Step into Gaomen Village and hear a story about grapes
“The grapes are good this year, and they'll fetch a good price.” Walking into Gaomen Village, Xiaoqiao Town, Jian'ou City, Fujian Province, Huang Xueming, the village's well-known grape grower, proudly told this writer. Gaomen Village is a locally famous grape village. Walking along the country paths, as far as the eye can see, both banks of the river are covered with lush, continuous vineyards, and the green corridor formed by grape trellises stretches more than 20 li along the mountains, forming a narrow grape ravine.
The tradition of growing grapes in Gaomen Village, Xiaoqiao Town, Jian'ou City, Fujian Province, began in 1991 after the second allocation of farmland to households. Under a stable land policy, the villagers at that time began cultivating and planting grapes. Gaomen Village is “eight parts mountain, one part water and one part farmland,” with a large population, little land and a weak foundation, leaving less than eight fen of land per person. The Party branch of Gaomen Village actively sought a path to development, making three trips to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places to study modern agriculture, and inviting geological experts and agricultural experts from the province and the city to conduct on-site surveys. Based on the features of Gaomen Village's terrain, soil, water quality, climate and sunlight, the experts recommended selecting and developing grape growing.
“When grapes were first introduced, many villagers had doubts and it was hard to promote, so the village ‘two committees’ and Party members took the lead in demonstration planting. The demonstration households saw benefits the very next year, and after the villagers' concerns were dispelled, they followed one after another. After 20 years of development, it has finally earned Gaomen Village today's fine reputation as a ‘grape ravine.’” said Liu Kaifa, the village's former Party secretary. Developing grape growing is a short, flat and quick project. After initial results were achieved, the Party committee and government of Xiaoqiao Town actively guided the effort, and Gaomen Village continuously promoted grape growing, developing the “one village, one product” specialty industry, which finally became a pillar industry. At present, the village's grape planting area has reached 2,500 mu, with an annual output of 3,000 tons of grapes and annual revenue of more than 15 million yuan, and it has also spread to drive grape growing in neighboring villages.
Gaomen Village concentrated its efforts on building a brand, promoting the planting of “Kyoho grapes” and vigorously developing the grape industry. Throughout the growing period, Gaomen Village's grape cultivation uses bagging technology to avoid pollution and ensure quality. Together with the good water quality, abundant trace elements in the soil and sufficient sunlight here, the grapes produced are of excellent quality. Gaomen Village's grapes gradually built up their reputation, and Gaomen Village also developed into a well-known ecological “grape ravine.”
“Gaomen Village's Kyoho grapes have good color, high sugar content and firm berries. They have a good market reputation, are easy to transport and are sold far away to major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The purchase price is more than 3 yuan per jin, and greenhouse grapes can be priced at 5 yuan.” You Dezuan, a grape dealer in Gaomen Village, told this writer.
Whenever the grapes ripen, the Party branch of Gaomen Village promptly gathers large growers, dealers, skilled operators and others to exchange face-to-face about that year's grape output, quality and other conditions as well as market trends, hold discussions and analyze marketing strategies, and contact farmers' markets in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places on a fixed basis to learn about market prices and circulation, balancing the interests of growers, dealers and sales markets. In recent years, the village has also actively sought funds from higher levels, implemented high-standard land leveling projects, improved infrastructure such as connecting roads and interwoven ditches in the vineyards, encouraged villagers to develop greenhouse grape growing, established designated grape-picking orchards, and developed modern agriculture integrating leisure, sightseeing and picking, promoting the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries.
Huang Shanwang