China: A Heilongjiang Grower Reports Yields of About 45 t/ha and Sends Small Tubers to Starch Processing
A grower in Qiqihar, in north-east China, reports a yield of 6,000 jin per mu, or about 45 tonnes per hectare, on 210 mu of potatoes. Large tubers go to the fresh market, and small ones go to starch.
Potato growers in north-east China are in the middle of harvest. In Woniutu, a town in the Meilisi Daur district of Qiqihar city, Heilongjiang province, farmers are lifting a good crop. The state news service China News Service (chinanews.com.cn) reported this on 18 September.
One large grower, Liu Feng, expanded his area to 210 mu this year. A mu is one fifteenth of a hectare, so this is about 14 hectares. The whole town grows almost 1,000 mu of potatoes, or about 67 hectares.
According to the report, the yield reaches 6,000 jin per mu. A jin is half a kilogram. This equals 3 tonnes per mu, or about 45 tonnes per hectare. The report says that the income per tonne of potatoes can reach 1,200 yuan.
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The crop is sorted by size. Large tubers are sold on the fresh market. Small tubers go to processing into starch. According to the report, better sorting and sales by grade raise income by more than 10,000 yuan per shang compared with earlier years. A shang is a local land unit in north-east China, equal to about one hectare.
The harvest also creates local jobs. More than 100 villagers from the area work at the farm during the harvest. They pick, sort and transport potatoes. According to the report, each worker earns about 200 yuan a day.
The grower described potato farming as a business with mature technology and stable sales channels.
All figures come from one report and are based on statements by the grower. They have not been confirmed by official statistics.
Why it matters
The report shows how growers in north-east China add value to a crop that sells at a modest price. Sorting by size allows each part of the crop to find a buyer: the fresh market for large tubers and starch factories for small ones. This reduces waste and raises farm income. The case also shows that seasonal harvest work remains an important source of income in rural areas.
Photo: A potato field (illustrative). wanghongliu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
