Cherry Trees in Xin'an, Henan Become Money Trees for Farmers

These past few days, Wang Wansong, a cherry grower in Dushu Village, Wutou Town, Xin'an County, Luoyang City, Henan Province, has been busy beyond measure, as the large quantities of cherries hitting the market attract numerous out-of-town visitors. He said that on his busiest day, his picking orchard received as many as 200-plus visitors, his self-run agritainment restaurant was "packed to capacity," and online sales once set a record of 650 kg sold in a single day.

Cherries are one of Xin'an County's pillar agricultural industries. After more than twenty years of development, the three towns of Cijian, Wutou and Cangtou, where cherry planting in the county is most concentrated, have formed a Cherry Valley stretching 17 km and covering an area of 40,000 mu. In 2007, it was named by the provincial government as a "Ten-Thousand-Mu Pollution-Free Cherry Base."

It was precisely because he recognized the potential ecological value of cherries that Wang Wansong, who ran a home appliance business in the urban area, contracted more than 200 mu of cherry orchards in Dushu, Matou and other villages in 2012, and later planted 70 mu of strawberries. In 2014, he also opened a farmhouse inn. Last year, an e-commerce rural village-level service point was set up at his planting base, and cherries caught the "Internet express," selling across the country.

Xin'an County is located in the hilly and mountainous area of western Henan and is one of the main birthplaces of Heluo culture. Although it is rich in tourism and cultural resources, the vast rural areas, hampered by mountains and ridges, lack projects for development and have few avenues to prosperity. In recent years, the county has successfully developed the Daimei Mountain World Geopark and the Han Hangu Pass World Cultural Heritage site. In order to organically combine tourism with enriching the people, the county, centering on the goal of building "Xin'an Cherry Valley · Luoyang West Route Tour," invested funds to upgrade and carry out facade improvements on the more than 20 km of roads connecting the three towns of Cijian, Wutou and Cangtou and the villages along the route, creating more than ten new tourism highlights such as the 3D Cherry Valley Gallery, Tianxing Ecological Park and Linshan Stream Valley Resort, and successfully held a series of rural tourism events such as cycling races, cherry festivals and landscape peony viewing festivals. On this basis, relying on the traditional cherry industry, it cultivated a provincial-level agricultural science and technology park, formed 13 agricultural professional cooperatives and developed more than 50 specialty picking orchards.

At present, cherries have become a new tourism symbol of the county and also the "money tree" for farmers to escape poverty and become prosperous. It is understood that this year the county's cherry output exceeded 40 million jin. Calculated at the current average price of 8 yuan per jin, it is estimated that this can directly increase farmers' income by 320 million yuan.