Sweet Return

An expanding corn industry brings more income to poor villagers in China

- Li Kaizhi

Dachazi porridge is a popular sta-ple food in northeastern region of China. It is made by boiling the whole corn kernels with a handful of red kidney beans. In autumn when the corn is ripe, local people like to enjoy a bowl of sticky Dachazi porridge every day.

“The porridge made out of corn in our yard is really tasty,” said Wang Guiyun, who has lived in Heilongjiang Province in northeast China, one of China’s main corn producing areas, for 70 years. Wang is happy with the good harvest of corn of his family.

“This year has been a bumper year for agriculture, especially for the corn crop, while most industries have been hit by the COVID-19 epidemic,” Wang said.

In recent years, thanks to the various subsidies for agriculture, corn has played a vital role in raising farmers’ income and alleviating poverty, besides contributing to food security.

Cooperative model

Farmers’ cooperative is a mutual-aid economic organization which is jointly managed by the farmers on the basis of household contract management. It is a fundamental organization connecting small farmers with the development of modern agriculture.

By the end of June, there were more than 2.2 million farmers’ cooperatives, covering nearly half of the rural households across the country, according to the data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China.