Location
Our office is located in Jiayuguan, in the North-West China province of Gansu. The area lies between 38°and 40°N latitude and 98°and 101 E longitude. It is very easy to flight from Beijing to Jiayuguan which is the nearest airport around us to inspect our seeds production fields.
Climate Advantage
Jiuquan is located in the Gobi desert at 1500 meter(5,000ft)above sea level. The rainfall is very low, 80 mm(3.2inch)per year. The dry cropping season(it is a desert area)and the cold winter are unfavorable for many pathogens and insects hence favoring the phytosanitary conditions for a quality seed product.
The Farmer
There are totally 2,680,000 mu (180,000 hectares) agricultural lands in Jiuquan area. The mu is a landmeasure used in China, and one mu equals to 667 square meters. Thanks to the good agronomical condition, Jiuquan has been one of the most important agricultural areas in China since ancient times. Hence the farmers there understand well how to grow, irrigate crops and work under the local circumstances.
The average farmer in Jiuquan owns 3 to 5 mu of land, which equals to 2,000 – 3,300 square meters. Unlike other seed production area in the world, here in Jiuquan, even for those thousands of tons of seeds, like maize seeds, are produced by thousands of farmers and their land. This help us working with small plot contract, and it's also better for risk prevention in seed production.
It must be mentioned that the labor cost in this area is relatively low and the efficiency is high. For hybrid tomato seed production, we usually use 6 workers doing hand-seeding 20 to 30 days for one mu (667 square meters).
After years of seed production in Jiuquan and Jiayuguan area, Bestfor have established good relationship with local farmers. The two companies can arrange 6,000-8,000 hectares of land for seed production annually. From contract production, the local farmers make more money.