The world's growing appetite for chilli pepper products is turning the plant into a valuable
commodity. Catering for this demand is China, which accounts for 46 percent of global chilli
production. But the numbers could be a lot higher.
My name is Liao Yinzhao. I grew up here, I was born here. I left to work elsewhere before,
but I wasn’t able to look after my family that way. I have young children and aging
parents at home. So I came back and took a farm to grow some cash crops.
China's south-west provinces are ripe for chilli pepper cultivation, but many small-scale
farmers are not yet capitalising on this demand and are trapped producing low-yield non profitable
crops that are heavily impacted by environmental risks. But Rabobank is starting to change
this.
Rabobank was very much involved as an initiator together with the United Nations, for the
setup of the blended finance Agri-3 Fund. The aim of this fund was to look at opportunities
to improve sustainable farming and to help farmers alleviate from poverty. Our client
CACC suggested the red chilli pepper farmers in the Chongqing district.
Rabobank’s partner on the ground is the agricultural materials company Chongqing Agricultural
Chain Corporation (CACC) that works directly with the farmers of the
region distributing high quality seeds, fertilisers and giving vital training.
The impact of this investment is huge, with the potential to help increase the income
of up to 80,000 farmers in the region
For Mr Liao, we provided technical guidance since the start of the seedling process. After
they replanted, we organised a few field visits and training sessions, so that they could
gain a better understanding of field management.
We grew corn last year. This whole area was for corn. This year we’ve refreshed the
soil and grown some chilli peppers. Actually, comparing pepper with corn, it requires more
work to grow corn because corn. The peppers this year are growing quite well.
If you talk about the sustainability targets for the project, we’re roughly training
3,500 farmers in the Chongqing area, so they learn how to use less fertiliser, how to improve
the quality of the crop.
Growing peppers can increase our income by about 1,000 yuan per mu (0,1647 acres).
Farmers are not required to pay for the farm inputs until the time of harvest, thus providing
a much needed level of financial security.
Because the crops will definitely be bought, we don’t need to worry about selling. The
agricultural production company will buy from us. We have the orders, so there’s nothing
to be afraid of, just do it.
In the future, we hope to develop in areas such as standardisation, up scaling, greening,
brand development and mechanisation. And to reach over 100,000 mu (about 16,475 acres).
If we can reach 100,000 mu, then we can bring about 1.2 billion yuan to the economy and
involve at least 45,000 farming households. This way, we will be able to do our part for
rural revitalisation.