Rural Pingyao seeks to boost rural vitalization

Zuojiapu village in Pingyao county, North China's Shanxi province, has made efforts to achieve rural vitalization in recent years. 

The village, with more than 266 hectares of arable land and home to a stretch of the Fenhe River, has historically had a weak agricultural industry. 

In 2019, Zuojiapu set up a cooperative, and more than 800 rural households became shareholders, with their farmland to receive large-scale land management. Sun Bo, top official of Ninggu town, said that "This increased the effective cultivation area, promoted the construction of high-standard farmland, and improved supporting facilities such as field roads and irrigation canals." 

To improve land output efficiency, the cooperative has cooperated with specialized agricultural service enterprises, introduced advanced production and management methods, explored a variety of planting models, and scientifically selected seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. 

This has reduced the comprehensive input cost per mu (666 square meters) of the cooperative by 250 yuan ($35.93), while the average income per mu has increased 30 percent. 

From December 2020 to October this year, the village's collective revenue increased from 800,000 yuan to 4 million yuan, and the average income of villagers per mu reached 917 yuan.