Farmers' Clubs Project in Yuanyang Cooperates with Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Science
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Experts from the Institute of Food Crops (IFC), Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences visited the Farmers’ Clubs project in Yuanyang County on March 8th-10th, 2011 to investigate the local production of maize and rice.
According to the investigation report, there is not enough farmland for the local residents to farm, with less than 1 mu per capita. Furthermore, yields are low at about 300 kg per mu for rice and maize. The main reasons for the poor production are that the traditional planting methods used by local farmers lag behind modern technology and most of the farmers are too poor to purchase the fertilizer or other necessary agricultural inputs.
Following the advice of the experts, the Farmers’ Clubs project in Yuanyang will provide training to the farmers on improved farming techniques for these staple crops.
The project has already planted 225 mu maize fields and 130 mu rice fields as demonstration plots following IFC techniques in 2011. The beneficiaries will be 273 households. Through the new skills， the project aims at increasing the output of maize and rice by up to 30%. HPP’s cooperation with IFC provides for an efficient transfer of knowledge from a leading research institute to the local farmers. The improved skills and capacity will make a big difference in the production capacity of the community, without becoming reliant on big financial investments.
The Farmers’ Clubs project in Yuanyang is supported by the Delegation of the European Union to China in Beijing.
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