Farmers were busy picking, sorting, packing, and loading chili peppers at the planting field in Chaotian town, Guangyuan, Sichuan province, on Sept 1.

Red chili peppers in Chaotian town, Guangyuan, Sichuan province [Photo/share.gyxww.cn]

"This year, the temperature has been good for chili peppers to grow,” said villager Chen Tianfu. "I have grown one third of a hectare of peppers, and I will earn more than 30,000 yuan ($4,276.61) this year."

"In previous years, we planted corn, but each hectare just yields around 900 kilograms, equaling less than 3,000 yuan in gross income; however, the yield of chili peppers is about 3,750 kilograms per hectare, pushing the income up to over 21,000 yuan," Chen added with a smile.

Since the beginning of this year, the Chaotian District Economic and Information Bureau established a working team to guide local farmers to plant chili peppers, hoping to help them increase their income.

The working team members participated in intensive training and then taught the farmers planting skills free of charge. Neighboring farmers also formed groups to help each other and improve their efficiency. 

In addition, some purchase stations were set up in the fields to help facilitate sales. The chili peppers can be sold at a guaranteed reserve price or higher, depending on the needs of the market.