Benefit from the sufficient plateau sunlight and the careful cultivation of orchardists, strawberry has become one of the most tempting fruits in the winter of Kunming. Now, huge numbers of strawberries planted in communities Xihua and Fushan in Xishan district, Kunming city, are ripe and waiting for visitors to taste. 

Strawberry varieties are abundant in Xihua community and now it is the harvest time for early-maturing varieties. More strawberry varieties will come into season from the coming December to the June of next year. 

Nowadays strawberry growers in Xihua are busy in harvesting and one of them is called Li Kunlin, who has planted strawberry only for three years but has higher output than others. To grow strawberry well, he had gone to Japan to learn farming techniques and got his master degree there. The three-dimensional space adopted in his garden not only make yield 30% higher than the traditional way, but also facilitate picking. Instead of traditional chemical fertilizers, enzymes are used to nourish the soil, making strawberries there healthier for people to eat. 

“Visitors’ coming and picking is not the only way we make money, we also sell strawberries on  e-commerce platform. The biggest deal in the first half of this year was when we sold 300 kilograms by mail,” Li Kunlin said. “Our output of strawberries is 3 tons per mu and the income of each mu is about 40,000 yuan, which means that we can earn much more than growing corn and wheat. Now I’m planning to expand sales channels, like live streaming.” 

With strawberries of 350 mu and 180 growers, strawberry farming has now become a pillar industry for the villagers in Xihua. 

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(Editors: Alison, Christine)