The Shangxian Bean Products Cooperative, a joint rural enterprise in Shangcun village, Bayuan town, Lantian county, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, reached an agreement with Xi'an Aiju Grain and Oil Industry Group on Nov 11 to use Aiju's marketing channels to help Bayuan's dried bean curd production broaden sales.

This win-win partnership is expected to bring the poor households in Shangcun village more revenue.

The Shangxian Bean Products Cooperative, a joint rural enterprise in Shangcun village, Bayuan town, Lantian county, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, signs a cooperation deal with Xi'an Aiju Grain and Oil Industry Group on Nov 11. [Photo/itl.gov.cn]

Wu Qunhui, head of the Shangxian Bean Products Cooperative, said, "It is predicted that every poor households holding shares in the cooperative will get a dividend between 800 yuan ($120) to 1,000 yuan by the end of this year. And the dividend may increase to 1,200 yuan to 1,500 yuan next year thanks to the cooperation with Aiju Group."

The Shangxian Bean Products Cooperative, founded by a Shangcun villager Wu Qunhui in 2016, is the main foundation from Xi'an International Trade and Logistics (ITL) Park helping Shangcun's poor households to uplift themselves from poverty into better lives.

The ITL Park has built a partnership with Bayuan town that helps 15 poor villages in the town, Shangcun being one of them.

Feng Jiang, an ITL official and first Party secretary of Shangcun village, is the one who discovered the village's specialty of Bayuan bean curd and believed it could be the needed relief for their poverty. Thus, the Shangxian Bean Products Cooperative became the core of Feng's poverty relief strategy.

Feng, together with local officials, raised 200,000 yuan from the county's Poverty Relief Office and 250,000 yuan from the Xi'an ITL Park.

They also encouraged 30 local low-income families to invest 10,000 yuan per household in the cooperative and invested 100,000 yuan in the name of the village collective.

Members of the poor households can work at the cooperative, helping solve unemployment. And the cooperative will take out a large part of its profits to pay dividends to its shareholders every year.

A bus carries banner advertisements of "Bayuan Dried Bean Curd". [Photo/itl.gov.cn]

With the help of the park, the cooperative increased productive investment and amplified its production capacity. Currently, its construction of new factories is complete and its new product "Bayuan Instant Dried Bean Curd" is in the market.

The cooperative plans to develop more bean products, ensuring the prosperity of their bean curd industry and villagers' lives.

Shangcun village's tradition of making bean curd has been a part of their culture since ancient times. Its traditional hand-made bean products, using local beans, mountain spring water, and ancient techniques, are delicious and popular in surrounding areas; yet, as of now, profits are quite small due to the shortage of product varieties and marketing channels. The Shangxian Bean Products Cooperative partnership with Aiju Group is expected to change the tide for this small village’s food industry, for it villagers' sake.

Bayuan dried bean curd, produced by the Shangxian Bean Products Cooperative. [Photo/itl.gov.cn]