Wuxi's support for grape farmers bears fruit

A group of media delegates visit the vineyards in Huangtu town in Jiangyin, a county-level city of Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province, on July 20. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Grape farmers in Huangtu town in Jiangyin, East China's Jiangsu province, are expected to rake in handsome profits from this year's harvest thanks to the support they have received from Wuxi municipal agricultural commission.

Located in the western part of Jiangyin, a county-level city administered by Wuxi, Huangtu town is one of China's leading production bases for high-quality grapes. On May 15, the town was included in a development plan for 105 towns with large agricultural sectors launched by the Jiangsu government.

To learn about and deal with prominent issues concerning local farmers' well-being, the municipal agricultural commission has paid nine visits to the town since March.

After talking to the town's grape farmers, officials learned that most vineyards' yields were barely satisfactory due to cracked or rotten fruits. To solve the problem, the commission invited Jia Huijuan, professor at the Institute of Fruit Science of Zhejiang University, to give an agro-technical training lecture on April 27.

The training session attracted 125 local grape farmers, who agreed that the agricultural expert offered practical advice and easy-to-learn techniques for grape planting.