Jinqu Township, 10 kilometers east of Meixian County seat, is a star township in the planting of kiwi fruit. Jinqu, which planted kiwi for the first time in 1989, expanded its cultivation area from 2.7 hectares to 1,707 hectares by the end of 2006. About 73 percent of rural houssholds now plant the fruit, and the annual production has reached 54.6 million kg.

Zhang Huisheng, a farmer in Jinqu Township, was the earliest planter of kiwi fruit in his village. Zhang's family owns a 1.47-hectare orchard, the largest in the village, which brings in a total of 120,000 yuan, the most profitable plant for the family.

Zhang said when kiwis were first introduced to the village in 1993 no person there was willing to plant the fruit, feeling unsure about the technology and the market. As an official of the villagers' committee, Zhang felt obliged to explore a new path to wealth for his fellow villagers. In 1993, he led the villagers in planting one hectare of kiwi fruit. The unexpected high economic returns from planting kiwi fruit soon changed local people's minds about it.

Recent years have witnessed a rapid increase in the number of households planting kiwis in the village, rising from 27 in 1998 to 516 by the end of 2006, representing 89 percent of total households. The plantation area had expanded from less than three hectares in 1993 to 230 hectares at the end of 2006.

"The per capita income of farmers in this village is around 6,000 yuan, 4,000 yuan of which comes from kiwi plantation," said Zhang.

In order to enhance the competitiveness of its products, this village has set up a kiwi planters' association, which is in charge of collecting market information, selling fruit produced in the village and offering technological backup to fruit farmers, including information on how to use fertilizer and cultivate seedlings.

"The benefit of having an association is to organize farmers together so that they won't worry about the sales of their fruit or launch price wars against each other. This can safeguard farmers' interests," said Zhang.

Global Hort, a company originally from New Zealand, which specializes in horticultural consultancy and bare-land orchard development, relocated and established a new head office in Xi'an with a field office in Meixian County in 2006. The company, with world leading technology in kiwi cultivation and processing, has built its operation base in Meixian into its major export base of kiwi fruit in China.

Wang Lin, the Party Secretary of Meixian County, said research and development will play an increasingly important role in adding value to Chinese fruit. "Although China is the homeland of the fruit and New Zealand imported the plant from China for the first time in 1914, New Zealand fruit is now much higher valued than its Chinese competitors in the international market," he said.

Manure from cattle dung

"Cattle raisers used to sell their cattle dung for 30 yuan per ton, but now they use earthworms to change cattle dung into organic manure, which our company purchases at 300 yuan per ton. This single program enables each head of cattle to bring an additional 1,200 yuan to 1,500 yuan for its owner," said Zan Wuyin, President of Shaanxi Qinchuan Cattle Group Co., Ltd.

Shaanxi Province produces one of the best beef cattle breeds in China. As a company dedicated to beef cattle value-adding through an integrated value chain from corral to market, Shaanxi Qinchuan Cattle Group has achieved an annual production of over 100 million yuan, supplying 3,000 beef cattle to Hong Kong every year.

While running a production base that can raise 520,000 cattle, the group has also signed contracts with 14,700 local farmers to raise cattle. The company will give free technical support and improved breeds of beef cattle at a cheap price to local farmers. These farmers can sell their adult cattle to the company. The program has brought an average of 15,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan to each farming household participating in it.

The company provides another profit-making opportunity for local farmers by purchasing corn stalks from them as material for cattle feed.

This model of partnership between a large company and farmers has earned recognition from the World Bank, which invested 9 million yuan to sponsor a partnership project between the group and local farmers in 2004. Under the program 200 farming households were chosen to raise 10 cattle of improved breeds. The World Bank paid for the cattle and Qinchuan Cattle Group was in charge of providing free technical support. Cattle farmers enjoyed all the profits.

"The prosperity of our company is closely linked with the prosperity of local farmers," said Zan.