Walnut orchards average two mu per person, with annual per capita income reaching over ten thousand yuan

In early summer, walking across the land of Wuyang Town, Zhang County, Gansu Province, walnut trees are lush with branches and leaves, and the intercropped oil peonies have produced bright red flower buds. In the mountain gullies and fields, farmers are busy digging pits, planting walnut trees, and watering, with bustling scenes everywhere. "The county government provides walnut seedlings free of charge and on-site technical guidance. The walnut trees planted 3 years ago have already borne fruit, and the farmers have tasted the sweet rewards. These are the prosperity trees the government has planted for the people, achieving the goal of two mu of orchard per person and income of over ten thousand yuan." Mu Zheng'an, director of the Zhang County Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Forestry Bureau, said emotionally, pointing at the walnut trees.

Zhang County has fertile soil and abundant sunlight, making it very suitable for walnut tree growth. On the basis of in-depth investigation and research and extensively soliciting public opinion, the county party committee and county government leveraged the advantage of traditional walnut cultivation, treated accelerating the development of the walnut industry as a prosperity industry for targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty eradication, and put forward the idea of "in 3 years, building a 30,000-mu high-quality walnut base along 30 li of riverbanks and across the nine ridges and eighteen flatlands in the arid and semi-arid mountainous areas of the Zhang River basin," formulated supporting measures of "government purchases seedlings, villages and towns organize, departments guide, individuals plant," and persisted in placing equal emphasis on pilot points and expansion, on scale and quality, and on new planting and management, steadily expanding the scale of the base. Walnut experts were invited from Yangling, Shaanxi, to hold walnut planting training classes in townships and towns such as Wuyang, Sancha, and Wudang, teaching techniques hand by hand, passing on methods and experience to villagers, and helping farmers master techniques for walnut management as well as fertilization, pruning, and pest and disease control. High-quality walnut seedlings that bear fruit in 3 years were transferred in from Shaanxi and planted on a large scale throughout the county. At the same time, the county focused on cultivating premium projects, creating highlights, and establishing demonstrations, building a number of premium demonstration sites that played a typical driving role. In Xujiaping, Wuyang Town, 200 mu of high-quality walnut trees were planted, intercropped with oil peonies and ornamental peonies, increasing farmers' income. Lu Wenhua, a villager from Majiamen Village, Maquan Township, led his family in planting 20 mu of walnut trees. He would tell everyone he met: "The government gives walnut seedlings free of charge; this is giving us prosperity trees, and there is hope for a good life."

Excerpted from the Jinri Toutiao client