ESIA environmental friendly technical packages
Since 2002, a series of activities have been carried out to develop the environmentally friendly technical packages. Until now, evidence has shown that such technologies contribute not only to a reduction of agricultural material inputs but also to an improvement of vegetable quality. Specifically, the major achievements are as follows:
Integrated Technical Packages for tomato, cucumber, eggplant, and green pepper have been developed and promoted in pilot counties. The development of a technical package for asparagus is under way.
With several years of practice, the farmers who applied ESIA technical packages have reduced their utilization of pesticide, fertilizer and water while benefiting from improved quality and increased yield.
Agricultural extension mode
Five pilot counties of Hebei province have been selected where local project officers take the responsibility of disseminating project technologies. Meanwhile, the Chinese side has disseminated the project technologies in regions outside the pilot counties.
- Farmer Field School (FFS)
Until September 2008, asparagus FFS has been held two times in Taocheng, tomato (including cherry tomato) FFS 18 times in five pilot counties, cucumber FFS four times in both Yongqing and Suning. In summary, 24 FFSs have been organized in five pilot counties and 460 farmers have attended.
Until September 2008, 3 leading farmers had been trained and supported by the project. According to the statistic, around 70 neighboring farmers have been assisted by those leading farmers. Through the leading farmers activities, the leading farmers have gained a higher appreciation in their neighbourhood. Particularly, some of them are planning to launch farmer cooperatives in order to organize local farmers together.
Foster the development of Farmer cooperatives
Until September 2008, a series of activities have been carried out to promote selected cooperatives. So far the two selected cooperatives have registered their own brand, conducted green certification, got in contact with potential clients. Particularly, one of the cooperatives has explored its own market in Shanxi province, used its own brand and achieved a big success.
