Zhishan Village, Jingqiao Town, Lishui District
The 300-acre Cao Zhuang Selenium-Enriched Ecological Park
Selenium-Rich Luffa for Oily SkinIt's harvest time!
Stepping into the Caozhuang Selenium-Enriched Ecological Park, rows of standardized melon trellises stand in orderly formation, their crops thriving. The vines are laden with plump, slender selenium-rich loofahs, and workers are skillfully harvesting them. As basket after basket of fresh vegetables is loaded onto trucks for shipment, this selenium-rich land is transforming its ecological advantages into tangible economic benefits.
This past March
Zhishan Village relies on
Caozhuang Selenium-Enriched Ecological Park
300 mu of selenium-rich land + contract farming
Building the Largest-Scale Plantation in Lishui
Specialized Farm for Oil-Skinned Luffa
“The village has implemented contract farming, establishing purchase agreements with Shanghai-based companies in advance. This has resolved production and sales challenges at the source, allowing villagers to grow their crops with peace of mind and sell them with confidence,” explained Li Qijun, Secretary of the Zhishan Village Party Branch. He added that the peak harvesting season begins in late June, when daily harvests at the base can reach up to 50,000 jin.
When asked about his initial motivation for introducing the oil-skinned loofah, Li Qijun ran the numbers: given the favorable returns from growing it,The base is expected to generate nearly 10,000 yuan per mu; In terms of social benefits,The project has provided employment opportunities for more than 70 villagers right in their own communities.The“I can earn money right here at home and still take care of my family.”Village resident Li Rongqi admitted.
In recent years, Zhishan Village has adopted a model in which the Party branch leads the establishment of cooperatives to revitalize idle land. In collaboration with Professor Pan Genxing’s team from Nanjing Agricultural University, the village has utilized carbon-based circular ecological technology to develop industries such as selenium-enriched rice and specialty fruits and vegetables, complemented by businesses including homestays and revolutionary history study tours. The Caozhuang Selenium-Enriched Ecological Park has evolved into a comprehensive ecological park integrating agritourism, leisure and vacation activities, specialty dining, fruit and vegetable picking, and revolutionary history tourism, attracting over 300,000 visitors annually. Zhishan Village has been successively selected as a Jiangsu Provincial Pilot Village for Ecological Circular Agriculture, a Jiangsu Provincial Characteristic Rural Village, and one of the top ten cases in Jiangsu Province’s “Common Prosperity in 100 Villages” initiative.
“We will build on our existing contract farming foundation to continue expanding the scale of cultivation for high-quality selenium-enriched agricultural products,” said Li Qijun. He added that they will continue to improve supporting services such as fruit-picking experiences and agricultural study tours, encourage more villagers to participate in industry profit-sharing, and foster a larger industry that promotes shared prosperity.
