Zhuanglang Terraces in Gansu Province: Holding "Golden Fruit" in the Pursuit of Moderate Prosperity
When people mention Zhuanglang County in Pingliang City, Gansu Province, they always think of terraces. In the famine years of the past, the sons and daughters of Zhuanglang built a million mu of terraces. Thanks to the high-yield advantage of the terraces, the common people were able to have enough food and clothing. Today in Zhuanglang, bright red apples are everywhere among the tiered terraces, showing people new hope for escaping poverty and becoming prosperous.
Farmers Have an Average of 1 mu of Apple Orchard Each
There is a joking saying in the villages of Zhuanglang: “If the loess of Zhuanglang could be sold for money, the common people would have no worry about becoming rich.” This saying indirectly tells of Zhuanglang's lack of underground resources. The Zhuanglang terraces could only produce grain and could not dig out “golden lumps.” After Zhuanglang County was designated by the Ministry of Agriculture as one of the few apple advantage production areas in the country, it became possible to plant “money trees” on the Zhuanglang terraces.
In the new round of poverty alleviation efforts, the Zhuanglang County Party Committee and county government firmly seized the locational advantage of being a national apple advantage production area, established the strategy of strengthening the county through the apple industry, carried out high-standard planning, made developing the leading apple industry the main direction of targeted poverty alleviation, and outlined the layout of apple industry bases: develop apple bases along the valley and flat areas of the three rivers within the county, the Hulu River, the Shuiluo River, and the Zhuanglang River, then extend toward the river terraces on both banks, gradually “climb up” the tiered terraces, and strive for full coverage of suitable apple-growing areas. They set the goal for developing the leading apple industry base: let farmers throughout the county have an average of 1 mu of apple orchard each, and after all enter full fruit-bearing stage by 2020, farmers throughout the county will earn an average per capita income of 10,000 yuan from the apple industry alone, so that farmers can hold apples in their hands and pursue the dream of moderate prosperity.
In the past, Zhuanglang County had only two old apple-producing townships, Yangchuan Town and Wanquan Town. Now, going upstream along the Hulu River, apple orchards keep extending from Yangchuan Town, passing through Dazhuang Township, Wolong Town, and Nanhu Town, all the way to Zhaodun Township. Going upstream along the Shuiluo River, apple orchards keep extending from Wanquan Town, passing through Zhudian Town, Shuiluo Town, and Nanping Township, all the way to Liangyi Township. At present, the apple base has expanded to 14 townships throughout the county.
Plant one, and one survives. Every spring is the driest season of the year in Zhuanglang County. In order to ensure the survival of seedlings, the county forestry and fruit department continuously explored measures to “ensure survival”: before planting, soak the seedling roots in rooting powder; after planting, put moisture-retaining bags over the seedlings. These two measures helped the survival rate of apple seedlings throughout the county reach 98%. At present, the county's apple base covers 650,000 mu, farmers have an average of 1 mu of apple orchard each, and the apple base basically covers all suitable planting areas in the county. Each year the county integrates 20 million yuan in funds from poverty alleviation, forestry, and other projects to subsidize farmers with seedlings, agricultural film, and fertilizer, and support farmers in building orchard bases.
County Party Secretary Xu Yi said: “We firmly seize the great opportunity of targeted poverty alleviation, make great efforts in standardized management of the apple industry, implement the ‘Five Threes’ project, and use 3 years to build 3,000 mu of EU-standard demonstration orchards, 30,000 mu of national-standard demonstration orchards, and 300,000 mu of municipal-standard demonstration orchards, train and certify 30,000 county-level skilled fruit growers, and raise the level of standardized orchard management.”
The “Apple Team” Has Produced Results
Gaoshaoping is a mountain apple base in Wanquan Town, with 4,000 mu of apple orchards distributed in the area. About more than 700 farming households work in fruit growing in the base. There is a 4-kilometer operation road that has already been hardened into a cement surface. Fruit grower Gao Xiuchuan said: “Now that this road is hardened, farm vehicles no longer slip on rainy days, and fruit growing is much more convenient.”
County Mayor Song Shuhong said: “We support and develop the leading apple industry as the main direction of targeted poverty alleviation. Wherever the apple industry develops, projects and policies follow and match there, continuously optimizing supporting facilities such as roads, water, electricity, and gas, and supporting the apple industry to help farmers become rich and move toward moderate prosperity.”
Around the transportation difficulties of the apple industry, the county implemented a project to connect every village with cement-hardened roads, and the county's road access rate reached 67%. Around the irrigation water difficulties of orchards, it implemented a small-scale farmland water conservancy construction project, bringing trickling clear water into orchards and solving the “last kilometer” problem of orchard irrigation in river valley and terrace areas. Around the problem of insufficient regional electricity for the apple industry, it began construction of a photovoltaic power generation project with a total investment of 350 million yuan. Around the problem of reducing hail damage to apples, it built artificial hail suppression stations step by step, forming 4 lines of defense against hail disasters throughout the county to reduce hail disaster losses as much as possible. Around the problem of treating agricultural waste in orchards, it built supporting biogas digesters in orchards, returned branches and leaves to the digesters, and used biogas residue and biogas slurry as fertilizer to produce apples, forming a green ecological agricultural production model of “apple + biogas.”
To let the apple industry bring into play scaled benefits that help farmers increase income, farmers must be guided to manage orchards carefully. To make farmers voluntarily protect and manage orchards, it is necessary to set up examples of apple-driven income growth that they can see and touch. In Sanhe Village, Zhudian Town, the county explored the practice of village team members demonstrating apple “guide fields.” Sanhe Village Party Secretary Liu Yuchang is an old hand at fruit growing and had long tasted the sweetness of it. The village also selected large orchard households Li Wenbin, with 10 mu, and Liu Xiaoming and Zhu Jiansheng, each with 20 mu, into the village team, forming an “apple team.” The “apple team” produced results. Whenever there was a meeting, they always talked about apples and calculated for villagers the comparative account between fruit growing and grain planting; every year when apples opened for the market, they organized villagers to personally witness the lively scene of merchants purchasing apples. At present, members of the “apple team” earn an average annual apple income of more than 70,000 yuan.
Villages look to villages, households look to households, and what farmers watch is the officials. The demonstration and guidance of the “apple team” moved villagers to think about managing orchards carefully. Those villagers who thought working away from home brought money quickly put down their trowels, picked up their pruning shears, and went into the orchards. At present, the village's orchard area has grown to 2,810 mu, 1 mu of orchard per person, of which 1,200 mu are fruit-bearing orchards. All 14 orchard townships in the county have orchards bearing fruit, with a fruit-bearing area of 250,000 mu.
Standardized Production Makes “Zhuanglang Red” Famous
Last autumn, Zhuanglang County Red Fuji apples with a fruit diameter of 75 mm had a maximum wholesale price of 5.5 yuan per jin. “Zhuanglang Red” Fuji apples were originally introduced from Qixia City, known as “China's No. 1 Apple City,” yet their price per jin was about 1.8 yuan higher than that of Qixia City, showing that “the pupil surpasses the master.”
In developing the leading apple industry, Zhuanglang County promoted standardized apple production technology and established a complete apple production technology extension system with a fruit industry center at the county level, fruit industry stations in townships (towns), and fruit technicians in villages. It implemented a “dual responsibility” system of administration and technology for apple industry development. County-level officials each took charge of 1 orchard township, township main leaders established demonstration contact points, technical cadres from the county fruit industry department provided technical support on the front lines of orchards, and guided townships in developing demonstration apple orchards such as export foreign-exchange-earning orchards, organic apple orchards, and green food orchards, demonstrating and promoting standardized apple management techniques such as open-center canopy and single-fruit management.
Wang Xuanqiang, a technical cadre at the county fruit industry center, said that the open-center canopy promoted in Zhuanglang County makes it easier for fruit trees to get light, and the spindle tree shape makes it easier for fruit trees to ventilate and also facilitates field work for fruit growers. In Pingliang City's orchard competition activities, Zhuanglang County's comprehensive management level for young apple orchards was rated second in the city. Judges said that Zhuanglang County's young apple orchards are managed in a standardized way, especially because the selected spindle tree shape is conducive to producing high-quality apples.
Industry experts also highly praised Zhuanglang's apple cultivation model. After visiting the Beichuan Apple Standardized Technology Demonstration Orchard in Wanquan Town, well-known domestic apple expert Li Bingzhi said: “The most advanced cultivation model in the world has become a reality here, and it should be vigorously summarized and promoted.”
By promoting the spindle tree shape and also applying farmyard manure, apple production embarked on the path of ecological agriculture. The county adopted an ecological agricultural production model of “fruit + livestock.” Farmyard manure produced by livestock farming was deeply applied to fruit trees as base fertilizer, improving fruit quality. Wang Xuanqiang said: “The fruit quality is very different when chemical fertilizer is applied and when farmyard manure is applied. Apples produced with farmyard manure taste sweet, crisp, and tender.”