Thriving orange cultivation attracts migrant workers to return home, become fruit pickers in SW China’s Sichuan

Known as “China’s hometown of oranges”, Danleng county in southwest China’s Sichuan province has taken advantage of the Internet to boost sales of oranges. In recent years, quite a large number of migrant workers have opted to return to their hometowns to work as fruit pickers, having received better pay after taking up the job.

A farmer picks oranges at her fruit orchard in Danleng county, southwest China’s Sichuan province. (Chinanews.com/Cheng Huanyue)

In recent days, local orange growers have been busying themselves getting their fruits to the market for a countrywide shopping spree that falls on Nov. 11. With soaring numbers of orders, many growers have decided to hire professional fruit pickers to accelerate the harvesting process.

Su Zhengzhong heads a fruit-picking team that comprises 50 people in all. This year marks the eighth consecutive year since they started to provide fruit-picking services in 2013, mainly to help growers keep up with the high demand in the November shopping season.

A fruit picker carries a basket of oranges on his back while riding a motorcycle. (Chinanews.com/Wu Zhiqiang)

A team of 15 people can pick 15,000 kilograms of oranges per day, with the daily salary for each picker ranging between 200 yuan and 300 yuan. During the peak season, a picker can earn more than 10,000 yuan each month, and 80,000 yuan throughout a year by working as a skilled picker. Some of the pickers who also work as fruit growers can expect to earn even more, with total earnings adding up to between 150,000 and 200,000 yuan per year. “Without e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, fruit cultivation will never become prosperous in our hometown, and fruit-picking won’t become a profession,” said Su.

Before becoming fruit pickers, most of these rural Chinese people had worked at construction sites for power transmission projects. “It was a dangerous job. I worked on a power transmission tower at a height of over 100 meters,” said Su.

Fruit pickers load oranges onto a truck. (Chinanews.com/Wu Zhiqiang)

Aerial photo shows three fruit pickers walking through an orchard, each carrying a basket of oranges on his back. (Chinanews.com/Wu Zhiqiang)