Three Red Pomelo Reflects Red Peasant's Way to Prosperity

"This one is all three red pomelo." On May 16, the author walked into Gaoling Family Farm, Wulong Village, Masi Township, Xincheng County. I saw clean and tidy roads on both sides, planted with three red pomelo, rows of fruit trees more than 1 meter high were planted with peanuts, and fruit farmers were busy pruning and cutting leaves for fruit trees with scissors.

"There are more than 70 mu in this area. Next year, there will be more than 30 mu of fruit hanging. In the first year, one grapefruit tree can pick about 20 to 30 catties. Based on last year's retail price of 8 yuan per catty, it can be sold for at least 200 yuan. In the third and fourth years, the fruit of a grapefruit tree can be sold for 500 to 600 yuan." In the view of Yuan Fei, the owner of Gaoling Family Farm, these fruit trees in front of him are his "cash cow".

Yuan Fei, 29 years old, once went out to work to help his boss manage orchards and learned some fruit planting techniques. He came back to discuss with his family in the Spring Festival of 2014 and decided to return home to start a business and plant Sanhong pomelo. With the support of his parents, he spent all the 200,000 yuan sponsored by his family on renting land and ordering fruit seedlings. In 2015, he successfully planted 30 mu, and continued to expand planting this year. At present, driven by his influence, more than 10 farmers in the village have participated in the planting of Sanhong pomelo, covering an area of more than 100 mu.

"Xiao Yuan not only provided us with technology for free, but also promised to help us sell grapefruit. As long as the market is stable, my family will be able to shake off poverty in a few years." Gaolingtun poor planting household Lan Guokang said happily.

Yuan Fei's development of Sanhong pomelo planting has also been recognized by the government of Xincheng County. In addition to subsidizing fertilizer and recommending him to go out for study and training, relevant departments such as the County Agricultural Bureau have also fully assisted him in building his Sanhong pomelo garden into a typical ecological family farm in Xincheng County.

"The development of Sanhong pomelo industry in Gaoling Farm can increase the income of local villagers from three aspects. The first is land circulation rent. After renting land for 10 years, farmers can get a one-time rental income of 3000 yuan per mu; the second is labor income. Some left-behind women and older farmers can get about 80 yuan per day for working on farms; the third is three-dimensional planting. In the first three years, peanuts and rape flowers can be planted among fruit trees. After hanging fruit, chickens can be raised under trees to obtain multiple incomes." County agricultural bureau responsible person told the author, planting pomelo industry has become the county poor farmers a good way to increase income to become rich.

"In the next step, I intend to develop more than 400 mu of red pomelo planting in several villages such as Gaolingtun, Banyangtun, Moguangtun and Niuyantun in Wulong Village, and drive more than 200 farmers to create a 'hometown of three red pomelos.' At the same time, in combination with the construction of ecological villages, farmers will be guided to plant flowers and trees in jacks to create ecological village demonstration sites. When the grapefruit matures, we will further tap the added value of the grapefruit industry through flower viewing, fruit picking, and farmhouse entertainment, so as to drive the villagers to get rid of poverty and increase income." Yuan Fei is full of confidence in future development.