Strawberries Adorn the Countryside, Sweet Industry Embarks on a New Journey

In the prime of spring, the air is filled with fruity fragrance. At the strawberry picking garden in Erdaoling Village, Xiyang Township, Wafangdian City, Liaoning Province, strawberry fruits like red agates hang full on the vines, with a refreshing sweet aroma. This picking garden has not only become a popular weekend getaway for urban residents but also a "golden link" for villagers to increase their income, breathing vitality into the rural area in spring.

Stepping into the picking garden, a strong strawberry scent greets visitors, with colorful fruits everywhere. Plump and ruddy Jiujiu strawberries look particularly attractive against the green leaves; newly introduced varieties such as "Pink White" and "Pink Lover" are crystal clear and delicate. A bite of a fresh strawberry bursts with juicy sweetness and a lingering aftertaste, showing the original ecological flavor. Tourists carry fruit baskets, shuttle between the ridges, carefully select ripe fruits, and their laughter echoes in the warm greenhouses, enjoying the immersive picking experience.

Behind the high-quality strawberries is the careful care of growers. From December to June every year, growers devote themselves to the garden, striving for excellence in every link from seedling cultivation to daily management. This dedication has brought rich returns: during this year's Spring Festival alone, one strawberry garden received about 1,500 visitors, with a turnover of around 70,000 yuan. Growers now plan to introduce more high-quality varieties to enrich the picking experience.

From transformation exploration to large-scale development, the local strawberry industry has upgraded step by step. In 2017, some growers resolutely transformed their greenhouses from peach cultivation to strawberry planting. Starting with only two greenhouses, after years of intensive cultivation, they now have six greenhouses covering 7 mu of land. Adopting the "picking + wholesale" dual-drive model, one greenhouse is open to tourists, while the other five supply the market. It has not only attracted tourists from surrounding areas but also brought fresh strawberries to a broader market, with an annual revenue exceeding 300,000 yuan.

A single flower does not make a spring; a hundred flowers in bloom bring spring to the garden. With strawberry picking as its featured brand, Erdaoling Village has gradually expanded its industrial boundaries, successively developing cherry and grape picking gardens, continuously deepening the "picking economy" format, widening villagers' path to prosperity, and forming a sound pattern of multi-point drive and diversified income increase.

A small strawberry carries great hopes for rural development. Today, this "sweet" color has become a link connecting leisure consumption and rural development. Next, Xiyang Township will continue to focus on the integration of agriculture and tourism, promote the quality and efficiency of characteristic agriculture, let the sweet industry continue to empower rural development, and add a vivid touch to the picture of Wafangdian's rural progress.