The blueberries are ripe and the farmers are overjoyed.

At the height of summer, I drove from the urban area of Lujiang County, Anhui Province to Lehua Village, Fanshan Town, the first village of selenium-rich blueberries in Anhui Province. on the undulating slopes on both sides of the mountain road, the author found that it was a continuous piece of purple land. a stream of small shrubs grow lush, blueberry trees gracefully stretch their branches, and the branches are covered with clusters of crystal clear and full small berries, which are very gratifying.

Xu Jiman, a villager, was busy in the field, soaking his clothes with sweat. Xu Jiman, 59, works in the blueberry garden for weeding and maintenance. "I don't have any skills, and no one wants to go out to work." He said that his annual income is now steady over 20,000 yuan.

Niutoushan blueberry base belongs to Anhui Blueberry Technology Co., Ltd., with an area of 1050 mu, is the largest selenium-rich blueberry planting base in Anhui. Cai Chunxiang, the person in charge of the base, told me that blueberries have reached maturity, and there is an endless stream of citizens coming here to pick and relax.

"this is the peak of fruit harvesting, and we are busy with reception from morning till night, earning tens of thousands of yuan a day." Cai Chunxiang said excitedly that since the construction of the base in 2011, every fruit season has attracted a large number of tourists to visit.

Cai Chunxiang happily told me that there has been a bumper harvest of blueberries this year, and the total output is expected to exceed 200000 jin. "Blueberries have entered the full fruit stage. The output of a tree is about 15 jin, with more than 30 jin. 160 to 180 trees can be planted per mu of land, with a net income of more than 50,000 yuan. "

Blueberry has the reputation of "king of berries". It has a wide range of uses, high added value and long industrial chain. The selenium content of blueberries produced in Lehua village is higher than that of ordinary blueberries on the market, which has the characteristics of large fruit, beautiful appearance and good taste, and the market price is going up all the way.

In order to live the Blueberry Sutra, in the past two years, Lehua Village has combined blueberry planting and development with rural eco-tourism by holding blueberry tourism festivals, leisure blueberry picking, blueberry specialty sales and other activities. to achieve the efficiency of enterprises and increase farmers' income "sweet at both ends". With the increasing maturity of rural tourism, lively mountain people have opened farmhouse and farmhouse hotels.

"now that blueberries are ripe in season, we are very busy!" Liu Shifang, a blueberry picker, said with a smile that she works for the company on her own land and charges 4000 yuan a year in government rent. Now in Lehua Village, farmers have a new "way to eat", and life is becoming more and more prosperous.

Zhao Debin