Yichuan is one of the 23 counties in northwest China's Shaanxi Province that eliminated poverty in May this year. The money local villagers make by growing and selling apples has helped pull the county out of poverty.

Located in a hilly area on a loess plateau, Yichuan enjoys a cool highland climate and abundant sunshine. The natural environment makes this place favorable for growing apples. Local farmers have a long tradition of running apple plantations. However, they only did it as a sideline activity.

Villagers in Yichuan County had been plagued by poverty for decades. In 1989, Zhang Yangang, who was Xinhu Village's new leader, realized that apples had the potential to help villagers out of poverty.

Zhang said local villagers used to grow tobacco back in the 1980s, earning only 300 yuan (50 U.S. dollars) per capita per year. "We were so poor back then. I accepted experts' advice and encouraged villagers to plant apple trees instead of tobacco, because apples have much higher economic benefits," Zhang recalled.

He made lots of efforts to help local farmers over the past 30 years. He guided them to cooperate with each other, build cold storage facilities, and standardize the management of orchards.

After years of hard work, villagers' average annual income had increased to 30,000 yuan (5,000 US dollars) in 2012 – 100 times more than what they made before.

However, in recent years, local farmers have encountered new challenges. The purchasing price of apples has become unstable, with the price offered by dealers dropping significantly in bumper years. Villagers became eager to find a new way to sell their apples, with a more stable and higher price.

Li Jiang, 37, was born and raised in Yichuan County. His father, also an apple farmer, had a car accident on his way to sell apples in 2014. Li says he understands the difficulties apple farmers are facing.

In 2017, Li moved back to his hometown and opened a fruit deep-processing factory to add more value to Yichuan apples.

Li's company collects fresh apples from local farmers for deep-processing, with a relatively stable price. And they use online and offline channels to sell a wide range of products, like apple crisps and cider. Now hundreds of local farmers have signed contracts with Li's company, Li said, adding that he is trying to persuade more apple farmers to cooperate with him.

Yichuan County has a population of 120,000. According to Shaanxi provincial poverty relief office, poverty-stricken residents in the county now only account for 0.58 percent of the total population, meeting China's requirement for an impoverished county to cast off the title.

Yichuan community is trying its best to tackle poverty… one apple at a time.