New potato planting method relieves poverty

Wang Huazi, 52, a native of Chaichang village of Miyuzhen township and a farmer in a poverty-stricken area 100 kilometers away from Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, planted potatoes on all his 1.53 hectares of family land this spring, firmly expecting a big harvest.

His confidence comes from Yang Lindong, the new secretary of the village's Party committee.

As Yang is an agricultural expert on potato growing, Wang, like others in the village, calls him "Potato Secretary".

Wang's Chaichang village, and others nearby, is a major area of distressed poverty in Loufan county, which is covered in the national poverty alleviation plan.

Due to consecutive years of drought and early frost, 534 of the 931 villagers are poverty-stricken.

Things changed last year when "Potato Secretary" Yang brought his experience of planting potatoes to the village.

Yan began to work in the village in March 2015 as a member of a poverty alleviation team organized by the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

"In the past, we planted potatoes and millets totally depending on the weather. I could harvest over 1,000 kilograms of potatoes per year if everything went well, but it was also quite normal that the outputs wouldn't offset the costs," said Wang, joking that trying to ensure that he and his family had something to eat seemed like gambling.

After a survey and investigation, Yang found the problems and came up with his solution.

He and the farmers had a pioneering spirit. They started to plant high-yield potatoes on a two-hectare pilot field, using new seeds and advanced agricultural technologies.

The test was a big success. The average output of each mu (0.66 hectare) of land was around 2,800 kilograms and a single potato could reach 1.5-2 kilograms.

Wang said the output using the new seed per mu of land is 1,000 kilograms more than that of the traditional way.

Seventy-four year-old local farmer Yan Erhai said that incomes in the area have doubled.

To get rid of poverty is actually not that difficult as long as we teach local farmers how to plant in a scientific way, Yang said.

Using the poverty alleviation funds, Yang also helped the village buy two tractors and other equipment to mechanize the planting process.