A Bean Connecting Mountains and Seas – The Reversal and Common Prosperity Path of Yunxian Coffee Industry

Standardized coffee roasting workshop. Correspondent Shen Shichun, styled Defu, photographed

In the coffee plantation in Yun County, plump coffee fruits shine red among the green leaves. This land, located in the golden coffee planting belt, is undergoing an industrial transformation from extensive free range farming to boutique breakthroughs. Behind the change is a mountain sea cooperation link spanning 3000 kilometers – the Shanghai Yunnan cooperation.

In the past, we grew coffee and sold the beans to buyers at a low price, making it difficult to distinguish between good and bad quality. "Zhang Sijun, a coffee farmer from Yongsheng Village, Aihua Town, Yun County, recalled the past with a tone of helplessness. Although Yun County has unique natural endowments, the coffee industry has long faced difficulties such as scattered planting, extensive processing, and low brand added value.

The change began with the precise efforts of Shanghai Yunnan cooperation. The Shanghai assistance funds have been invested in the most urgently needed infrastructure construction – building standardized initial processing plants and professional tasting centers in Yongsheng Village, purchasing modern fully automatic processing equipment, and building an integrated processing system. This not only completely changed the history of individual investors' rough processing, but also brought about a turning point in the dilemma of high quality and low price. At the same time, the development model of "cooperatives+bases+farmers+village collectives" has made coffee farmers a participant in industrial upgrading.

The market, technology, and capital of Shanghai have been precisely matched with the high-quality raw materials and ecological advantages of Yunnan in the coffee industry of Yun County. The advanced production and processing technology brought by Shanghai's leading agricultural enterprises has filled the gaps in processing; The careful creation of the local brand "Chixu Coffee" has given Yunxian Coffee market competitiveness.

We not only sell beans, but also brand and culture, "said the person in charge of the coffee industry in Yun County. Through the vast market channels in Shanghai, Yunxian premium coffee has successfully entered the consumer market in first tier cities, with products consistently in short supply. By 2025, the comprehensive output value of the coffee industry in Yun County will exceed 370 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 86.13%, achieving leapfrog high-quality development.

In Yun County, the coffee industry is not only an economic card, but also a "golden link" that connects farmers and enriches them. Through the innovative "three funds" income increasing model – land transfer rent, labor wages, and industry dividends, more than 600 coffee farmers have achieved stable prosperity, with an average annual income increase of over 5000 yuan per household.

Now working at the base, I can earn three to four thousand yuan a month and take care of my family, "said Li Cuihua, a left behind woman working at the coffee base, with a smile. The industrial base provides fixed employment opportunities throughout the year and absorbs a large number of local laborers during peak seasons, with an average annual wage of over 300000 yuan.

It is worth noting that the property rights of industrial supporting facilities belong to the village collective, which can increase the annual income of the village collective by more than 200000 yuan, and all the proceeds will be used for the upgrading of rural infrastructure and the development of public welfare undertakings. From "external blood transfusion" to "independent hematopoiesis", the coffee industry in Yun County provides a replicable "Yun County sample" for the cooperation between the east and the west to help rural revitalization.

Nowadays, Yun County has built its own standardized planting base of 1300 acres and entrusted base of over 6500 acres. The total coffee planting area in the county reaches 55900 acres, covering nearly 50000 farmers, forming the largest standardized coffee planting area in Lincang City.

The counterattack of Yunxian Coffee is a vivid practice of China's east-west cooperation and rural revitalization strategy in the field of plateau characteristic agriculture.

Yunbao Full Media Reporter Li Chunlin Yang Fudong Correspondent Shen Shichun styled Defu

(Yunnan Network)