Mulberry Planters Find New Method to Survive

Anchor:
The present global financial crisis has led to grim employment prospects for many people in China, particularly for the huge population in the country's vast rural areas.

However, staying on their farmland, farmers in China's eastern Jiangsu Province have explored a unique option in their effort to survive both the harsh job market and gloomy economic situation.

CRI Reporter Chen Xi brings you the story.

Reporter:
Unlike most of her fellow countrymen who have returned to cities in hope of finding jobs there, Xiang Gendi, a mulberry planter from Changzhou in Jiangsu province, has joined a number of other farmers who resumed their routine work on farmlands after losing their jobs in the cities.
She said she has cultivated a couple of hectares of mulberries.

"I have no plan to go to the city to find a job this year and just plant some mulberries on my farmlands. There are already hectares of them."

Xiang Gengdi explained that many people have quit mulberry planting in rural areas of the region as the textile industry has shrunk in export volume and low domestic consumption due to the financial crisis.

She had an idea that the current interval could be a lucrative chance to enhance the dropping rate of mulberry cultivation, which needs two to three years for a full harvest with potential benefits as the economy becomes revitalized again.

The new moves by local mulberry farmers have also won support from village authorities in Changzhou.

Rui Jianya is an official in Nanzhu village where Xiang Gengdi lives.

"The harvest of mulberries usually needs three years. By then, the farmers could earn a fortune when the price of pods is much higher."

Changzhou city has been one of the major silk producers in China, where mulberries from Nanzhu village are high-quality food for silkworms.

The official said the renewal of local mulberry planting would also help generate more jobs in rural areas, alleviating the employment pressure on jobless farmers.

Village authorities have also signed contracts with silk purchasers to evade further risks for farmers.

Chen Xi, CRI News.