From Pig Feed to Profitable Harvest – How a Mountain Village’s Potato Plan Transforms Elderly Lives
On a rainy June day, the “Gratitude Pavilion” at the entrance of Jianglingshang Village in Chun’an County, Zhejiang Province, turned into a bustling potato collection point as part of the local “Mountain Village Vegetable Purchase Plan.” Eight years ago, most potatoes grown here ended up as pig feed due to lack of market access, but today, thanks to a guaranteed purchase price of 3 yuan per jin (0.5 kg), elderly villagers like 74-year-old Fang Fafu earn over 2,000 yuan from his 800-jin harvest, while 68-year-old Ye Delan made more than 6,000 yuan last year—enough to cover her daily expenses. The transformation began in 2019 when Yang Caihong, an entrepreneur from Shandong, partnered with local officials to introduce high-quality seed potatoes from Hubei and Zhejiang, distribute organic fertilizer for free, and offer buyback guarantees. Now 42 households consistently grow potatoes, and the elderly no longer see farming as a burden but as a source of income and even physical exercise.
This success story is built on years of dedicated support from rural instructors and first secretaries dispatched by the West Lake Scenic Area management authority since 2015. Their relentless efforts—from door-to-door marketing to establishing stable supply chains—gradually shifted potato sales from “selling somehow” to “selling well.” Today, the baton has passed to current instructor Yu Yugeng, who created a 5-mu “shared vegetable garden” that generated over 15,000 yuan for the village collective this year. At the heart of quality control is “Yu Ma” (Mother Yu), the village’s rigorous gatekeeper who has hand-sorted every potato for eight years. She rejects any that are too large, too small, green-skinned, insect-bitten, or damaged—without exception, even for her own relatives. Her well-worn notebook meticulously records every transaction, from Fang Guangming’s 116 jin to Fang Changhua’s 104 jin. Her “iron-fisted” standards have earned buyers’ trust and secured the village’s reputation, proving that quality and integrity are the true keys to rural revitalization.
