Farmers participating in this ecotown project include local traditional
it boasts a rich farmers, professional farmers who are familiar with organic farming and the so-called ‘new-type farmers’ who have their distinct professional backgrounds and are starting to learn organic/sustainable agricultural techniques - such as our young chefs working at Sunshine BIOFarm,” Ms Tsao said.
“I believe these new-type farmers and the professional bio-farmers understand the eco-town concept and readily comply with organic agricultural principles.
“Most of the traditional local farmers are beginning to appreciate the eco-town’s initiative by seeing a positive change to their hometown from an underdeveloped village with few business activities to a clean and organic town with a vital economy,” she said.
Organic Trade Union of China
(OTUC)
“To promote the eco-town concept in both the local and international organic market, BIOFarm and several leading pioneers started the Organic Trade Union of China (OTUC) in 2010 based in Xing-Yi’s Pupa garden area.
“OTUC is the first NGO to service the organic industry in China. With solid support from local government and enterprises, OTUC has coordinated several activities and events to help grow the country’s organic industry.
“There are at least 100 key organisations, government departments, academic research centers and universities involved in the development of the eco-town,” Ms Tsao said.
“With the aid of governmental support and OTUC, we can optimistically foresee big progress in the development of this eco-town which will benefit the organic industry, the farmers, the rural villages, and above all, create a sustainable environment,” she said.
The 2011 Organic China (Chengdu) International Organic Industry Summit drew some 500 individuals representing almost 190 groups, including the major three organic certification bodies in China (OFDC, COFCC and Ecocert), and international authorities such as IFOAM, GOMA, FAO, UNCTAD, OTA and leading organic authorities in Asia.
“The first OTUC Summit has definitely had a very positive impact.
“As the summit slogan says: ‘Uniting together for an organic future’, China’s organic-related organisations and companies were united for the first time with such an international experience of discussion and informationsharing,” Ms Tsao said.
“In the coming years, OTUC will focus on broad-spectrum organic agriculture education courses and workshops.”
The idea of organic agriculture first came to China in the 1980s, but from then until 2005 the industry was export-orientated.
By 2008, China was starting to pay a lot more attention to food safety due to a series of scandals, most infamously the poisoning of babies with melamine-tainted infant formula.
This event spurred the communityled organic agricultural revolution.
Compared to thriving markets in the European Union and United States, China’s organic agriculture sector is still in its infancy, but has attracted solid support from governments and business leaders.
Ms Tsao said the Xing-Yi ecotown project had marked many successes since its conception and the future looked bright in developing the eco-town as a model for regions throughout the world.