Strawberry cultivation boosts income for over 2,000 villagers by 5.6 million yuan
From agricultural product to cultural tourism commodity, strawberries boost income for over 2,000 villagers by 5.6 million yuan
On December 8, at the Mutangchun Eco Park in Taiping Town, Tongliang District, the winter strawberries were ready for harvest, attracting many citizens from near and far to come and taste and pick them.
After washing the soil off his hands, 70-year-old Tang Qiyun came to the greenhouse restaurant again to see if there was anything he could help with. On December 8, the Third Taiping Winter Strawberry Picking Festival in Tongliang opened. Watching the tourists coming to pick strawberries, Tang Qiyun always wanted to chat with them, saying, "These strawberries look the same, but they actually have many varieties, and they taste different." This strawberry plantation, the largest winter strawberry plantation in Chongqing, not only helped villagers get rich at their doorstep, but also "changed their mindset, making them truly feel like owners here."
Older and no one would hire him for work outside
Tang Qiyun returned to Yuanlou Village in Taiping Town in 2013. He had always relied on odd jobs outside, but as he got older, finding work was not easy. "At that time, I happened to hear that someone was coming to our village to grow strawberries, so I thought about whether I could come back to work." After discussing it with his wife, the two quickly agreed. Tang Qiyun told reporters that after returning to the village, he and his wife worked together in the strawberry field, earning more than 1,000 yuan a month.
"It may be that I hadn't farmed for many years and had gotten rusty, or maybe it's because I'm older, but I always felt I couldn't muster much energy." At first, Tang Qiyun said that when he helped the boss farm in the strawberry field, he just took it one day at a time.
The failure of the strawberry field's first attempt at growing strawberries suddenly woke old Tang up. "If the strawberry field isn't run well, I'll lose my job. If I farm by myself, I'll at most just have enough to eat, with no extra pocket money." Old Tang said he was unwilling to live that kind of life.
Willing to study deeply, the seventy-year-old man mastered the strawberry "secret manual"
It turned out that the first time they grew strawberries, everyone thought it would be enough to just introduce seedlings. They did not understand artificial pollination, let alone professional techniques. In 2013, the winter strawberry cultivation failed.
The next year, Mutangchun Agricultural Development Company brought in experts from Zhejiang. They not only introduced new varieties, but also put great effort into cultivation. At China's 10th and 11th Strawberry Cultural Tourism Festivals, "Taiping Strawberry" won the "Gold Award."
"Not only did the yield go up, but there were also more varieties." Old Tang said that this year, whenever he had free time in the strawberry field, he followed the highly paid expert Qian Jianhong around the strawberry greenhouses.
"Look at these strawberries. This red one is called Hongyan, and it's very sweet; this one with a slightly longer shape is called Banana, and its flesh is stickier; and Cream really has a creamy fragrance." Old Tang spoke about strawberries as if counting his family treasures. "Also, do you know what ripeness of strawberry tastes best? Ninety percent ripe, when you can see a little white between the fruit and the leaves. Strawberries at this stage taste best." Old Tang said that Qian Jianhong had told him all of this.
Old Tang's change in attitude was actually just a microcosm of the villagers of Yuanlou Village. "In the past, when everyone farmed, they relied on the weather, and both farming and doing things seemed passive. Now everyone sees that the strawberry field is getting better and better, and their initiative and enthusiasm have increased. They truly treat themselves as owners here." said Gao Kaibi, publicity committee member of Taiping Town.
Growing strawberries boosts income for over 2,000 villagers by 5.6 million yuan
Old Tang's change in attitude was inseparable from Taiping Town's precise positioning of agricultural development. "For growing rice, the output value of one mu is only around 1,500 yuan. When farmers work the land, there is basically no extra income. But now, growing winter strawberries, calculating 4,000 jin per mu, with 50% picked on the spot by tourists at a picking price of 68 yuan per jin, the output value of one mu is around 150,000 yuan, an increase of a full hundredfold." Gao Kaibi did this calculation.
As a person in charge at the Tongliang District Agriculture Committee said, growing rice is just an agricultural product, while strawberries are a commodity, but if tourists come to the greenhouses to pick them, then they are a cultural tourism commodity. And with the holding of the strawberry festival, more and more tourists came to pick strawberries. Some villagers seized the opportunity to open agritainment businesses. "It really feels like everyone's state is different."
According to Liu Yun, Party secretary of Taiping Town, the strawberry field is only one part of the Taiping Town Western Suburb Modern Agricultural Sightseeing Park. The park, with a completed area of more than 6,000 mu, has basically formed four major industrial development formats featuring winter strawberries, green mushrooms, vegetables in all four seasons, and ecological aquatic products. It was named a "Demonstration Site for Leisure Agriculture and Rural Tourism" by Chongqing Municipality.
"Taiping Strawberry" established a brand and led the park onto the path of rural cultural tourism. Data from Taiping Town shows that through working in winter strawberry plantations, opening agritainment businesses, and selling special agricultural products, farmers' total increased income reached 5.6 million yuan, enabling more than 2,000 villagers to increase their income.