Approaching the Spring Festival, Desheng Youliang Village, located in Nuanshui Township, Jungger Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, has entered a new round of golden period of apple sales. Next to the more than 2,000 cubic meters of cold storage built by the village collective, workers are busy picking, packing and loading.
The arsenic sandstone area, known as the "cancer of the earth", accounts for more than half of the area of the warm water township of the Jungar Banner. The development of traditional agriculture used to be difficult here. Since the 90s of the 20th century, local villagers successfully planted the first apple seedlings on the arsenic sandstone, and the apple industry has become the "golden signboard" of the local area.
Grow apples according to local conditions
Arsenic sandstone is a rock interlayered structure with incomplete development of geological rock layers, which is like mud when encountering water, turning into sand when encountering wind, and carrying sediment and sediment by floods, it flows into the Yellow River, which once became "the world's most soil erosion".
Due to the poor living environment, in 2009, the government implemented the ecological relocation of the entire village in Nuanshui Township, where the arsenic sandstone was severely exposed. The Juxin community, which is not far from the township government, has solved the housing problem of migrants, but the production of agriculture and animal husbandry is limited, and the lack of income sources has made the villagers' lives face new challenges.
Hua Shengming picking apples in the orchard (data map)
As early as 2015, Hua Shengming, who was the secretary of the party branch of Youliang Village, Desheng, Nuanshui Township, was inspired by the successful trial planting of apple seedlings on arsenic sandstone by local villagers in the 90s of the last century, and began to take the lead in trying to "grow apples on cancer-stricken rocks".
"The rock was so hard that we couldn't use a shovel, so we used an iron pickaxe to dig little by little in the crevices of the rock. Hua Shengming told reporters, "Seed selection, seedlings, soil filling, watering, hoeing, fertilization, every step must be repeated experiments." What is unexpected is that the only soil in the mountain depression of Youliang Village in Desheng is loose, and the arsenic sandstone is water-retaining and breathable, rich in a variety of trace elements, coupled with the long sunshine hours throughout the year and the large temperature difference between day and night, which is the unique natural conditions for planting mountain apples.
The apple trees that grow well in Warm Water Township (data map)
In 2015, under the call of the village, the villagers began to plant apple trees in a large area, the survival rate of apple trees is getting higher and higher, and the planting scale is formed.
In the distance of the orchard is arsenic sandstone that has not yet been reformed (data map)
"Our fruit is watery, sugary and fruity. Watson said that warm water apples quickly opened up the sales market with their unique taste.
"Apple groves can prevent sand fixation, prevent soil erosion, purify the air, and fundamentally reverse the fragile situation of warm water ecology. Wang Long, the mayor of Nuanshui Township, said that the sustainable development of the apple industry has become the best solution for local ecological protection and restoration.
The apple tree becomes a cash cow
Hua Shengming is a well-known fruit tree planter, from 40 acres of apple orchards in 2015 to 100 acres today, the orchard has brought him income continues to rise. "My orchard now earns 1.4 million yuan a year and has a net profit of 900,000 yuan. Watson said.
Automatic apple cleaning line before packing (data map)
Not only Hua Shengming, but more and more villagers in Desheng Youliang Village have become rich by planting fruit trees. In 2019, with the support of the township government, 82 fruit farmers in Youliang Village, Desheng jointly established a professional cooperative, and decided to develop a village collective orchard of 150 acres, with 25% of the net profit of the orchard allocated to the owner of land contract management rights, and 75% for village-level public welfare undertakings and village collective economic development.
Nowadays, the apple industry has become the pillar industry of Nuanshui Township, the whole village is planted with more than 20 varieties, and the annual fruit production can reach 10 million catties during the peak fruit period, with an income of more than 80 million yuan, and the village collective economic income reaches 3 million yuan.
In order to open up apple sales, all 2,300 acres of orchards in Desheng Youliang Village have passed the green food certification, and Warm Water Township has also released the "Warm Water Mountain" apple regional public brand, becoming the first apple regional public brand in western Inner Mongolia.
"Ecological Forest" Becomes "Industrial Forest"
From planting to storage, from processing to sales, the apple industry in Nuanshui Township is constantly developing towards specialization and marketization.
Apple orchard on the hillside of Warm Water Township (data map)
In order to cultivate better quality apples, the local government standardizes orchard production by introducing new cultivation models and new varieties, and at the same time invites technicians to teach the villagers the "scriptures", and carries out technical knowledge courses at various stages such as fruit tree planting, fruit tree pruning, pest control, and plastic film mulching.
"In the past, the villagers planted fruit trees by relying on soil methods and old experience, and after professional training in forest and fruit technology, a large number of new farmers who understood technology and were good at management appeared in the village. Zhao Yongjun, Secretary of the Party Committee of Desheng Youliang Village, said.
In order to create greater value for apples, on the basis of continuously developing the sales market, Nuanshui Township has extended the apple industry chain, built a fruit vinegar and fruit drink production and processing and automatic filling line with an annual processing capacity of 1.5 million catties of apples, and continuously improved the added value of apples; built a fresh cold storage that can store 800,000 catties of apples to extend the "life cycle" of apples; and made apples go to a broader market through e-commerce.
After apples are picked, they are processed and packed (data map)
In addition, the local government has also cooperated with China Agricultural University to empower the apple industry with digitalization and build a smart orchard apple base. "In the future, through the real-time scrolling of data on the big screen, farmers can find out the lack of water and fertilizer in the orchard in time. Digitalization will help orchards improve quality and efficiency. Zhao Yongjun told reporters.
In addition to apple trees, Warm Water Township is also actively building ecological forests such as apricot trees, pine trees and sea buckthorn, with 200,000 acres of sea buckthorn and 28,000 acres of apricot trees. The economic forests growing on the arsenic sandstone are becoming a "green bank" for the people in the warm water township to increase their income and get rich.
Reporter: Xia Yuanyuan
Photo editor: Yu Xiangjun
(Contributed by the "New Year Walk to the Grassroots" team of the Center for Europe and Africa)
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