Guizhou focuses on chile pepper bonanza

Editor's Note: China Daily is running a series of stories on old revolutionary bases with profound history and heritage that are striving to lead local people on the road to prosperity in the new era.

Plan to raise quality, processing to transform province into major producer of spicy delight

Zunyi, Guizhou province, is developing its chile industry to consolidate poverty alleviation efforts. Having played a pivotal role in the history of the Communist Party of China, the city was the location of the Zunyi Conference, a crucial turning point in the Long March (1934-36), which led to the ultimate success of the revolution.

By 5 am, the chile trading center in Zunyi's Xinpu New District is already bustling as farmers and merchants try to broker the best deals.

"The center provides farmers a better trading environment, abundant storage and better transportation services," said Wu Yingbo, a chile farmer from nearby Xinzhou town. "It's a convenient way for everyone to develop their business and is a good platform."

Wu Yingbo is a 45-year-old farmer from Yumen village in Xinzhou town. He now oversees 12 square kilometers of chile plantations across the country, including plantations in Gansu province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"I used to work on a cotton farm in Xinjiang in 2004, but I saw that the agricultural sector was better developed there than in my hometown, so I decided to plant chiles," Wu said, adding that he brought seeds from Guizhou to the autonomous region.