In three years since the establishment of the Luodan Agricultural Product Processing Cooperative in Longzi County, Shannan City, Tibet Autonomous Region, local people growing agricultural products such as black highland barley and peas have relied on the cooperative to increase their incomes. Last year, it achieved a sales total of 1.1 million yuan (155,812 US dollars).

The production workshop of the cooperative.

Black highland barley tsampa being processed by the cooperative.

Chili powder being processed by the cooperative.

Currently, the cooperative plans to launch black highland barley tea on top of the more than 50 products it already produces. Lobsang Tenzin, the head of the cooperative, said that the machinery and equipment for producing black highland barley tea has already been ordered, and the packaging is ready. The product will be on the market by next month at the latest.

Lobsang Tenzin is very confident about the upcoming new product. “We have been researching black highland barley tea for five years with assistance from relevant government and scientific research institutions. It has a certain uniqueness. It is believed that once it is launched on the market, the sales of it will be very good, and the benefit of increasing incomes for local people will be even more obvious.”

The black highland barley grown in Longzi County, Shannan City, Tibet Autonomous Region is a unique barley variety. It is also National Geographic Indication Product of China. Throughout the whole process, local black barley goes through deep processing procedure, which increases its value. Therefore, black barley has gone from local consumption to an income-increasing commodity.

In order to increase the cooperative’s sales, Lobsang Tenzin develops new products and finds places to sell these products through various channels. Under his active coordination, the cooperative established a direct store in Longzi County to solve the problem of  product sales.

New products are continuously being produced and processed, and the benefits of the cooperative are increasing year by year. The cooperative uses most of its profits to expand its scale, and part of its profits are used to give back to the local people. Since 2017, the cooperative has paid nearly 300,000 yuan (42,509 US dollars) to the local people for consolation. “This is not counting the fees we pay for purchasing local agricultural products such as black highland barley, milk residue, peas, and other products, as well as wages for temporary workers.”

Processing blue highland barley for blue barley tsampa flour.

Ground peas and tsampa flour. 

A villager  is packing bags in the processing workshop.