Villagers plant wild rice in Jingning She autonomous county, Zhejiang province, in March. (Photo: China Daily)

HANGZHOU－Early in the morning, farmers in Yeqiao, a mountain village in Jingning She autonomous county, Zhejiang province, were busy packing fresh tomatoes, green beans and chilis grown on a big vegetable farm.

Within five hours, the organic produce had been turned into dishes served at restaurants in big cities via cold-chain transportation.

Of Jingning's 136 villages, 96 are located 600 meters above sea level. Thanks to the county's 7,300 hectares of farmland and 100,000 hectares of forest, local produce is of high quality. However, in the past it was mainly consumed by the locals due to the lack of large-scale planting, and Jingning was mired in poverty.

The local government established the Jingning 600 brand several years ago, hoping to marshal resources to help promote sales of local produce.

In Daji, a township at an altitude of 1,000 meters, the shoots of the Manchurian wild rice plant have become a profitable product.

"Due to the high altitude and large temperature difference between night and day, the shoots grown in Daji are of high quality and can even be eaten raw. They can be sold at a price several times higher than those grown on plains," said Liu Haihua, Daji's Party secretary.

"The per hectare output of shoots has exceeded 120,000 yuan ($17,180), which alone can bring an annual income of 40 million yuan to the village. The average annual income of locals reached 28,350 yuan last year."

Xia Yiming, co-founder of Tianma Farm, said he established the farm with four other villagers in 2018 and sold his products under the Jingning 600 brand.

"We've never been worried about the sales of our vegetables," Xia said. "Our harvest season is later than other farms due to the high altitude, so our products can always be sold at good prices."

Chen Zhong, Party secretary of Jingning county, said that "by highlighting the environmental value of our products, we have established a good brand and lowered the marketing costs for farmers".

According to data from the county's agricultural authorities, the accumulated sales of Jingning 600 products total 1.53 billion yuan and have helped many local residents escape poverty.