Grape growing sweetens villagers' life, builds careers for "new farmers"

NANNING -- As spring approaches, villager Wang Deli pays close attention to local weather changes, waiting for agricultural experts' instructions on his grape field.

Wang is from Maozhushan Village in Guilin City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He plants about one hectare of grapes, earning around 100,000 yuan (14,700 U.S. dollars) annually, counting income from migrant jobs in his spare time.

Maozhushan is a mountain village with 46 households. In 2002, several villagers took advantage of suitable local soil and climate conditions and began growing grapes. Over the years, the grape-growing industry has attracted more villagers to participate, bringing the total growing area to over 21 hectares.

To improve the grape quality, Maozhushan has, in recent years, improved farmers' technical training by working with agricultural scientific research institutions and inviting agricultural experts to guide grape planting.

"We are expanding the high-standard farmland area. In the past, water and fertilizer were sprayed from the ground to the air through pipelines, which lacked accuracy, with high cost. The newly installed drip irrigation equipment has saved a lot," said Wang.

The village has also worked with China's major telecom operator China Mobile to build a digital platform to conduct real-time monitoring of grape growth, diseases, and insect pests.

Since 2021, the village has also started planting high-quality grape varieties. "The income of planting one hectare of the new grape variety is equivalent to planting five or six hectares of traditional grape varieties," said Wang.

Thanks to the current measures, "the Maozhushan Grape" has become a renowned brand, and more and more tourists come to the village, especially during the grape harvest season.

Villager Wang Xinjian smells a business opportunity. He quit his job away from his hometown and returned to Maozhushan to open a farmhouse offering beds and dinners, accommodating 120 tourists. "As the pace of rural revitalization continues to accelerate, the rural tourism and the leisure agriculture businesses are burgeoning, significantly increasing the locals' income," said Wang.

Like Wang, more and more young people with ideas and skills, called "new farmers," are returning to their hometowns to start businesses.

Two years ago, Wang Jia quit her job at a tourism company in Guilin and became an e-commerce livestreaming anchor to expand online sales channels for local grapes.

"Rural revitalization cannot be achieved without the participation of talented youths. I chose to return and contribute my strength to my hometown's development," said Wang Jia.

"We will continue to upgrade the village's business from integrating the grape growing and tourism industries to provide a broader stage for 'new farmers' to pursue their dreams," said Wang Xinmin, Party chief of Maozhushan Village.