Grape adoption, dividends and rural tourism go viral: a poverty-alleviation guide for a single grape
Reported by our journalist Zhang Shoushuai. On August 19, Luodai Town in Longquanyi District, Chengdu, held its first rural tourism and fruit tasting promotion event. The weather was scorching hot, and He Xu, Party branch secretary of Baosheng Village, was busy introducing the grapes they had brought; his back was soaked through in no time.
“The better the fruit sells, the more hope there is for poverty alleviation.” He Xu said the village has planted more than 3,000 mu of grapes, with almost every household growing them, and the village has likewise used grape growing to draw up a “poverty-alleviation guide” for 15 relatively poor households.
Baosheng Village's grapes have some reputation, because they have obtained pollution-free certification, and their price is more than 2 yuan per kg higher than that of surrounding villages. Even so, due to a lack of technology or labor, the village's relatively poor households have not been able to benefit well from developing green agriculture.
The assistance team in Baosheng Village, Luodai Town, came up with a solution: quantifying poverty-alleviation funds into shares, —— exploring a new way to increase poor households' asset income. The village's Meirenzhi Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative is thriving. With everyone's consent, the Meirenzhi Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative let poor households become “shareholders” with quantified shares of 10,000 yuan per household; judging from last year's cooperative dividends, the dividends corresponding to the above shares were more than 1,000 yuan. “And dividends are only one aspect; the cooperative also provides full-process services in technology, marketing and other areas to help increase per-mu returns.”
Not only that, Baosheng Village also offered 10,000 grapevines for adoption by urban residents, with relatively poor households given priority. According to He Xu, nearly 1,000 people have so far adopted grapevines at 100 yuan each. “You can get the fruit, bring your family to experience planting, and also help poverty alleviation; urban residents are very enthusiastic.”
The adoption activity produced an unexpected effect: Baosheng Village's rural tourism went viral. The village is 1 km away from Luodai Ancient Town. With the support of the assistance team, the village built roads, built canals and switched to gas, and its infrastructure underwent tremendous changes. The village then developed a strong desire to create a 3A scenic area.
In addition, as Baosheng Village was included as a Chengdu municipal-level e-commerce demonstration village, the grapes of a whole tree were “eaten” in even more distant places.