Pink-colored flowers fill the greenhouses of villages in north China's Hebei Province with fragrance in the cold of winter. But do not mistake them for plum blossoms, they are peach flowers.
Peach trees usually come into full blossom in March, but in the past two years, farmers in Raoyang County have been able to admire the brightly colored flowers during the barren winter days, and at the same time pray for a harvest of peaches.
Li Yingxin, a village farmer, just cannot help smiling when looking at the peach trees in his greenhouse.
"I started growing a dozen peach species in 1998,¨ he said. ¨I used to sell the peaches as high as 70 yuan (about US$8.4) per kilogram, and I brought back my investment that year. Now the trees have entered the high-yield period, I guess I can earn at least 20,000 yuan (US$ 2,400) this year."
Farmers like Li learned how to grow peaches in the greenhouse through training programs held by the local government. Besides the greenhouse peaches, the county also introduced greenhouse vegetables and grapes to the farmers. By now, the vegetable growing area in the county has reached about 11,000 hectares.
(Eastday.com. 01/26/2001)
