Hainan farmers grow wax apples and dragon fruit to get rich
“If it weren't for everyone making money growing wax apples these past two years, how could so many people in Mianchang Village have spare money this year to build new houses together.” Pointing to a row of flat-roofed houses whose exterior walls had already been tiled, Su Wenlin, Party branch secretary and director of the Lingjiao Village Committee in Dalu Town, Qionghai City, was full of pride this morning. To boost farmers' incomes, Qionghai City this year continued to step up the adjustment and upgrading of its agricultural industrial structure, investing funds to build two distinctive agricultural brands, dragon fruit and wax apple, implementing industrialized development so that farmers truly received tangible benefits.
In Mianchang Village, the reporter saw that of the 32 households in the village, 23 were already building new houses according to a unified plan. It is understood that each household's construction cost exceeded 100,000 yuan. Villager Pan Jiasong told the reporter that the key to everyone having so much money to build houses was the village's development of the wax apple industry over the past two years. “I planted 20 mu of wax apples, and this year 10 mu already bore fruit, selling for more than 90,000 yuan.”
According to Su Wenlin, Mianchang Village previously mainly grew rubber, pepper and betel nut. In the adjustment of the agricultural industrial structure, Qionghai City mobilized villagers to plant high-benefit wax apples; Mianchang Village introduced varieties such as Thailand's Black Diamond wax apple, and 80% of villagers took part in growing them. “According to the target we set for Mianchang Village, each household should reach more than 20 mu, with an average of 10,000 yuan in income per mu per year, so 20 mu would bring 200,000 yuan in income, greatly improving the problem of increasing farmers' income and efficiency.”
It is not only the villagers of Mianchang Village who have benefited from the industrial structure adjustment. In Lishikao Village, Yangjiang Town, Qionghai City, villager Li Ping planted 40 mu of dragon fruit, and last year's net income already reached 120,000 yuan; adding income from rubber and betel nut, the annual income could reach more than 180,000 yuan. Lishikao Village now grows 1,605 mu of dragon fruit, with an output value of more than 7 million yuan, forming a development pattern of one village, one product. There is no need to worry about sales of the fruit either. Li Ping told the reporter: “They sell very well; those bosses from Haikou drive here to buy them.” Today, many villagers in Lishikao Village rely on the dragon fruit industry and have not only built new houses but also bought cars.
The two industries, dragon fruit and wax apple, have clearly boosted incomes, and Qionghai City has made developing these two industries a priority this year. At present, the planted area of both dragon fruit and wax apple has reached more than 5,000 mu. This year, Qionghai City will also allocate 5 million yuan to support the development of the two industries.