Fruit tree industry brings wealth to rural households in Kunming, SW China's Yunnan

The fruit tree has become an important industry for the Qidian subdistrict, Chenggong district, Kunming city, southwest China's Yunnan Province, which has boosted the local economy.

Photo shows cherry trees in Jin Sheng's orchard in the Songmao neighborhood of the Qidian subdistrict, Chenggong district, Kunming city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

It is now the harvest season for many kinds of fruits. According to Jin Sheng, a cherry grower in the Songmao neighborhood of the Qidian subdistrict, his cherry orchard, which sits on 20 mu (1.33 hectares) of land, received about 200 to 300 visitors on the weekend. They experienced cherry picking. The thousands of trees once laden with bright red cherries were quickly "plucked" clean by the visitors.

These visitors brought him some 15,000 yuan ($2,070), which included an entry fee of 25 yuan for each adult visitor, as well as revenue from the cherries the visitors brought home, which was priced at 30 yuan per kg.

His family earned over 100,000 yuan from this cherry picking season alone, which lasted about half a month.

"To be honest, our family's cherry cultivation area and income from cherry picking are about average. Some of my fellow villagers can earn 200,000 to 300,000 yuan just from cherry cultivation every year," Jin said with a smile.

All the nine rural neighborhoods in the Qidian subdistrict are home to a total of over 1,500 cherry orchards built by 1,403 rural households. Covering a total area of 15,700 mu, the cherry orchards yield 8,750 tonnes of cherry annually, which are worth around 120 million yuan.

Peng Zechao, a resident of the Malang neighborhood in the Qidian subdistrict, invested in and built a raspberry picking base in 2022 for yellow raspberries, black raspberries, and blackberries. To enrich the visitors' experience, he set up barbecue areas, resting areas, and shaded areas in the base, and introduced raspberry-flavored popsicles.

Photo shows yellow raspberries in Peng Zechao's orchard in the Malang neighborhood of the Qidian subdistrict, Chenggong district, Kunming city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

Opened in May last year, the base saw hundreds of visitors every weekend, and the revenue exceeded 1 million yuan. "This really exceeded my expectations," said Peng.

He recently started pre-selling tickets for this year's picking season on short video platforms. In just six or seven days, the pre-sale revenue exceeded 100,000 yuan. Worried that the influx of visitors might overwhelm the base and affect the quality of service, he promptly suspended the pre-sale.

With the yellow and black raspberries about to ripen, Peng and his family decided to open the base during the upcoming May Day holiday this year. He estimated that with more fruits reaching maturity this year, his income could reach three to five times that of the previous year.

In several mulberry picking gardens in the Hujiazhuang neighborhood of the Qidian subdistrict, visitors enjoy picking mulberries these days. The neighborhood has 500 mu for mulberry cultivation, with an annual output value of approximately three million yuan.

Hujiazhuang started to develop the mulberry industry over a decade ago with guidance from the local government. Since then, during the mulberry picking season, which typically runs from early April to mid-May, visitors flock to the mulberry gardens to taste the sweet and juicy mulberries.

Photo shows mulberries in the Hujiazhuang neighborhood of the Qidian subdistrict, Chenggong district, Kunming city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

Hu Youquan, head of the neighborhood, said during the peak picking season, the neighborhood saw 400 to 500 visitors every weekend, and more than 200 vehicles daily.