On March 29th, due to a spring snow that unexpectedly arrived the day before, A sudden chill has descended upon the spring field in Nangou Village, Xi zhangcun Town, Shanzhou District.

      In the resource library of the Apple Tree Cultivation Base of the Fruit Tree Research Institute of Sanmenxia Academy of Agricultural Sciences, apple trees are lined up in rows. Among them, An early-ripening fruit tree stands out in full bloom, its branches are adorned with delicate pink flowers, looking very beautiful.

“How lucky it is! If the snow had come two or three days later, the apple blossoms would have already been in full bloom. Then our apple harvest this year would have been affected.” Director Han Lixin said happily to the farmers who came to select seedlings.

Write the thesis on the land and deliver the achievements to the people's homes. This place is both the Fruit Tree Research Institute and one of the comprehensive experimental stations of the national 26 national apple industry technology systems. Besides the 1,600 apple varieties and 5,000 fruit trees in the resource bank standing tall in spring, there are also a large number of apple tree varieties that are new "soldiers" carefully cultivated by fruit tree experts. Every year, they carry the "genetic codes" of scientific and technological innovation from here and the fields and plots of fruit farmers and production enterprises in our city and even in Shanxi and Shaanxi province and other places, and take root、grow、 blossom and bear fruits.

Apples are cold-loving crops. In recent years, with the continuous increase in temperature and precipitation, the suitable growing area for apples in Sanmenxia has advanced 200 kilometers northward. Han Lixin said that they mainly develop suitable fruit trees. In recent years, the apple industry in Shanzhou District has developed well. Fruit farmers there believe in scientific cultivation and are highly motivated to select new varieties. The total area of orchards in Shanzhou District has reached 20,000 mu. One variety corresponds to one set of technology. This year, the government in Shanzhou District invited experts to provide training for farmers early.

The growth of crops relies entirely on the nourishment of fertilizers. In spring, when fruit trees sprout, they are in a state of "starving and freezing cold" for an entire winter, which is precisely the critical period for fertilizing. Located in the National Modern Agriculture Industrial Park, Qiaogou Village, Jiaocun Town, Lingbao City, in the mountain fruit industry's 1,300 mu 5G future orchard, the "big tractor" is moving around in rows and rows of dwarf fruit trees. In 500 mu of orchard, the old branches have been cut and are waiting to be grafted with new ones. The orchard manager Sun Jiangang said that they are preparing to graft the heat-resistant "Ruixue" onto the trees. They expect that these "newcomers" will bear fruit after three years.

Located in the mountainous area of western Henan Province, with high altitude and large temperature difference between day and night, Sanmenxia is famous for its “Apples in Lingbao”, which have a history of over a hundred years of cultivation. It is also the largest apple production base in Henan Province. Apples in the mountainous areas here have excellent quality. In 2020, Sanmenxia precisely positioned and planned to build the Golden Apple Belt. In mountainous areas above 800 meters in altitude, a characteristic agricultural golden belt at the latitude of 35 degrees north was created to achieve regionalized planting, differentiated selection of seeds, and high-quality production. The apple industry has been comprehensively upgraded, which charted a path for the development of characteristic agriculture. In 2024, a total of 18 characteristic fruit varieties were introduced and demonstrated, and 6 apple varieties such as “Honglu”, "Rui Xianghong", “Venus Gold”, "Micui", and "Qincui" were promoted. The variety structure of apples in Sanmenxia was gradually optimized.

From the expert's on-site guidance in the cherry orchard of Chuankou Town in Lingbao City, to the fact that fruit farmer Zhang Wenming in Feng Jiayuan Village in Gu County pruned the peach trees into“military formation and it rises to the top of the trending list overnight... Sanmenxia is a national suitable area for high-quality fruits. Apples, peaches, plums, cherries, grapes and other small fruits gradually blossom and thrive in spring, bursting with the power of upward growth everywhere.

Stabilize the fruit Industry to boost incomes and promote prosperity.

As the leading industry of the characteristic agriculture in Sanmenxia, fruit industry has played a significant role in rural revitalization, consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and increasing farmers' income. In 2024, Sanmenxia continued to prioritize the development of the fruit industry as the primary task for rural revitalization. We focused on developing green and organic fruits, implemented regionalized layout, introduced “new varieties, technologies and models”, and accelerated the transformation and upgrading of the industry. There were 2.3 million mu of fruits in Sanmenxia, with a total output of 2.862 billion kilograms and a total output value of 12.895 billion yuan. Compared with the previous year, it increased by 952 million yuan, accounting for 39.3% of the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, which increased by 1.8 percentage compared with the previous year. Among them, 1.2 million mu of apples had a total output of 2.153 billion kilograms and yielded an output value of 10.248 billion yuan, which increased by 683 million yuan compared with the previous year, and its output and output value rank first in the province.