Lavender blooms in Shandong mountains

When Cheng Shaohua, a businessman from Taiwan, joined hands with a company in Weifang, Shandong province, on a project in a mountainous part of the city in 2014, they aimed to develop it into an area focusing on the agricultural industry, the rural environment and farmers.

"The project was built to develop the agricultural industry with technology, improve the rural environment and enrich the local farmers," Cheng said.

The 61-year-old first visited Shuangque Mountain, in Weifang's Linqu county, a decade ago at the invitation of friends. He had some soil from the area tested to see whether it was a suitable place for developing agriculture.

The tests showed it was a good place for growing lavender.

Cheng returned to the mountain in 2014 to run its Sino-Lavender project, which now grows lavender on over 170 hectares of land, according to statistics provided by Weifang's Taiwan affairs office.

How to develop lavender seeds that could grow well in Weifang was the most challenging work.

"The temperature in the mountainous area changes greatly day and night, making work to control the growing temperature difficult," he said.

To solve the problem, Cheng invited several agricultural scientists from Taiwan to work on cultivating new lavender seeds.

"We did experiments over and over again and finally developed new seeds," he said.

Every June, a large expanse of the area is turned into a purple world by the lavender, attracting hordes of tourists. Facilities including hotels and restaurants have been built to cater to them.

However, the main business of the Sino-Lavender project is to develop lavender products with technology, Cheng said.

A lavender processing facility has been built that can produce 50 metric tons of lavender essential oil a year, making it one of China's major producers, and 4,000 tons of aromatic water that is a byproduct of the distillation process.

The products are sold to several countries and regions, including South Korea.

"The interests of local farmers must be taken into account before any further development of our business," Cheng said. "Our project is welcome and supported by locals.

"Our aim is not only to create good views but create happiness for the farmers."

The project boosts the combined income of farmers in over 20 surrounding villages by 20 million yuan ($3 million) a year, according to the city's Taiwan affairs office. Local farmers can cooperate with companies behind the Sino-Lavender project by growing lavender and selling it to them.

The income from growing lavender is at least three times that from growing peanuts and corn, the two main crops grown by local farmers, according to the office.

Farmers who transfer the right to use farmland to the companies can work at the project, doing jobs such as taking care of lavender and cleaning.

The Chinese mainland unveiled measures last month to support the development of Taiwan-funded enterprises in agriculture and forestry on the mainland, and Cheng said they will provide substantial help to business owners from Taiwan.

"The measures are like the right medication to solve problems," he said.

In the future, Cheng said, more cooperation and exchanges can be conducted between the mainland and Taiwan, such as establishing a farmers' association across the Taiwan Straits to promote exchanges on agricultural technology and culture.