Cili (Rosa roxburghii tratt), a wild fruit seen everywhere in mountains in Guizhou, has higher yield and sale price compared with traditional crops here such as corn. It exceeds the imagination of villagers in Yezhong Village, Yezhong Township, Shuicheng District of Liupanshui City. Tang Fakai, the Village Party Secretary and Rural Cooperative Director, introduced various advantages of cili with great passion: “People are able to appreciate its flowers in spring while enjoy its fruits in autumn. Growing it makes local environment better and villagers richer.”

“When I was a child, my grandfather often took me to mountains to pick cili.” At that time, this kind of fruit was quite common and of course ignored. What made Tang Fakai realize its market value was that once he found the price reached 40 yuan/kilo in Guiyang City. In 2014, Tang and some villagers went to Longli County—the home to Cili—to study the planting of the fruit. Going back, they visited villagers’ homes to inform the benefits of growing cili and organized the villagers meeting.” At first, many of them could not see a bright future, thus lacking the courage to plant it, not to mention sell it. However, after farmers learned about the success of other places, such as the Tiancili Company in Liupanshui which had a great success in producing and selling cili juice, and cili processing factories in Guiyang, they were confident that the fruit can be sold out at a good price.”

In 2015, villagers began to grow cili. They themselves bought the seeds of cili, and then spent a lot of time in fields to figure out the best ways of planting Cili with high quality and yield. Once the fruit was mature, the sales mattered. If the selling volume was low, the motivation for farmers to plant would be reduced. Luckily, in 2016, a small processing factory were introduced to the village, purchasing cili at the price of 4 yuan/kilo, which helped build up villagers’ confidence.

In 2018, as the planting area of cili in Shuicheng District expanded. Guizhou Chuhao Agricultural Technology Development, Co., Ltd, a state-owned enterprise, was established in the economic development zone of Shuicheng District. It tried to purchase all the cili at a price not lower than 6 yuan/kilo. Tang Fakai told the journalist, “The traditional crops here is corn, but now it has changed, for the new one could make significant economic benefits. In fact, cili is 6 yuan/kilo while corn is 2.4 yuan/kilo.” In 2019 to 2020, villagers experienced a surge of enthusiasm in expanding the growing area of cili and upgrading management. In 2020, there is a total of 310 tons production of fresh cili, worth 1.86 million yuan.

At present, the growing area of cili has reached over 26500 hectares, involving 37,000 rural families with 162,000 residents in 25 counties (towns, streets) and 96 villages. In 2020, 5,105 tons of the cili fruits were collected and processed, and 3,216 tons of the primary pulp of cili juice were produced in Guizhou Chuhao Agricultural Technology Development, Co., Ltd. Accordingly, it has reached a total of 162 million yuan purchase and realized 91.46 million yuan in sales. The company also joined e-commerce platforms and constantly improved its online and offline marketing system, for example, it has cooperated with Huatie Group, Freshippo, Wumart and other on-line commerce companies to increase the coverage of its products. It also kept increasing the products’ presence in high-speed trains, expressway service areas and gas stations. In addition, its main product “Chuhao Cili Sparking Drink” has been recognized as one of the 16 products among deep processing agricultural products of high growth enterprises in Guizhou.

Planting cili is not only profitable, but also brings ecological value to the land with big altitude difference and serious stony desertification. Tang Zhongguang, the head of the Forestry Station in Yezhong Village says, “There is no need to plow after planting the seeds of cili, while corn is the opposite, every year it requires plowing and weeding, which is detrimental to water and soil conservation.” Given the adaptability and ecological value of cili, it has become a modern and efficient industry in the mountain area in Shuicheng District.

In spring, cili flowers in full bloom presents a brilliant feast of pink to eyes and promises a good harvest to farmers.Cili (Rosa roxburghii tratt), a wild fruit seen everywhere in mountains in Guizhou, has higher yield and sale price compared with traditional crops here such as corn.