Wenchuan pepper harvest earns 120 yuan a day

August is a good time for pepper farmers in Wenchuan to pick prickly ash. Walking into Qiang Village, Damen Village, Longxi Township, Wenchuan County, I saw pepper trees all over the mountains, pepper like agate covered with branches, and under the pepper trees, the villagers were busy with their hands and concentrated on picking pepper.

Villager Yuan Zhilong is a big grower of Zanthoxylum bungeanum in Damen Village. He has become rich by planting Zanthoxylum bungeanum in recent years. In the pepper forest, Yuan Zhilong said while picking pepper that his family has grown pepper for more than 30 years and has nearly 10 mu of pepper land. In order to collect pepper in time, he invited nearly 10 villagers to help. "the output of fresh peppers this year is expected to be 5000 jin, while that of dried peppers can reach 1200 jin. According to 60 yuan per jin of dried peppers, apart from the labor costs of more than 15000 yuan, you can still earn about 57000 yuan." Yuan Zhilong told me that with a bumper harvest of pepper this year, pepper growers in the village will have the least income of more than 8000 yuan.

Around August every year, villagers from surrounding towns such as Yanmen and Mianyu work in Longxi and other pepper-producing places to help pick pepper. In Damen Village, the author met Zhao Guozhi, a pepper picker from Baishui Village, Yanmen Township, Wenchuan County. "during this period of time, when the farm was idle, I went to the gate village to pick pepper in order to earn some money to subsidize the family. This year, dozens of villagers from the same village came with me to pick pepper in Damen Village. " She said, "over the past few years, we have come from Yanmen to pick pepper and get 3 yuan for a jin of pepper. A person has to pick more than 40 jin a day and can earn about 120 yuan. The local time for picking fresh peppers is more than 20 days, and you can earn more than 2000 yuan. "

In recent years, with the strong support of party committees and governments at all levels, Damen Village has made great efforts to develop industries such as characteristic pepper, green red crispy plums and vegetables. More than 400 mu of Chinese pepper has been planted in the village. It is estimated that the output of dried pepper will reach more than 20, 000 jin this year, with an income of more than 1.2 million yuan. Wenchuan Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting is mainly distributed in Longxi, Ke Ku, Yanmen, Weizhou and other townships, with a planting area of more than 3200 mu. This year, the output of pepper in the county is expected to reach more than 70 tons, with a total output value of more than 7 million yuan.

Yang Guangfu