Rouge Crisp Peaches Ripen, Villagers of Xihe Town See Prosperity Ahead

Villagers of Shuangyong Village picking crisp peaches. (Photo by reporter Tang Bin)

This news (reporters Zhao Wuqiang, Chen Wenlong) "These peaches are so lovable! Just looking at them makes your mouth water!" On the morning of May 31, in the Rouge Crisp Peach orchard of Shuangyong Village, Xihe Town, five or six villagers who were picking peaches talked happily.

Shuangyong Village was once one of the five municipal-level poverty-stricken villages in our district, and the village achieved whole-village poverty alleviation by the end of 2015. Qiu Dong, Party Secretary of Xihe Town, said in an interview with reporters that planting Rouge Crisp Peaches is a major long-term industry for ensuring targeted poverty alleviation in Shuangyong Village. At present, the village has established a Rouge Crisp Peach professional cooperative, planting more than 500 mu of Rouge Crisp Peaches.

On peach trees slightly taller than an adult, the ripe peaches are red with a hint of pink, like rouge, with an enticing color.

"This year is only a trial fruiting, with an estimated output of 20,000 jin. It can be said that Rouge Crisp Peach planting has succeeded!" said owner Li Guohong to reporters. Next year the orchard will enter large-scale production, with an estimated output of up to 200,000 jin.

"Tang Mingyu, Zhang Yunzhen, I told you to plant less corn and take good care of the peaches. Now do you believe it?" Li Guohong said with a smile to several villagers. In the future, the professional cooperative will purchase crisp peaches in a unified way, and the economic benefits will certainly be better than planting corn.

Tang Mingyu and Zhang Yunzhen are villagers of Group 9 of Shuangyong Village. Tang Mingyu's family planted more than 100 peach trees, and Zhang Yunzhen's family planted fifty or sixty, all as members of the professional cooperative. Because they did not believe that planting peach trees could make money, Tang Mingyu, Zhang Yunzhen and some other villagers had once not been attentive to learning techniques and managing peach trees, and this year their peach trees bore only a few scattered fruits. "One peach can sell for four or five yuan. Next year we will strengthen management and grow good peaches." Having seen the orchard's results with their own eyes, Tang Mingyu, Zhang Yunzhen and other villagers were all moved. "From now on we will certainly learn the planting techniques well and manage the peach trees well."

Qiu Dong said that Xihe Town strongly supports the professional cooperative in becoming bigger and stronger, and plans to expand the Rouge Crisp Peach planting scale to 1,000 mu, building Chongqing's "No. 1 Village for Rouge Crisp Peaches" and helping villagers increase income and become prosperous.

It is understood that this year the Rouge Crisp Peach picking period in Shuangyong Village will continue until mid-June.