Sow what you reap

To date, her sales of grapes per mu exceeded 10,000 yuan ($1,423), and her strawberries bring in around 40,000 yuan.

The success of the fruit plantation has also brought about positive changes to the lives of the local villagers.

At the moment, Ye's plantation employs 18 villagers who earn a total annual income of around 400,000 yuan.

Professional guidance is provided to the staff, and covers every step of the process from seed planting to growth management.

"During harvest seasons, we hire extra help," Ye says.

Ye's business is one of many that have benefited from the development of high-efficiency agriculture and the rise of rural tourism in Shiye town.

"All of our income relies on agriculture now, rather than industry," says Nie Yongping, deputy head of the town. The local authority has also set up two agriculture companies to further tap into its land potential.

They aim to develop farm produce with a higher economic return to maximize land values and further enrich local life, Nie explains.

One business has introduced pecan nuts as a cash crop, while the other has grown dendrobium officinale, which is often used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The majority of the town's farmland is already being effectively used, according to Nie.

The town used to be one of the poorest of its kind in Zhenjiang, but it quickly rose above the national poverty line in 2016 after developing agricultural and rural tourism. Per capita income is expected to reach 29,000 yuan this year, compared with 12,000 yuan in 2014 and 17,000 yuan in 2015, Nie says.

Now, older villagers can make a decent living by engaging in organic agriculture production or by simply leasing their land out for it.

In the past, most rural households in the town only made between 500 and 800 yuan a year through traditional agriculture, according to Nie.

"Basically, villagers here have been freed from strenuous labor and have become technicians," Nie says.

The local government has made a point of developing rural tourism since 2005, when the Runyang Bridge was built, better connecting the town surrounded by waterways to the outside world－especially to Nanjing and Shanghai.

Many tourists visit the town to see the bridge and to enjoy a host of popular events that are increasingly being staged in Shiye.