Chongqing- Tan Jingmei, a cadre assigned by the Government Affairs Center of Wuxi County to assist Yuntai Village, drove the last batch of fine plums from a mountain about 1,400 meters above the sea level to the buyers in the county and its surrounding areas. This marked that the ripe fruits of the 8.67 square kilometers of plum trees in the town were almost sold out. According to Zhan Zubin, Director of the Agricultural and Rural Service Center of Tongcheng Town, in the crucial period, the working teams stationed in the town and the village cooperated with the cooperatives to protect plums from rainstorms. Finally, the town achieved the goal of selling 450 tons and earning nearly 3 million yuan.

The fruit merchants are collecting plums at the village (Photo provided to Chongqing)

Working together to protect plums

"It rains continuously in June and July every year. It hurts because the plums may crack...” Zhang Nengcai and dozens of other plum planters in Qingquan Village are sleepless in this season every year. “We’re worried about the quality of fruits, worried about damage caused by wind and rain, worried about low price.”

A villager is picking plums (Photo provided to iChongqing)

But this year, Tongcheng plums were sold out before storms, reducing the yield loss caused by rain from 60% last year to 30%. According to the statistics, more than 200 Party members and cadres of the city, county, township, village, and cooperative levels participated in protecting plums. In addition, the county agricultural and rural commission got insured two square kilometers of plums in the town. So far, the claim procedures have been started. Each mu (1 mu=666.7 m²) of plums will be paid 100 to 300 yuan depending on the degree of loss.

From plums to coins

The "5G Promotes Rural Revitalization" special live streaming sponsored by China Mobile Chongqing Branch was held in the Consumption Revitalization Hall of Tongcheng Town, Wuxi County. Seven guests joined the live streaming room to speak for Tongcheng crisp green plum, and the supportive unit promoted sales offline. The activity attracted nearly 4,000 people, contributing to more than 500 orders online, worth nearly 80,000 yuan, and pre-sales worth 100,000 yuan offline.

Selling plums online (Photo provided to iChongqing)

As of July 29, more than 150,000 kilograms of plums in the village had been divided into fine, medium, and small levels and sold out, earning farmers more than 1,075,000 yuan, an increase of more than 325,000 yuan based on last year. The price rose by 43%, and the sales time was shortened by 8%.

Zeng Xianghu, a plum farmer, said, "I sold more than 25,000 kg this year and earned 150,000 yuan. In early July, we were ants on a hot pan. But now, we rest assured. The Party members and cadres did a great favor to us, really. We will learn a lesson from the rain disaster this year. After it becomes cool, we will actively seek solutions to pests and disasters. We will take proactive measures against rain and drought to make Yuntai plum more delicious and salable. And every farmer can make a lot of money."

The working teams stationed in the village are visiting the plum orchard (Photo provided to iChongqing)

Walk side by side on a road to “rich farmers, booming industry and beautiful village.”

"In 2005, Tongcheng Town developed economic plum forests on the sites of the first round of 'returning farmland to forest' projects. Since then, it has conducted two rounds of large-scale planting in 2015 and 2018, respectively, and now the planting area is about 15.3 square kilometers. In 2021, Tongcheng was identified as a key town in need under the rural revitalization strategy. The town plans to plant another 4.67 square kilometers of late-maturing crisp plums and upgrade the quality of the existing orchards," said the person in charge of Tongcheng Town.