Agricultural experts help struggling farmers

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2013-05-08

Gao Fushen did not know how to grow tea-oil trees, a cash crop that can often bring more money than grain farming.

But now experts such as Guo Yunwei are helping them find new sources of income.

Gao, who has two daughters and parents that have lost the ability to work, feels life is hard. His wife has left to a faraway city to work. He has to manage a farm and look after his young daughters and parents.

Worse, he does not make much money from daily grain farming, a problem that besets many of the local farmers.

The county authorities have noticed their difficulties and have organized agricultural experts to help them grow tea-oil trees to make more money.

Guo, chairman of an agricultural technology company in Fujian province, was asked to help Gao plant more than 1 hectare of tea-oil trees. Six years from now, if everything goes smoothly, Gao will be able to earn at least 80,000 yuan ($12,999) a year, a big sum for farmers like Gao.

“It will be enough to help me raise my daughters and support my parents,” Gao said.

Edited by Lin Hong and Michael Thai