Modern agriculture lifts Guizhou farmers out of poverty

Plectranthus hadiensis var. tomentosus on display at Jiufeng's greenhouse in Huamao village, Zunyi county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, on January 13, 2016. [Photo by Yang Jie/chinadaily.com.cn]

"President Xi told us that he chose to visit Jiufeng mainly because we can help farmers improve their life," said Suqing, Jiufeng's public relationship manager, recalling Xi's visit in June, "President Xi was supposed to stay for eight minutes but he actually stayed for more than 20 minutes."

With its current 150,000-square-meter greenhouse, Jiufeng provides 71 jobs and is expected to provide 2,000 jobs and improve the lives of 20,000 farmers in the near future.

On his visit to Huamao village, President Xi told villagers that "a good life is created with one's own hands" and nothing will stand in their way if they are confident and determined.

"The sales revenue for vegetables at our base in Huamao in 2015 reached 37 million yuan ($5.62 million), one third of which is profit, and the tourism revenue in the latter half of last year reached 1.7 million yuan," said Su in full gratitude to President Xi whose visit made the base famous nationwide.