Tianshui, Gansu Province: Apple has become a fruit for farmers in mountainous areas to become rich

In Tianshui City, Gansu Province, there is a native product called "Hua Niu Apple" which is famous at home and abroad. In recent years, every family in Tianshui mountain area has planted flower cow apples with high quality and good price, which has become a rich fruit for farmers in the mountain area. In Huuniu Town, Maiji District, Tianshui City, 13 poor villages have been lifted out of poverty because of the cultivation of Huuniu apples.

"We have been growing apples for decades, and apples are our treasure." Wu Mingcheng, a fruit farmer in Huuniu Village, Huuniu Town, Maiji District, Tianshui City, said that he has been growing Huuniu apples since 2001, and over the years, as Huuniu apples are growing better and better, his and the villagers' pockets have been bulging day by day.

When Wu Mingcheng first planted apples, he fought on his own. Because of his limited energy, he only rented more than 20 mu of mountain area. Later, he led 63 farmers to set up a professional apple-growing cooperative, transferred 2280 mu of land, and built a 2000-ton constant temperature warehouse for fruits and a 3500-square-meter sorting workshop. As a result, the income of him and his members has increased significantly.

"before growing apples, I ate the last meal without the next meal, and the whole family had a problem with food and clothing." Wu Mingcheng said that his life has changed a lot since he cultivated Apple, spending more than 300,000 yuan on a new house in 2010 and buying another car in 2015.

In Tianshui mountain area, there are not a few farmers who grow apples to get rich. "those who began to grow apples more than a decade ago have become rich in their families." Tianshui Maiji District Fruit Industry Bureau Deputy Director Gao Yongxin said.

Thanks to the demonstration of a group of forerunners of Hua Niu apple industry, such as Wu Mingcheng, more and more farmers are planting Hua Niu apple in Tianshui Maiji area, and the apple planting area in this area has reached 408000 mu. The apple industry has also led to the development of other fruit industries. Up to now, the output of dried and fresh fruits in Maiji has reached 490200 tons, with an output value of 1.567 billion yuan.

The planting scale of Hua Niu Apple is expanding, but there have been problems in sales in recent years.

"the quality is comparable to that of American snakes, but because of the lack of attention to brand marketing in the past, the price is much lower than that of American snakes." 'some people even label Huuniu apples as American snake fruit for sale, 'Mr. Gao said.

In the face of the sales dilemma of Hua Niu Apple, Tianshui Nongxin Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd. actively explores Internet marketing, "to reshape the brand effect, so that good fruit can sell at a good price." In July this year, the company registered and established an Internet marketing company in Shanghai, hiring a professional marketing team with a high salary to improve the market awareness of Huaniu Apple, gradually grasp the pricing power, and create a good sales environment for fruit growers.

"just a month after the establishment of the company, we pre-sold more than 10 million yuan worth of fruit online." Wang Xuefeng, the head of the company, said that his company's goal is to reach 50 million yuan in sales and 10 million yuan in profits and taxes by the end of this year.

In recent years, the Maiji District Government of Tianshui City has also actively guided and combined the flower, cow and apple industry with "Shuanglian, quasi-poverty alleviation". On the one hand, we should provide free seedlings for fruit growers and seeds of vegetables and other cash crops interplanted in orchards and fields for fruit growers free of charge; at the same time, we should actively promote the "company + cooperative + peasant household" model, in which fruit growers are responsible for growing flowers and cattle apples, and cooperatives or companies are responsible for purchasing.

"there was already an order before the apple was taken off." Wu Mingcheng said.