Fruits of success

Road infrastructure problems had for years hindered fruit farmers from Mulan village, Xiaojin county, from accessing wider markets.

Green apples from the county are prized for their acidity and a red blush on the skin. With a cultivation area of 80 hectares, Mulan village is a major apple production region in the county.

Last year, about 400 households in the village harvested 5,000 metric tons of green apples, generating revenue of over 7 million yuan.

But in 2015, it was a totally different picture.

Back then, a national highway passed by the village but there was no connecting road, leaving Mulan village isolated on the mountainside.

Fruit growers had to carry baskets of apples down slopes on their backs and hawk them on the highway to passing motorists.

Some growers made the extra effort to take their apples to a wholesale market in the provincial capital Chengdu, more than 300 km away. The one-way journey took seven to eight hours. Many of the apples spoiled on the way and the wholesale price was 0.6 yuan per 500 grams.

Before 2015, the village's total revenue from apple sales was below 2 million yuan. Due to weak demand, a large quantity of apples was left to rot in the fields.

Villagers lost confidence in their ability to earn a living from the fruit and orchards were left untended.

In 2015, to boost the apple industry, the village paths were surfaced and a road to the highway began construction. Four years later, a total of 3.5 km of asphalt road was extended into the village.

Since then, the Mulan green apple has earned a good reputation and generated strong sales. Fruit retailers drive trucks into the village and purchase the green apples for a wholesale price of 1.5 yuan per 500 grams.

In 2017, Mulan village welcomed its first delivery depot, which encouraged the growers to sell their apples nationwide on online platforms such as WeChat and Taobao.

"I meet a lot of consumers from Zhejiang province on WeChat and they like my apples very much," said Long Huagui, 50, a farmer from the village.

"All I need to do is to pack the apples at the depot and the rest is in the hands of the delivery business. It takes three days at most for the apples to reach customers' homes."

The retail price varies from 3 to 5 yuan per 500 grams and about 15 percent of the output is sold online.

Long said selling apples is no longer difficult, and before they have come into season he starts receiving orders.

Fruit growing has developed into a multi-billion-yuan industry in the prefecture and has helped increase farmers' income and relieve poverty. Last year, the prefecture's cultivation area for apples, pears, cherries, plums and other fruit reached 18,032 hectares while output topped 211,400 tons.