Shandong's Tai'an city burgeons with its sweet cherries

Since mid-May, farmers from Zhujiazhuang village in Xiazhang town – located in the Daiyue district of Tai'an city, in East China's Shandong province – have been busy picking and selling cherries, with the fruit in the midst of harvesting and ready for market.

"The prices of cherries this year are great and the average price of large cherries purchased from local fruit farmers is 48 yuan ($6.78) per kilogram," said the head of the local cooperative.

A farmhand helps pack boxes of cherries.  [Photo by Sun Yutang for chinadaily.com.cn]

With a history of planting large cherries going back over 30 years, Zhujiazhuang village currently has a cultivation area of more than 2,000 mu (133.33 hectares) and there's an area of 20,000 mu given over to cherry planting in Xiazhang town.

Over 10 cherry varieties can be seen there and most merchants come from the northeast areas of China to the trading market.

Workers carefully sort out the large cherries. [Photo by Sun Yutang for chinadaily.com.cn]

Nowadays, live streaming has been adopted by the local cooperative to help boost sales. "Every year, live streaming teams from other places are also attracted to distribute the cherries," said Zhujiazhuang village official Yang Guiyuan.

In 2007, the village Party branch introduced cherry planting and promoted the establishment of a cooperative, having attracted 286 fruit farmers to join in.

It's currently harvest season for the bright-colored cherries in Zhujiazhuang village. [Photo by Xu Wenli for chinadaily.com.cn]

In 2009, the cooperative registered its trademark and established a website for local cherries. That enabled it to price the cherries in Zhujiazhuang village 6-10 yuan per kilogram higher than in other places. A company was also established there and it encourages villagers to invest in the land.

Currently, the 2,000 mu planting area for cherries in Zhujiazhuang accounts for 85 percent of the village's total land. A 2,300-square-meter cherry trading market has been built there, providing facilities for buyers from elsewhere. (Edited by Chen Chuxuan)