The Study Of Production Status And Development Proposal About Plateau Pollution Free Vegetables In Yong Chang County

The Yong Chang County is located in the east of Hexi,south of Qilian Mountains.The area has suitable climate and abundance of water resources for vegetable cultivation.The Qilian mountain glacier water and ground and spring waters are the main sources of irrigation water in the area.In the recent years,efforts to develop the Yong Chang area for quality and pollution-free vegetable production was initiated.This led to the formation of a prototype large-scale intensive vegetable production scheme.A study was conducted to ascertain the challenges confronting vegetable production in the area.Field visits,structured questionnaires and interviews with key informants were utilized in generating the needed information.Although,the initiative resulted in some significant progress,the Yong Chang project was not without challenges.These include continuous cropping system,excessive use of chemical fertilizers by farmers,inadequate use of organic fertilizers and inadequate rainfall.These challenges culminate into reduced vegetable yields poor quality of produce.The Yong Chang County,which is located in Central Gansu province,is also constrained with poor infrastructural development.These include poor road networks,poor transport systems and inadequate storage facilities which are great disincentives to farmers.Moreover,Local monitoring system is also inadequate,leading to poor supervision of the activities in the industry.The results of the study gave the opportunity for some recommendations to be proposed as follows.1.There is the need for farmers to increase the use of organic fertilizers and limit the use of chemical fertilizers.Organic fertilizers have long-lasting effect onincreasing crop yield and also improves the quality of agricultural products.Studies have shown that organic fertilizers can increase vegetable yield by 20%-30%,promote early maturity by 3-7 days and improves the quality of the products.2.There is also the need for reduced use of synthetic pesticide and increased use of organic pesticides and other agronomic strategies including disease resistant varieties and crop rotation in the management of insect pests and diseases.These will contribute significantly in producing safe vegetables in the area.3.Government departments should establish the corresponding information platform,strengthen monitoring,provide sound arrangements for planting,improve farmer-education,and establish more Demonstration Parks for the training of farmers on best practices,towards the production of quality and uncontaminated vegetables for domestic consumption and for export.4.Government should also increase investment in improving the road network,provision of modern storage facilities and water resources for all-year round vegetable cultivation.It is also important to facilitate the formation of farmer-based organizations,improve their access to market and provide regulation for good pricing of the produce to boost farmer income.5.There is also the need for the establishment of processing factories that will provide ready market for vegetables produced under the Yong Chang County vegetable production scheme.