Rapeseed flowers help bring prosperity to countryside in Shayang, C China's Hubei

Photo shows rapeseed flower fields in Shayang county, Jingmen city, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo/Zheng Bo)

More than 3 million tourists from home and abroad are expected to visit the ongoing 15th Rapeseed Flower Tourism Festival of Jingmen and the 2023 Rapeseed Flower Festival of Hubei Province, held in Shayang county, Jingmen city, central China's Hubei Province, generating an overall tourism revenue of more than 500 million yuan (about $72.59 million).

Shayang county is a major rapeseed oil producing area in China, and is home to more than 700,000 mu (about 46,666.67 hectares) of rapeseed flower planting areas. Crowds of tourists have been going sightseeing in the rapeseed flower fields in Shayang since March.

This year's rapeseed flower festival in Shayang lasts from March 18 to early April. According to Kang Chengxiong, an official in Zhangchi village, Shayang. The village started to receive tourists half a month before the festival kicked off.

Nearly 20 households in the village run agritainment businesses, and each of them can see a daily turnover of 6,000 yuan in the tourism high season.

"The comprehensive output value of the rapeseed flower industrial chain in Shayang has reached 3 billion yuan. We will do our best to bring this to 10 billion in three years," said Zhou Honghua, head of the agriculture and rural affairs bureau of Shayang county.

The number of agritainment facilities in Shayang county has grown to more than 400 today from 30 in 2008, with each household engaged in the business being able to earn over 30,000 yuan a year on average.

By working with a research team led by Fu Tingdong, an academician from Huazhong Agricultural University, Shayang county has built a 1,000-mu rapeseed breeding base that can bring an annual harvest of 75,000 kg of rapeseed that is high in oleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid that occurs naturally in various animal and vegetable fats and oils.

The breeding base not only provides high-quality seeds for the locality, but also sells the seeds to other rapeseed planting areas around the country.

Shayang county has made continuous efforts to upgrade the local rapeseed industry. Last year, the planting areas for rapeseed in the county came to more than 730,000 mu, including 220,000 mu for the rapeseed variety that is rich in oleic acid, Zhou introduced.