Blueberries ripened for a bountiful harvest, farmers overjoyed
In midsummer, driving from the urban area of Lujiang County, Anhui Province to Lehua Village in Fanshan Town, known as "Anhui's No. 1 Selenium-Rich Blueberry Village," on the rolling slopes along both sides of the mountain road, this writer found stretch after stretch of purple soil, with rows upon rows of lush small shrubs, each blueberry bush gracefully extending its branches, the branches laden with clusters of crystal-clear, plump little berries, a truly delightful sight.
Villager Xu Jiman was busy working in the field, his clothes soaked with sweat. Xu Jiman is 59 this year and does weeding and maintenance work in the blueberry orchard. "I don't have any skills worth showing off, and when I go out to find work, nobody wants me." He said his annual income now reliably exceeds 20,000 yuan.
The Niutoushan Blueberry Base belongs to Anhui Vaccinium Blueberry Technology Co., Ltd. The mountain area covers 1050 mu and is Anhui's largest selenium-rich blueberry planting base. Base manager Cai Chunxiang told this writer that the blueberries have now reached maturity, and city residents are coming in an endless stream to pick and relax here.
"This period is the peak fruit-picking season. We are busy receiving visitors from morning to night, and earn tens of thousands of yuan a day." Cai Chunxiang said excitedly that since the base was established in 2011, every fruiting season has attracted large numbers of tourists to come and visit.
Cai Chunxiang happily told this writer that this year's blueberries have had a bumper harvest, with total output expected to exceed 200,000 jin. "The blueberries have entered the full-fruiting period. One bush yields about 15 jin, and the most productive ones reach over 30 jin. One mu of land can plant 160 to 180 bushes, with net income exceeding 50,000 yuan."
Blueberries enjoy the reputation of the "king of berries," with wide product uses, high added value, and a long industrial chain. The blueberries produced in Lehua Village have a selenium content higher than ordinary blueberries on the market, and feature large fruit, beautiful appearance, and excellent taste, with market prices climbing all the way.
To make the "blueberry business" thrive, over the past two years Lehua Village has combined blueberry cultivation and development with rural eco-tourism. Through activities such as holding blueberry tourism festivals, leisure blueberry picking, and sales of blueberry specialty products, it has achieved a "both-ends-sweet" outcome of increased enterprise efficiency and higher farmer incomes. As rural tourism matures day by day, the nimble mountain people have opened agritainment restaurants and farmhouse inns.
"Blueberries are now in season and ripe, and we are simply run off our feet!" said Liu Shifang, a blueberry picker, with a smile. She works for the company on her own family's land, and also collects 4,000 yuan in land rent each year. Now in Lehua Village, farmers have found a new "way" to live off the mountains, and their days are getting more and more prosperous.
Zhao Debin