Farmers from Zhishan village, Fenghuang town, Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province, find their way to prosperity by planting honey peaches. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

Wu Jianfen, a farmer from Zhishan village, Fenghuang town, Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province, relied on the honey peaches she planted to find a way to prosperity, according to a local news report July 14.

Ten years ago, Wu operated a hardware factory but it was not very profitable. She then shifted her focus to planting honey peach trees.

In recent years, Wu has introduced more than 10 high-quality species of honey peaches which have sold very well in many fresh food supermarkets in Jiangsu and Shanghai.

With help from the local government, a dozen farmers from Zhishan village established a professional cooperative for peach planting in 2007. The cooperative encouraged villagers to sell local agricultural products through online platforms, helping boost sales of honey peaches.

Currently, 585 rural households in Zhishan are engaged in peach planting, which has enabled farmers to increase their incomes from 120,000 yuan ($17,196) per hectare in 2010 to 225,000 yuan in 2019.

Wu said that the cooperative has brought more profit for villagers, and her family earned a net income of more than 1 million yuan over the past years.

Having tasted the sweet success of peach planting, Wu ventured into other businesses. She cultivated and introduced new types of agricultural businesses and developed advantageous special industries, such as ecological breeding. The 400 chicken and ducks raised in her peach garden, as well as 10,000 peach tree saplings, are expected to increase her annual income by over 200,000 yuan this year.