Shaanxi at Work: Apple business helps alleviate poverty in Shaanxi village

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Yichuan is one of the 23 counties in northwest China's Shaanxi Province that eliminated poverty in early May this year. One factor was the money local people make by growing and selling apples. CGTN's Xu Xinchen tells us more about their efforts.

Yichuan's cool highland climate and abundant sunshine, make it naturally favorable for growing apples. Local farmers have a long tradition of running apple plantations, but they used to do it as a sideline activity. In 1989, a new village leader by the name of Zhang Yangang found apple's potential to help villagers out of poverty.

ZHANG YANGANG, VILLAGE HEAD XINHU VILLAGE, YICHUAN COUNTY "Villagers used to grow tobaccos back in the 80s, earning only 300 yuan per person a year. I accepted experts' advice and encouraged them to plant apple trees instead, because of apple's high economic benefits."

Zhang Yangang has made lots of efforts to help local farmers over the past thirty years. He guided them to cooperate with each other, build cold storage facilities, and standardize the management of orchards. In 2012, villagers' average annual income had increased to 30 thousand yuan --- 100 times more than what they made before. But in recent years, they have encountered new challenges.

WANG HONG APPLE FARMER "The purchasing price may drop a lot in a bumper year. We want to find a way to sell apples with a more stable and higher price."

Born and raised in Yichuan, 37-year-old Li Jiang understands the difficulties apple farmers are facing. In 2017, he opened a fruit deep processing factory to add more values to Yichuan apples.

LI JIANG, GENERAL MANAGER YICHUAN THIRD BRANCH OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS CO. "We collect fresh apples from local farmers for deep-processing, with a relatively stable price. And we use online and offline channels to sell our products, like apple crisp and ciders."

Apple farmer Wang Hong says instead of selling apples to dealers, he would very much like to cooperate with deep-processing companies like Li's. Tackling poverty one apple at a time. Xu Xinchen, CGTN, Yichuan, Shaanxi Province.