[Concurrent] Niu Cuiping, head of an agricultural service company in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province

  During this year, our workers have almost no free time, except that April to May is an off-season, we can use this time to train new workers, and then the new workers mature and take them to other places for grafting.

  [Explanation] Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province is a large vegetable planting county, with an annual planting area of ​​more than 200,000 mu.

In the 1990s, some vegetable growers and rapeseed distributors in Quzhou County began to specialize in seedling cultivation. Currently, the annual seedling cultivation in the county reaches 800 million plants.

With the development of the seedling industry, grafting technology has emerged, and a group of people with rich grafting experience has been trained locally, mainly rural women.

Niu Cuiping is the person in charge of an agricultural service company in Quzhou County. Her team specializes in grafting vegetable seedlings.

  [Concurrent] Niu Cuiping, head of an agricultural service company in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province

  In 2012, I started (engaged in) grafting services and organized our rural women in Quzhou County. The main items we grafted were more than a dozen varieties of vegetables (fruits), including tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, melons, cucumbers, and so on.

  [Explanation] Niu Cuiping is an out-and-out farmer. She has done seedling raising, building vegetable greenhouses, and then grafting. She has found her own way to make money.

As the local seedling industry continues to grow, more and more workers are doing grafting with her.

  [Concurrent] Niu Cuiping, head of an agricultural service company in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province

  The work (labor intensity) of grafting is not too heavy, and it is most suitable for female workers, (because) female workers are patient and careful.

  [Explanation] The tool for grafting is a small knife, pinching the seedlings, finding the location, and inserting them. In a dozen seconds, a grafted seedling is completed in the hands of the worker.

Grafting is calculated on a piece-by-piece basis, and the speed determines the level of income.

  [Concurrent] Liu Xiaojia, a graft worker of an agricultural service company in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province

  I have been engaged in grafting work since 2013. At that time, I became a skilled worker after half a month of learning. I can graft various vegetable seedlings.

I feel that the work intensity is not very high, and it is especially suitable for us women. (I) have been to many places, such as Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Hangzhou and many other places.

  [Concurrent] Li Zengjuan, a grafter of an agricultural service company in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province

  I used to sell cosmetics. I joined this grafting team through a friend’s introduction. I can earn four to five hundred yuan a day, and more than ten thousand yuan a month. It feels good. I can work for about ten months in a year. .

  [Explanation] Due to the improvement of grafting techniques such as sticking and plugging, the vegetable seedlings grafted by the "Women's Grafting Team" in Quzhou County have a high survival rate, and the seedlings are uniform and strong in the late growth stage, which is quite well-known throughout the country.

  [Concurrent] Niu Cuiping, head of an agricultural service company in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province

  Like this melon seedling, when it was not grafted, it sold for fifty or six cents a tree. Now, after grafting, this one can sell for one yuan to one yuan.

Like this variety of vegetable seedlings, grafted to it grows vigorously, has high yield, saves (chemical) fertilizer, saves spraying, prevents that kind of heavy cropping disease, and doubles the yield.

  [Explanation] Today, there are more than 10 teams of grafted female workers in Quzhou County, with a number of more than 3,000 people. The service scope covers 17 provinces and cities across the country, bringing nearly 300 million yuan in economic income to the local area every year.

After the Spring Festival, these grafting women workers have begun to graft and inoculate seedlings in various fields, busy for the upcoming spring plowing.

  Reported by Xing Lu and Wang Tianyi in Handan, Hebei

Responsible editor: [Zhou Chi]