The broad-outer leaf Chinese cabbage, which is used to make the famed Sichuan dish boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili, has helped villagers boost their incomes in Guangyuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province.

Villagers harvest vegetables in Guangyuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province. [Photo/share.gyxww.cn]

During the winter-spring period, eight towns in the city led more than 10,000 households to plant more than 1,300 hectares of green vegetables. It is expected to bring in about 25,500 yuan ($4,024) per hectare.

"This kind of vegetable only needs three months to ripen. Compare with planting rape, it is a much more cost-effective business," said Wei, a 58-year-old resident who has been growing broad-outer leaf Chinese cabbage for four years.

"What reassures me even more is that there is a vegetable processing factory in the village, so we don't have to worry about sales!" he added.

Zhou Junying, general manager of the factory, said the first batch of orders was finalized in last September, including 400 tons to be exported to Japan and 5,000 tons sold to domestic markets. The output value is estimated to be over 30 million yuan.

Accordingly, local agricultural product quality inspection authorities will conduct on-site sampling of the vegetables and test them to ensure the quality and safety of the products.