In the scorching heat of August, along the Dadu River in Ridi Village, Guzan Town, Kangding City, a silver-white greenhouse glimmers across the valley. Factory manager Su Ziqiu swipes his finger across a screen, instantly revealing the temperature, humidity, and nutrient solution ratios across more than 10 layers of vertical cultivation racks. Strawberry seedlings stretch their leaves under pink-purple LED lights, each plant bearing a QR code "ID card."
Two years ago, on August 3, 2024, a catastrophic mountain flood and debris flow roared down the same river section, turning farmland and roads into a barren wasteland. Today, the scars of that natural disaster are fading, replaced by a digital and intelligent strawberry plant factory. How did Ridi Village achieve this "rebirth" from disaster zone to modern agricultural project in just two years?
A tailored choice amidst ruins
Located at the mouth of the Ridi Gully at an altitude of about 1,700 meters, Ridi Village has thin soil layers and poor fertility, limiting traditional crop cultivation. "We used to grow corn, barely making any money year after year. When the mudslide hit, everything was gone," recalls villager Zhang Yonglian, summing up the land's former plight. The "8.03" catastrophic mountain flood and debris flow caused heavy casualties, direct economic losses exceeding 200 million yuan, destroyed all village industries, and reduced collective income to zero.
In the aftermath, Kangding City invested 520 million yuan to implement 26 reconstruction projects. Faced with the ruins, local authorities faced a critical choice: simply restore the ecology and traditional farming, or seize the opportunity to cultivate a new industry? Chai Yudong, leader of the Zhejiang Province Team in Garzhe Prefecture, Kangding City, explained that after multiple assessments, a highland plant factory emerged as the optimal path. Kangding's low agricultural electricity price of 0.25 yuan per kWh, average annual temperature of 7.1°C, cool climate suitable for specialty crops, and proximity to the vast Chengdu-Chongqing consumer market made digital agriculture especially attractive. The project, with a total investment of about 45 million yuan, including 30 million yuan in Zhejiang aid funds, was supported by a novel mechanism: "government investment, village collective ownership, and operation by a Zhejiang company, Hangzhou Siwei Ecological Technology Co., Ltd., enabling profit sharing."
Leveraging a temporary Party branch for post-disaster reconstruction to coordinate land remediation, all project assets belong to the village collective, with the partner company deeply involved in custom construction and operation. From initial contact to implementation, it took less than six months. "We are building a model project combining post-disaster reconstruction, paired assistance, and digital agriculture," says Chai Yudong.
A leap from zero to breakthrough inside the factory
"This is intelligent cultivation with precise environmental control, reducing water and fertilizer use by over 90%. The strawberries are free of pesticides, heavy metals, and hormones, with no need for forced ripening," explains Su Ziqiu. Typically, greenhouse strawberries in Chengdu are harvested for only 4 to 5 months a year, yielding 1.5 to 2 tons per mu. Here, the plant factory enables continuous production, with nearly 10 months of annual harvest and yields of 15 to 20 tons per mu, nearly ten times that of traditional methods and 40 times the value of conventional strawberry greenhouses.
On the sales side, the factory leverages the Yangtze River Delta channel network of Hangzhou Siwei Ecological Technology Co., Ltd., plus direct supply to high-end supermarkets in the Chengdu-Chongqing area, achieving a precise "farm-to-table" connection. Meanwhile, the village collective has signed an agreement with the company under a "guaranteed minimum + dividend" mechanism, with the guaranteed return calculated at 4.5% of the invested capital and dividends at 40% of net profit.
The modern agricultural project is still expanding. Phase one, which started construction in October 2025, is now operational. Phase two will be completed soon. Once fully operational, the facility will produce nearly 80 tons of strawberries annually, with an annual output value of about 12 million yuan. The village collective's annual income can reach over 1.8 million yuan, creating nearly 30 jobs with an average annual income of 60,000 yuan per person. Villager Jiang Xirong has transformed from a "technical novice" to a skilled worker capable of independently mixing fertilizers. "I lease my land to the company, collect rent every year, and earn a salary right at my doorstep," she says with a smile.
Notably, the factory also serves a "dual-use" function: during normal times, it rotates between strawberries and medicinal herbs, filling the summer strawberry market gap. In the event of extreme weather disrupting transport, it can quickly switch to producing emergency vegetables, providing 20 tons per cycle as a highland "vegetable basket" emergency base. As the flood season peaks in late July and early August, the Dadu River flows swift and blue. From the observation deck outside the factory, the reinforced embankment lies beneath, while the silver-white greenhouse teems with life. But more striking is the renewed hope rising from this land.