Garlic harvest begins for farmers in southwest Chi

Garlic farmers in Yunnan Province are enjoying a plentiful harvest of one of the most important ingredients in Chinese cooking.

Garlic growers in Shidian County, Baoshan City of Yunnan have been busy digging up garlic bulbs recently.

They say their income is considerable thanks to the bountiful harvest this year.

"I planted more than 400 mu (around 26.7 hectares) of garlic this year, and the gross income per mu is about 7,000 to 8,000 yuan (roughly 1,075 to 1,230 U.S. dollars)," said garlic farmer Wang Weijuan.

Because of the favorable weather and soil conditions, this year's garlic bulbs are especially tasty, attracting buyers nationwide as the vegetable hits the market.

Yang Chunyou, a garlic merchant from northeastern China's Qiqihar City, plans to buy more than 600 tons of garlic this year to sell to Russia, an important importer of Chinese garlic.

"The quality of garlic grown in Shidian is good. I came here to purchase garlic as their bulbs are fresh and big and have a pretty color. I plan to sell them to Moscow in Russia, where residents are particularly into garlic," said Yang.

For garlic that is sold domestically, growers are using both offline and online methods to move their product.

"Through e-commerce, we can get about 10,000 orders a day, while the sales volume can reach 40,000 kilograms," said Zhang Longhu, general manager of the E-commerce Public Service Center of Shidian County.

The total acreage of garlic in the county has surpassed 6,000 mu (about 400 hectares), while garlic sales in 2021 are expected to reach more than 42 million yuan (roughly 6.5 million U.S. dollars).