XI’AN: Born and brought up in the countryside, Cao Yongliang, 25, is very familiar with alfalfa, which is widely grown in his hometown, but he never expected the common forage crop for farm animals would bring him a fortune.
Cao’s hometown, Longxian County in the city of Baoji, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, boasts vast tracts of pasture, making it a key area for livestock rearing in the province.
In recent years, Longxian has developed the dairy goat farming industry into its featured industry, establishing a relatively complete industrial chain, including forage planting, dairy goat husbandry and dairy production.
The county now has 184 large-scale dairy goat farms and a stock of about 520,000 dairy goats.
The output value of the whole industry chain has risen to 7 billion yuan (about 1 billion U.S. dollars).
Booming development has attracted more local farmers and young people like Cao to participate in the industry.
“Alfalfa is usually sold to farmers and companies to feed dairy goats in Longxian. It is also a well-received potherb in south China, so I began to sell it through my online store in 2020,” said Cao.
By cooperating with about 30 local farmers, he sold over 25,000 kg of alfalfa last year on the e-commerce platform.
“More people are ‘embedded’ in the extended industrial chain,” said Li Yichao, general manager of Herds Dairy Group, a leading dairy producer in Longxian, with over 1,200 employees. –Agencies
