Xiuwen installs rain shelters in kiwifruit orchards

Rain-shelter facilities have been installed in Xiuwen's high-altitude kiwifruit orchards to keep out the rain and mist of late October.

Supported by a 1-million-yuan ($150,098) fund from the Guizhou Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the project covers Pingshan village in Liutong town and Fangmaping village in Longchang sub-district. Construction started in February and was completed by mid-year.

Rain shelters in Xiuwen's high-altitude kiwifruit orchard. [Photo/website of Xiuwen county]

The project originally planned to build 50 mu (3.33 hectares) of multi-functional rain-shelter facilities. The actual completed area reached 56.2 mu, achieving 112.4 percent of the target. It covers eight plots in total, including 32.8 mu in Pingshan village and 23.4 in Fangmaping village.

In Xiuwen, areas at an altitude of 1,300 meters are high-altitude zones for kiwifruit cultivation. Low temperatures and high humidity used to be the biggest challenges for the orchard.

The rain shelters shield kiwifruit vines from torrential rain and hail while helping stabilize the temperature and humidity inside the shelters, ensuring more reliable yields. The average yield of open-field plots stands at 1,452.6 kilograms per mu, while that of plots under rain-shelter cultivation reaches 1,830.4 kg per mu, representing a yield increase of 26.01 percent. The incidence of soft rot disease has dropped by more than 10 percent.

During the construction and maintenance of the project, a total of 50 local jobs have been created, helping farmers increase their income by 307,100 yuan, while also boosting revenue for the village collectives of Pingshan village and Fangmaping village.