A new undertaking

Qiu retired in 2015 and felt a bit empty.

"I felt I could use my limited knowledge and ability to do something for rural enterprises and farmers," she said. "I felt reluctant to simply retire."

Qiu founded a cooperative uniting all 18 townships in Ninghai county and set up an exhibition center for representative agricultural products. The barrier among production base, farmer, and market is therefore lifted.

Qiu has left her footprints not only in Ninghai but also in North China's Jilin province and Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Guizhou and Jilin partnered with Zhejiang province under the nation's paired poverty alleviation efforts. Over the past two years, Qiu shuttled between Ninghai and Guiyang, helping local farmers sell their products.

"I remember a university graduate student in Qinglong county named Zhou Qin," she said. "He and his fellow villagers planted 10,000 kilograms of peanuts. However, the appearance of the peanuts didn't meet market requirements, so we helped them reselect and repackage them."

Based on her experience, good food differs from good commodities.

"Many places and enterprises in Guizhou do have good products; however, because of problems in processing, packaging, branding and logistics, they do not match market demand," she said.

Another leading enterprise that produced lotus root powder in Anlong county faced similar problems.

Qiu advised them to make instant lotus root powder and develop different flavors such as coconut and sweet red bean to meet different customer tastes.

Qiu Yinfang and a farmer examine a plant in Ninghai, Zhejiang province, in April 2018. [Photo provided to China Daily]