It’sonlynatural
More healthy eating trends in China’s big cities are driving a move toward organic farming
Sitting down to lunch on a cold winter’s day at Chunnixiang Ecological Farm, more than an hour’s drive out of Beijing urban area, was a simple affair. The sparsely furnished but warm kitchen was tucked away in a small section of a hothouse, vegetable dishes steaming on a well-worn dining table. The options included kale, brussels sprouts, horse radish and home-made bread with fermented soya paste. The fresh taste was obvious - more so because the vegetables had been picked an hour before and the farm grows its produce organically.
Wu Luluan, who owns the farm with her husband, is a woman with a mission. She wants to get people eating more healthily and the country farming organically. The term organic is generally used for anything produced or involving production on a farm with no use of chemical fertilizers, artificial chemicals or pesticides.
The former teacher got into farming in 2006 after she and her husband experienced recurring health problems and spent much of their salaries on hospital bills.
“After investigation and medical consultation, we found that the poor nutrition we were getting from local food was at the root of our deteriorating health,” she told Chinafrica.
In a quandary over where to source healthy foods, she took the plunge and decided to try her hand at growing her own vegetables and following a healthier lifestyle. can be grown year round. Beds of thriving fennel, chives, peppers, beetroot and shallots give the sweating hothouse an inviting aroma, all oblivious to the freezing temperatures outside.
Wu said the government also encourages farmers to grow organic vegetables, giving her a $1,000 annual subsidy as well as contracting her to manage several of the hothouses registered to the collective of Guangjitun Village in Yanqing District of Beijing, where Wu’s farm locates. She resists the lure of investors saying some farmers often want to produce more by using chemicals, something she won’t accept.
Her operation made in excess of $58,000 profit in 2015 and provides employment for up to 20 skilled farmers in peak season, who come from across the country.
“Local farmers in Beijing are wealthy from leasing their land use right to farmers coming from different places nationwide and don’t want to work on this farm,” she said.
Liu Fuli hails from northeast China’s Jilin Province where she has her own farm. She came to Beijing to work with Wu three years ago, after her own farm was flooded. Her brother now runs the family peanut farm.
“Organic vegetable farming is much better than the crops I planted at home and I think this healthy method is the future of farming,” said Liu. She is also encouraged by trend in her province of younger people going to rural areas to take up organic farming.
Wang Yongyan who hails from northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province was invited to work on Wu’s farm after being employed by a Chinese farmer in Russia for two years.
She says farmers in China live a good life and organic farming is the future. “Around my farm in Heilongjiang, most farmers grow their own organic veggies for themselves,” she said. Both her and Liu believe the higher cost of organic vegetables to consumers are not a factor when compared to the health benefits.