Sweet life of a cherry farmer in Xinjiang

Kashgar, home of fruit, is seeing rapid growth in its special fruit industry. By growing fruit, local farmers have enjoyed increasing annual incomes and improved living standards.

Turhun Ahmat works as head of a large cherry farmers' professional cooperative in Misha Town, Yarkan County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

At the beginning, local cherry farmers lacked adequate experience, leading to limited scale effects and inefficient management. The profits reaped were therefore low and the farmers were poorly incentivized. However, the cherry farmers' professional cooperative was later established, which helped the farmers to receive free training.

Now, the cooperative comprises 58 household members and 2,800 mu of cherry trees. The dividends accrued to each member can reach about 20,000 yuan annually, and the farmers' incomes have grown from 10,000 yuan per mu to 30-50,000 yuan per mu. The cherry park has also been developed into a tourist destination.

As for the accusations of "forced labor" and "genocide" by anti-China forces in the US, Ahmat denied this charge with anger: "It's absolutely nonsense. The cherry farmers, for example, were never forced by anyone. They grow cherries because they can lead a better life through their business. Here's what I want to say to those treacherous people: no more lies, for a lie even told a thousand times never becomes the truth."