Cooperation boosts Baiyun's growing kiwi industry

Villagers weigh and package kiwi fruit at Hongjin village. [Photo/gywb.cn]

The heaps of kiwi fruit in Liu Yulong's small yard in Hongjin village -- in Baiyun district in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province -- are waiting to be packed into a paper box at noon.

Together with the other villagers, Liu has transformed from being a sole kiwi planter previously into a partner of the local planting industrial park. Despite initial qualms about the scale of the development, what might have been a commercial minefield has instead become a flourishing market that is boosting the local economy.

The story began with a survey by a poverty alleviation team led by Baiyun district in 2018. After that, a kiwi-based planting industrial park was planned and soon drafted into reality.

According to Deng Zhaobin, Party secretary of Hongjin village, the industrial park plans to expand to more than 1,000 mu (666,667 square meters), with a project investment of 4 million yuan ($ 593,200) in three phases.

The phase-one project added 130 mu of kiwi trees in 2019; phase two and phase three will each plant another 200 mu. Additionally, the park will plant ginger and konjak.

With regards to local development, villagers were given the choice of being able to have a share of the land's benefits. Also, they can get land dividends and income bonuses three years later. They can also work as laborers in the park and to date, more than 130 households have decided to take part in the project.

At the same time, the local farmer professional cooperatives provide solutions for planting technology, seedlings, packaging and sales.

This year there are hopes for a good harvest -- more than 500 mu of kiwi trees are bearing fruit and the yield is expected to be more than 80,000 kilograms. Additionally, online and offline sales have come together, expanding the market greatly.