Across China: Prosperity grows on sweetcorn

Hu Changming used to grow regular corn, but these days, sweetcorn is transforming his business.

"One hectare of sweetcorn can help rake in 4,000 yuan (595 U.S. dollars) more than a hectare of regular corn," said Hu, head of a food company in northeast China's Jilin Province. "Regular corn is sold by the kilo, but sweetcorn is sold separately, and one sweetcorn can fetch up to 7 yuan."

Sweetcorn's special texture and delicate quality make it quite popular. In China, they are also called "fruit corn." Compared to regular corn, sweetcorn is sweeter, more delicate and has a special aroma.

Jilin is located in the country's northeast, a region known as "China's granary" for its highly productive black soil. In the northeast, corn production became a pillar industry as local authorities urged more corn cultivation to "shore up China's food system."

Official statistics show that the area of corn cultivation in Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin expanded from about 6.3 million hectares in 2003 to about 11 million hectares in 2014.

In the past, regular corn was mainly used as fodder or processed as alcohol, and corn prices remained low.

As the increasingly wealthy Chinese pay more attention to balanced diets, sweetcorn has found a huge market.

"Sweetcorn has great market potential and reasonable prices, so we rented 150 hectares of land to grow the corn this year," Hu said.

Sweetcorn plantations have higher requirements that include seeds quality, growing distance and field management.

"Only when you grow according to these specific standards can you reap good harvests," Hu said.

In Jiutai District of Jilin's provincial capital Changchun, a corn company has attracted 50 local villagers for employment. The company signed contracts for the growth of sweetcorn on 100 hectares of land. The business allowed the agricultural structure to change while providing seasonal jobs for locals.

"The regular corn could not fetch good prices," said the company's general manager Zhang Lianwei. "After they signed contracts with us, we will provide seeds and fertilizer and teach them how to grow."

The sweetcorn business has not been without the support of the local government. In recent years, the Jilin government encouraged the growth of high-quality corn in 25 counties.

"The sweetcorn will sweeten the lives of locals in the future," Zhang said.