Grapes bring prosperity to residents of Xinyang village in Qidong

To provide more jobs for locals, Xinyang village in Qidong – a county-level city administered by Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province – set up a grapery covering 130 mu (8.67 hectares) at the end of 2020, after an investigation of local land.

Over 20 local farmers were employed by the grapery and Zhou Zhenglan was one of them.

Under the guidance of experts, Zhou and the others hunkered down to get the necessary knowledge and skills about grape planting and mastered them quickly.

"Now I make more money in the grapery than from farming in my own fields before and the daily working time is flexible," Zhou said with satisfaction. Her annual income has increased from 5,000-6,000 yuan ($740-$888) previously to more than 20,000 yuan currently.

This year, the grapery ushered in its first bumper harvest. The yield is estimated to reach 1,750 kilograms per mu.

In addition to the grapery, Xinyang village has built an entrepreneurship park for veterans and a cooperative for fruits and vegetables. It also supported the development of family farms that cover 850 mu of land in total.

Zhou Bing, general secretary of Xinyang village Party branch, said the village would continue to increase the incomes of villagers through the grape industry.