Tibetan farmer on road to better-off life

15:10, November 19, 2009

Wangdu, a farmer of Jilin Town, Rinbung County, Xigaze Prefecture, Tibet, was driving his walking-tractor to carry his highland barley from a threshing ground to his home yard.

Palletized at one corner of the yard were a dozen of bags of highland barley.

Wangdu said, "I planted highland barley on 40 mu (15 mu equals one hecrare) of farmland this year, with the average yield of 400 kg per mu."

He added, "Besides, I have planted peas, rape and other vegetables. Undoubtedly I will be able to harvest 2,500 kg of grain at the end of this year."

He said that governments at all levels have attached great importance to agricultural development and granted subsidies to farmers planting crops.

Now, it pays off to plant grain crops, with one kilogram of highland barley selling at two yuan RMB.

Moreover, Wangdu has four vegetable greenhouses, in which he plants green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants. The net income from each greenhouse is about 5,000 yuan RMB per year.

When calculating other incomes, Wangdu said that his two sons working elsewhere will bring back 10,000 yuan RMB to him, and that his eight milk cows will earn him 10,000 yuan RMB per year.

Adding all this up, Wangdu's family will have an annual earnings of 50,000 to 60,000 yuan RMB.

He said excitedly, "Thanks to the government's policies, we have been taking the road to a better-off life."

Source: Tibet Daily/Xinhuanet