2020.09.13 13:15 GMT+8

How a small Chinese town is alleviating poverty with rapeseed oil

Updated 2020.09.13 13:15 GMT+8

"The rapeseed oil is extremely pure," said Shi Yuzhu, secretary of the Party branch in Shixia Town, Xihe County, northwest China's Gansu Province at a local oil mill. Shi added that the rapeseed oil here is free of all food additives and contaminants. 

Xihe County is an impoverished county, and growing rape plants has become one of its most important industries for poverty alleviation. Thanks to a cooperation project, Shixia town has introduced a company in 2017 that can purchase local poor households' rapeseed and produce rapeseed oil automatically through workshops. Now a total of 719 poor households grow rapeseed in the town. The industry allows unemployed villagers to work part-time in the workshops during farmers' slack seasons. Every poor household can earn an extra 1,200 to 1,500 yuan a year in the town. This year the oil mill is expected to produce 350 to 400 tons of rapeseed oil. 

Copyright © 

RELATED STORIES