Grape Growing in Bijiang Village, Sichuan Paves the Way to Prosperity for Villagers

Wang Xicheng picking grapes.

"I planted 10 mu of grapes, with early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening varieties, and I earned more than 50,000 yuan from selling grapes alone." Recently, in Bijiang Village, Chongren Town, Dongpo District, talking about this year's grape harvest, grower Wang Xicheng was all smiles. "If the 'Five Ones' work team hadn't helped me, my grape planting scale would never have grown this large."

Grape cultivation in Bijiang Village has a history of more than 10 years. From scattered planting by individual households with a single variety in the past to large-scale planting today, the number of varieties has kept increasing. Now there are many varieties such as Kyoho, Summer Black and Hongbiao. It can be said that the development of grapes is the development of Bijiang Village.

According to Wang Zhichao, Party branch secretary of Bijiang Village, the village is located in deep hills with high mountains and steep slopes, and its soil and climate are suitable for growing grapes. In the past, because the grape varieties were poor and there was a lack of scale, yields remained low for a long time, and villagers could not make grape growing a main way to increase their income.

The turning point came in 2012. That year, the "Five Ones" activity of directly contacting and serving the masses in Dongpo District was implemented in the village. The district's Association for Science and Technology, together with Bijiang Village, helped the village improve infrastructure such as roads and water conservancy, and at the same time, in light of local conditions, guided villagers to give full play to local advantages and made expanding the scale of grape planting the preferred project for escaping poverty and becoming prosperous. "At that time, the district's Association for Science and Technology organized us to visit and learn in Pengshan, Baima and other places. They not only helped us adjust the industrial structure and improve technology, but also helped us introduce new grape varieties," Wang Zhichao said.

With the help of the work team, Bijiang Village expanded its grape industry in areas such as technology, seedlings, fertilizer, management, information and sales. It organized villagers to go out for visits, carried out technical training many times, provided demonstration guidance and expert advice, and gradually turned villagers into experts, making grape planting an important way for the whole village to increase income.

In the same year, Wang Xicheng cut down some plum trees and expanded his planting to grapes. "I tasted the sweetness in the first year. The grapes had a bumper harvest, which made me even more determined to continue planting and expand the scale," Wang Xicheng said. Under the guidance of technicians from the work team, in just 3 years, Wang Xicheng expanded his grape planting area to 10 mu.

This year, the Summer Black grapes Wang Xicheng grew sold at a wholesale price of 16 yuan per kg, and Kyoho sold for 10 yuan per kg. Wholesalers came every day to pick up goods, and his family's grapes were even sold to places such as Chongqing.

Now, Bijiang Village's grape-growing technology is becoming more and more mature, and the harvests are getting better and better. "At present, the village's grape planting area has reached more than 400 mu, with annual income of more than 4 million, and per capita annual income has increased by more than 5,000 yuan," Wang Zhichao said.