China’s oldest coffee-growing village ushers in new period of prosperity

Coffee, is not just a kind of tasty drink, but also a tool of Yunnan to fight poverty.

In the Zhukula Village located in Binchuan County, west Yunnan’s Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, there is an old coffee forest with a history of more than 100 years. It is known as a “living fossil” of Chinese coffee and Zhukula the oldest coffee-growing village in China.

In the past, however, the villagers lived in poverty for the poor infrastructure and lack of coffee knowledge. They had to walk on a mountain path for five hours if they needed to go to Pingchuan, the nearest town. Living an isolated life, they grew low-yield crops and did not know what to do with the ancient coffee forest.

In 2010, changes began to occur in Zhukula Village. Binchuan Plateau Organic Agriculture Development Company was introduced to build and develop the Chucola Coffee brand. Now, eight years have passed and the company has brought great changes to the village—the mountains are greener, a road has been built, and the coffee industry is booming.

Hopefully, many young and middle-aged villagers working in the city have returned to grow coffee. “During my childhood, I didn’t like it here and wished to go somewhere else. Now I don’t want to leave my hometown. My dream has come true here at home,” said Zhukula Villager Qi Xuesheng. When Qi returned to his hometown in 2017, he had been away for more than ten years.

Now, the coffee industry in Zhukula has ushered in a new period of prosperity. With the brand of Chucola Coffee as the core, the village has increased acreage devoted to bean-growing to 667 hectares. This growth has created more than 30,000 jobs and brought in larger amounts of money as the coffee is exported.  

Editor: Wang Shixue