In Puding County's Xingli Village, Anshun City, a demonstration base for standardized, efficient potato-corn intercropping, established by the Anshun Comprehensive Test Station under the National Potato Industry Technology System, has recently completed its harvest yield assessment.

The data reveals that the base achieved a potato yield of 2,857.03 kilograms per mu, representing a 67.25% increase compared to traditional intercropping methods.

This approach has boosted income by nearly 5,000 yuan per mu over single-crop corn cultivation, setting a new per-mu yield record for potato intercropping demonstration bases in Anshun.

On the morning of the yield assessment, fields in Xingli Village were bustling with activity.

Villager Zhang Xianlong unearthed plump potatoes with his hoe, many individual tubers weighing over half a kilogram.

"I tried intercropping potatoes and corn before, but the harvests were never good," Zhang recalled.

Due to the low profitability, he eventually abandoned intercropping, switching solely to single-season corn, which generated only a few hundred yuan per mu annually, leaving large tracts of land idle during autumn and winter.

Annual per-mu income has now surged from less than 1,000 yuan to 5,714 yuan.

Behind these figures lies a practical demonstration of how agricultural science and technology are transforming traditional farming practices and enhancing land productivity.

"The historically low profitability of intercropping was not due to the model itself, but rather to outdated varieties and techniques," stated Niu Lili, Deputy Party Secretary and President of the Anshun Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who also heads the Anshun Comprehensive Test Station.

Anshun's cool, mountainous climate and abundant arable land resources make it one of Guizhou's main summer potato production regions.

The Anshun Test Station focuses on efficient propagation of virus-free seed potatoes, screening new varieties, and integrating supporting cultivation techniques to address local issues of low potato yield and efficiency at their source.

The station has introduced over 200 new potato varieties (lines) for localized adaptability trials, selecting more than ten superior varieties well-suited to Anshun's mountainous climate, such as Xingjia No. 2, Yunshu 304, and Favorita.

By pairing improved seeds with advanced methods, the station has integrated and promoted practical technologies like small-scale mechanized cultivation for potatoes in Guizhou's mountainous areas and green, efficient dryland cultivation for winter and spring seasons, which includes the standardized, efficient corn-potato intercropping model.

Annually, the station establishes over ten demonstration bases in cities like Anshun and Liupanshui, translating proven cultivation models into field practice.

To date, the Anshun Comprehensive Test Station has led the formulation of three Guizhou provincial local standards, including the Technical Regulations for Spring Potato Cultivation, and participated in developing four national standards.

The integrated "Small-Scale Mechanized Cultivation Technology for Guizhou Mountainous Areas" has been selected as a key provincial promotion technology by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for 2026, with a cumulative promotion area exceeding 400,000 mu.