Minqin farmers reap golden harvest from sunflowers

For villagers living in Minqin county in northwest Gansu province, sunflowers have become the new gold.

One of the driest areas in the country, Minqin is bounded by the Tengger and Badain Jaran deserts to the east, west and north, and is increasingly threatened by these sprawling expanses of sand.

Traditional crop cultivation has become almost impossible in Minqin as the ground water level has dropped by 50 percent to 1 m over the past 20 years, due to the overuse of water resources.

So living on the fringes of the desert, local villagers have turned to cash crops, such as grapes and narrow-leaved oleasters, a drought-tolerant tree, as these can better adapt to the dry weather, and help stabilize the sands.

Since they were introduced to Minqin in the 1990s, sunflowers have become one of the favorite cash crops of local villagers.

In 2008, around 30,000 families were growing about 3,500 hectares of sunflowers in Minqin county.

Peng Hongying, from Chengjin village, has already made a small fortune from his 8 hectares of sunflowers.

Last year, he earned about 180,000 yuan from growing sunflowers.

"I started to grow sunflowers in 1999," said Peng, "At that time, I was not sure whether I could make money from it, so I only gave it a try on a small plot of land."

Wei Mingguang, general manager of Gansu Joy Agriculture Science & Technology Co, first brought sunflower seeds to Minqin.

In 1997, Wei, who was already a successful seed dealer, started to grow sunflowers on a trial basis in Minqin.

"When I was doing seed trading, I learned that the sunflower is highly drought tolerant, and it can grow in saline and alkaline soils, which is exactly the case in Minqin," Wei told China Business Weekly.

Fried sunflower seeds are a traditional snack for Chinese people, and the seeds can also be made into cooking oil.

Wei set up his company in 1997 and introduced sunflower growing techniques to his fellow villagers. At harvest time, all of the sunflower kernels were purchased. Peng Hongying and other farmers who were brave enough to get involved tasted benefits.

More and more villagers then took up sunflower farming, as it is not only profitable, but also requires less water and labor.

"The company has introduced the plastic-mulching and drip irrigation system, so the sunflower fields only need watering once a month," said Peng. "Without this, we would have to water the fields every 10 days."

"We can also avoid the tough work that's needed in cotton growing, as cotton harvesting is very labor-intensive," said Peng.

In 2005, Wei started his own production line for extracting sunflower oil when he found out about its health properties.

"Sunflower oil is high in the essential vitamin E and low in saturated fats. Though it is still not so popular in China as it is overseas, I believe more and more people will be attracted to it due to its health benefits," Wei said.

With the new production line he imported from Italy, Wei's company is now able to produce about 3,000 tons of sunflower oil annually.

"We're buying almost all the sunflower kernels in Minqin county, so the local farmers don't have to worry about market demand," said Wei.

Wei has already set up sales channels for his sunflower oil to enter supermarkets in major cities such as Shanghai and Wuhan.

"Just like its beautiful flower head always looking into the sun, I believe the sunflower industry will have a bright and prosperous future," Wei said.

(China Daily 03/02/2009 page5)