“Social Enterprise Collaboration” in Linshu County Strengthens Sweet Potato Industry

LINYI, China, Dec. 12, 2024 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/–

Located in Qingyun Town, Linshu County, Shandong Province, the Sweet Potato Cooperative Industrial Park features rows of green shoots neatly arranged in the virus-free seedling breeding base. The virus-free sweet potato seedlings cultivated here can meet the seedling demand for 100,000 mu in the surrounding counties. Compared to conventional varieties, virus-free sweet potato seedlings have stable traits and can increase yields by more than 20%.

Sweet potato is a signature crop of Linshu County, with a planting area of 160,000 mu and an average yield of 7,000 catties per mu. To enhance this profitable industry, Linshu County has established a specialized working team to conduct extensive research and enhance both internal and external connections. In addition, the county has actively promoted investment and led the establishment of the Sweet Potato Supply and Marketing Cooperative to support the full-scale growth of the sweet potato industry. The cooperative consists of 22 business entities, including the Municipal Agricultural Development Group, the County Supply and Marketing Cooperative, Jinfeng Commune, providing comprehensive services from seedling breeding to planting, processing, and post-production support.

In the seedling cultivation phase, the cooperative has partnered with the Xuzhou Sweet Potato Research Institute to establish a virus-free seedling research and cultivation center. They have successfully developed 36 varieties of sweet potato, which cover over 300,000 mu of planting area, achieving a yield increase of 20% per mu. In the planting phase, the cooperative offers a menu-style, all-encompassing service to local farmers, making sweet potato cultivation as convenient as ordering food online, and helping to reduce costs by 300 yuan per mu. In the processing phase, the cooperative has formed a joint venture with social enterprises to establish Shandong Shuhe Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., which introduced an automated sweet potato deep-processing production line from abroad. Using an advanced steaming-baking technique, the company processes 100 tons of sweet potatoes daily and has developed 36 varieties of cold-fresh and snack foods, promoting the development of the entire sweet potato industrial chain from seedling production to deep processing.

With over 3,000 members, the cooperative currently manages nearly 100,000 mu of sweet potato fields, and processes 30,000 tons of sweet potatoes annually, benefiting 32,000 farmers in the surrounding areas.