Grape growing enriches farmers in central Yunnan

“My family has grown 8 mu (about half a hectare) of red grapes this year, with an expected yield of 32 tons in all,” said Shen Chunyi, a grape farmer living in Huangguayuan township, central Yunnan’s Yuanmou county.

Mr. Shen has a family of four. He and his wife take care of grapes on a daily basis, while their two daughters are still studying at school. According to the current market price of 16 yuan per kilogram, grape growing can roughly bring an income of 328,000 yuan to the family every year.

Mr. and Mrs. Shen started working in their grapery in the year of 2007. Under the assistance of local-based agricultural technicians, they soon came out with some juicy and big sized red grapes which were popular not only among purchasers of Yunnan, but those from other provinces.

With the money earned from grape growing and selling, Shen Chunyi and his family have moved into a 3-storey house constructed by bricks.

And they now hope to expand their business by setting up a cooperative through which more farmers can be engaged into the grape industry. “I sincerely want to do something to my hometown,” said Shen. 

Besides individuals or households, grapes in Huangguayuan are also cultivated by a number of private companies. “Our 130-hactare grapery can guarantee a sale of 60,000,000 yuan each year,” said Guo Feng, general manager of one enterprise.

“The shine muscat grapes we grow have been awarded as the best table grape in China,” he continued. “And our centennial seedless and summer black also get positive feedbacks from customers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzheng and other major Chinese cities.”  

With 200 hectares of grapery, the grape industry in Huangguanyuan is expected to generate a production value of 120,000,000 yuan by the end of this year. Over 5,000 local farmers have been benefited and even enriched by this grape business that goes both online and offline.

Reporting by Bi Peng(yunnan.cn), photographing by Zhang Xiaoqin, and trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong