At 2 o'clock in the morning, in Zhushanzhuang Village, Xiliucun Town, Zunhua City, Hebei Province, many villagers were still busy.
Walking into a number of garlic planting greenhouses in the village, the garlic is fresh and tender, and the villagers are racing against time to cut, pack and pack the garlic. At 10 a.m., the garlic will appear in the Xinfadi market in Beijing, and from there it will be distributed to many places across the country.
On January 23, farmers in Zhushanzhuang Village, Xiliu Village Town, harvested garlic. (Photo provided by the interviewee) "Everyone, hurry up, our dishes can't be late." Shao Zhandong squatted on the ground and shouted while cutting garlic. Shao Zhandong is the chairman of the Wencheng Garlic Professional Cooperative in the village, who has been growing garlic for more than 20 years and now operates 32 greenhouses. Approaching the Spring Festival, Zhushanzhuang Village can sell up to 100,000 kilograms of garlic a day.
Zhao Haijun, secretary of the party branch of Zhushanzhuang Village, said that more than 30 years ago, it was still a poor village. "At that time, some villagers went out to work to learn garlic cultivation technology, and when the country implemented the 'vegetable basket' project, the villagers drove each other, and more and more people joined the planting team, so they found a way to get rich. Zhao Haijun said.
From a family cultivation to large-scale planting, and now the village has 18 professional cooperatives, Zhushanzhuang Village has become one of the largest garlic producing areas in North China, with an annual output of more than 40 million kilograms of garlic and an annual output value of 300 million yuan. In recent years, the village has been awarded the national "one village, one product" demonstration village and town, and the national rural characteristic industry village of 100 million yuan.
With garlic gaining a firm foothold in large-scale vegetable markets in many places across the country, Zhushanzhuang Village has started brand management and deep processing.
The reporter learned that the village produces about 200 tons of waste garlic roots every day, which is buried in the mountains and poured to the edge of the village, which has a great impact on the environment. With the support of the local party committee, a harmless treatment plant for waste garlic root was built here in 2021, which solved the problem of environmental pollution and injected new vitality into the high-quality development of the garlic industry in mountain villages.
After multiple processes in the factory, the waste garlic root can extract garlic essential oil, and the price per kilogram has reached more than 400 yuan, and the product has been sold to overseas markets. Zhao Haijun said.
On January 23, farmers in Zhushanzhuang Village, Xiliu Village Town, loaded garlic yellow into trucks for shipment. This night, more than 400 greenhouses in Zhushanzhuang Village were "swept away", and each greenhouse could cut out more than 60 bags of garlic, which had to be loaded and pulled away by more than 20 trucks. Before the Spring Festival, there is a batch of greenhouse garlic in the village to be harvested, and at the same time as the pre-holiday market, it has also made a good start for the villagers to increase their income in the New Year.
After a busy time, the villagers went home to rest one after another, and the small mountain village ushered in a new day. (Reporter Yang Fan, Zhao Penghao).
*:Xinhua.