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Fruit A New Lifeline
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Until a few years ago, private blood collectors in the People’s Republic of China would go from one rural village to another —and poor farmers would roll up their sleeves. The blood collectors, however, spread more than money around the countryside during the 1980s and 1990s.
Because of their lax sanitary procedures, unsuspecting donors were sometimes infected with hepatitis, syphilis, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. When blood selling was banned in 1997, many farmers were again left with few livelihood options.
Tu Xing was one of these blood-selling villages. Of the 1,300 people who live there, 100 or so sold blood to supplement their meager farm income of about yuan (CNY) 500 ($60) per household in 1990.
Farmer Chen Zong Yu would sell his blood twice a month to pay for his children’s education. The going price then was CNY200 ($24) for 400cc. Fortunately, those days are gone forever. “Trees are a better way to earn a living,” he says, referring to his small plot of longan trees, which produce a small pulpy fruit similar to litchis.
In 1991, 40 farm households were encouraged to develop the Heliukang Orchard by planting longan and other fruit trees on about 10 hectares (ha) of hilly, denuded land. But it was a struggle. Four years later, the farmers’ incomes were still low.
Techniques to cultivate cash crops on sloping lands were not available. In 1996, the fruit farm was provided with a $410,505 loan through the Fujian Soil Conservation and Rural Development Project. The loan was used to support the Fujian Soil and Water Conservation Center in its work to disseminate appropriate technologies.
An experienced fruit farm manager was elected to run the orchard, fast-growing longan varieties were planted, and scientific principles implemented, such as applying green manure for fertilizer. Farmers also received individual loans.
"Farmers no longer need to sell their blood to sendtheir children to school"
The farmers were trained in production and management technologies, with experts giving lectures on fruit farming and soil conservation techniques.
Full production started in 2001, with 2,400 trees in the Heliukang Orchard yielding an estimated 34 tons of longan valued at CNY202,250 ($24,450). Half the income goes to the farmers, and the rest is spent on operating the farm. With the trees now producing fruit, the farmers will start repaying their individual loans, typically at an annual rate of about CNY500 ($60).
Although Chen Guo Hua never resorted to selling his blood, he is pleased with his larger income from the orchard and his other enterprises: rice, watermelon, and pigs. “Before this was wasteland,” he says as he cuts grass to make organic manure. “The soil would wash down the hills and hurt the rice land.”
Thanks to the orchard, the village is beginning to flourish. New houses are being built, and farmers have been diversifying into other crops and livestock. By raising funds through farmers’ donations to match government funds, a paved road is being laid to the village from the highway. It will give residents year-round, all-weather access to the main roads—and markets for their fruit and other produce. Most importantly, farmers have found a means to earn a living without having to sell their blood.
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