Liu Chenhou is in his orchard in Xiuwen county, Guizhou province surrounded by the twining kiwifruit plants and harvesting the oval-shaped fruit which has changed his life, especially since the county introduced different forms of planting, e-commerce and sales to bring more people out of poverty.
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| One farmer showing off his kiwi orchard. [Photo/gz.people.cn] |
The kiwifruit, also known as the Chinese gooseberry, has a 30-year history in the county, which has its own brand thanks to its agricultural changes and use of modern ecological practices and it is a special product of Xiuwen.
But, it wasn't always this good, as Huang Lin, another grower, explains, saying that, back in 2002, the area planted in kiwifruit began to shrink because of a lack of investment and proper management and, "The low fruit yields and inferior quality brought down the market price so growers started to remove their plantings."
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| Kiwifruit from Xiuwen, Guizhou province. [Photo/gz.people.cn] |
Then, in 2008, Huang decided to quit his migrant-labor job in other provinces and return home to his kiwi plants in the belief that they had brighter prospects and he proved to be right. Now the plant grows on more than 3,300 hectares and he adds that more than 700 households in his hometown are in the kiwi business and every household growing the fruit brings in a higher income, which can reach 7.9-million dollars in total.
One entrepreneur, Li Chunzhi, returned here to his hometown and got a contract on 66.7 hectares of land to plant the fruit because, "We have faith because of the favorable policies of the local government," and that, "the real value of the fruit can be higher through e-commerce."
Since 2010, the county has raised more than 7.9 million dollars to support the fruit business and local authorities say they are making an effort to turn themselves into China's largest kiwifruit industry zone using some barren, previously fallow land. And, with more corporations, cooperatives, and growers, and technology, they just might reach that goal.
