At the Fuyuandi Vegetable Cooperative in Nancun town, Pingdu, workers have been busy cleaning, selecting, grading and packing carrots for export to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Pingdu's exports of carrots to the countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative have surged in recent years, according to local officials.

Carrots produced by Fuyuandi Vegetable Cooperative [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

"Last year, we promoted cold chain logistics construction and built six new cold warehouses, which has greatly improved the cold storage capacity of local vegetable products and increased the annual vegetable processing capacity from 20,000 tons in previous years to more than 30,000 tons," said Fang Shining, director of Fuyuandi Vegetable Cooperative.

"Cold storage has extended the marketing duration of vegetables, and this has helped raise product prices significantly, thus greatly increasing our profits," said Fang.

The cooperative, with a total investment of 8 million yuan ($1.24 million), has 106 household members and a planting area of 80 hectares. Through the business model of "company + cooperative + planting base + farmers", it has formed a large-scale and standardized production base.

The carrot produced by the cooperative is extremely popular at home and abroad market for its high quality, fresh taste and nutritional value, said Fang.

The cooperative has also cooperated with Shandong Agricultural University, the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other universities and research institutions to facilitate modern agriculture development.

Packaged carrot products at Fuyuandi Vegetable Cooperative are ready for export. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]