Fan Honghai of Lingtai, Pingliang Leads the Way in Fruit Growing, Helping Villagers onto the Road to Prosperity

The interview with Fan Honghai, this skilled fruit grower, took place in October, during apple-picking season. Red apples hung heavy on the branches, and he and his fellow villagers busily moved among them, picking, sorting, and packing... their faces wreathed in happy smiles.

Fan Honghai, 49 this year, is from Guanzhuang Village, Puwo Township, Lingtai County. In 2007, while serving as village committee director, in order to lead the people onto a path to prosperity, he became the first person in the village to "eat the crab," taking the lead in planting 5 mu of Red Fuji apples. "I wanted to make money growing fruit, and I also wanted to set a good example for the villagers, and I felt a heavy responsibility on my shoulders..." Fan Honghai told the reporter. The first time he switched to growing fruit, he and his wife spent most of their time busy in the orchard except for eating and sleeping... In fact, his road to fruit growing was not all smooth sailing. Due to a lack of technical experience at the beginning, pests and diseases were serious, but he did not lose heart. He asked technicians for guidance and went to learn from large fruit-growing households, and finally got through the difficult period. 2012 was his fifth year of growing apples, and his family's apples sold for 17,000 yuan, so he expanded his orchard to 8 mu. Over the years, the orchard has brought his family considerable income. This year, although his fruit suffered hail damage, it still sold for more than 40,000 yuan.

With the example set, in Guanzhuang Village, whenever people mention "Honghai's family's apples," there is no one who does not praise them. For a time, every household in the village planted fruit trees, and everyone learned to manage orchards.

Fan Honghai was not content with just getting rich by growing fruit himself; "leading the villagers onto a path to prosperity" was his dream. He never hesitated to share his fruit-growing experience with others. Walking through the fields, whenever he saw a problem with someone's orchard management, he would always come forward to help give some guidance. He also repeatedly invited fruit tree technical experts to the village to provide technical training for fruit farmers.

In order to help the village's fruit farmers get rich together by "joining forces," he founded the village's first farmers' professional cooperative - the Guanzhuang Village Fanjiazhuang Cooperative Farmers' Apple Planting Professional Cooperative, which absorbed more than 50 members. As the village's orchards gradually reached scale, the sale of fruit became the issue the fruit farmers cared about most. Fan Honghai also actively contacted buyers to come purchase apples at their doors, solving the villagers' fruit sales difficulties. Not long ago, he also raised 20,000 yuan on his own to build office space for the fruit tree professional cooperative, making it convenient for cooperative members to hold activities.

Fan Honghai said: "I am a Party member. I just want to do the things I can do with my feet on the ground. Anyone could do these things; there's nothing extraordinary about them."