The Joy of Chestnut Harvesting in Linyi County

This year’s golden October saw the big harvesting of more than 10,000 mu (1 mu equals 666 square meters) of chestnuts in Qingyun Town of Linshu County. The 15-kilometer chestnut forest was lush with chestnuts hanging on the branches, half breaking the case and showing the beauty of the reddish-brown nuts inside. Deep in the chestnut forest, villagers were busy knocking on the fruits on the trees, and some were packing the nuts under the tree, all in joy with the harvest.

Qingyun Town has the reputation of “the hometown of chestnuts”. Thanks to the unique sand texture and suitable climate conditions, the chestnut produced here are bright, sweet and aromatic. The meaty consistency is rich in nutritional value, too, very much loved by the consumers.  Located on the Luohe River Beach which is more than 10 kilometers, Qingyun Town has focused on creating 10,000 mu of chestnut trees. Six villages including Liuzhuang, Zhucui and Shawo have become the special areas for chestnut growing. The continuous cultivation and the standardization have helped the villages develop into demonstration bases for chestnut industry with high-leveled supporting facilities.

Since the beginning of this year, Linshu County has been implementing the so-called rural revitalization strategy by focusing on the high-quality development of the chestnut industry. The new technologies are promoted. The branding of Qingyun chestnuts is enhanced. The “Good Chestnuts from Yimeng ” demonstration area is carefully created. Chestnut processing products are promoted. 42 million yuan are invested into a variety of the chestnut quality brands like “chestnut emperor”,  “super chestnut”. Sugar fried chestnuts and frozen chestnut kernels are produced by the village enterprise cooperation. Related rural tourism is carrying out activities such as parent-child camping or vacation homestays around the chestnut forest.  One can even adopt a chestnut tree. The integration of the first, second, and tertiary industries have increased the villagers’ income by more than 2,000 yuan per capita. And the collective income of the village has increased by more than 3 million yuan.