Migrant worker develops fruit planting business, helps fellow villagers increase income

Migrant worker-turned-entrepreneur, Tao Qiuyun is praised as a foregoer in shaking off poverty for his hard work in planting fruit trees and helping his fellow villagers increase income.

The 41-year-old runs a company selling fruit from his hometown in Longguang village, Nanjiang township, Kaiyang county, southwest China’s Guizhou province. Located in the core area of a popular scenic area, the village is famous for its loquats.

When the village began to promote the planting of a high-quality variety of loquat in 2002, Tao became a migrant worker in east China’s Zhejiang province and southeast China’s Fujian province.

After returning home in 2012 to take care of his parents, Tao became engaged in the planting of watermelons, pears and pomelos. However, his attempts failed due to a lack of technology and sales channels.

“It is the 1.33 hectares of loquat trees my father planted and maintained in 2002 that gave me hope,” Tao said, adding that he earned over 100,000 yuan (about $14,000) by selling loquats with a good appearance and taste at 50 yuan (about $7) per kilogram in 2013.

Tao shored up confidence in planting fruit again. “As long as I can guarantee sound variety and quality, I can ensure good sales,” he noted.

Through a market survey, he found that Kaiyang welcomes the busy season for tourism between July and August when there are no seasonal fruits in the local market, indicating a good opportunity.

Establishing the company and planting eight varieties of plum trees on over 14.5 hectares of land he obtained through the transfer of land-use rights, the sales revenue of the plums is expected to surpass 150,000 yuan (about $21,000) this year.

To help villagers increase their wealth through planting fruit trees, Tao also established a cooperative in 2014, attracting 11 households that year. The cooperative has purchased production materials, invited experts to instruct farmers on how to plant fruit trees and help boost sales.

Thanks to the collective efforts of members of the cooperative, they reduced their production costs by about 30 percent and attracted more experts. Within two years, more than 120 households had joined the cooperative, who had planted over 66.7 hectares of fruit trees.

With basic fruit planting techniques, these households have found a new way to increase income, said Tao.

"Apart from planting techniques, marketing is also important," he added, noting that fruit should be sold by different quality levels according to their unit weight and appearance.

“To develop the fruit industry in Kaiyang, the industrial chain should be improved,” said Tao, expecting that more enterprises of fruit deep-processing will invest in the county to turn fresh loquats into processed products and help fruit growers fetch a high price for their fruit.