Grape plantation brings sweet life for people of Luocheng

Luocheng Mulam autonomous county in Hechi, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has lifted more than 1,200 impoverished households out of poverty through the planting of Chinese downy grape, local media outlets reported on Jan 29.

Luocheng has been vigorous in its development of the Chinese downy grape industrial chain, from setting up plantation parks to processing factories.

The plantation area of Chinese downy grape in Luocheng has now reached 80,000 mu (5,333.33 hectares) with an overall yield of 15,400 metric tons, benefiting more than 3,800 impoverished households.

The county has set up more than 20 Chinese downy grape demonstration plantation bases covering over 5,000 mu, aimed at further improving scientific planting methods and thereby boosting economic benefits.

It has also set up a team of talents with experienced experts from several scientific institutes in China and other leaders from the grape industry in countries such as France, the United States and Italy.

In recent years, Luocheng has cultivated a batch of processing companies to manufacture sweet wine from the Chinese downy grape, as well as more than 20 processing cooperatives and family workshops. These are helping to turn Luocheng into the "city of wine" using the Chinese downy grape.