Strong demand

Li Sanxian, a member of the De'ang ethnic group from Lujiesa, a village in Santaishan, started planting the nuts in 2006. He now has 1.8 hectares of macadamia trees which can yield nearly 180,000 yuan worth of crops every year.

Li said he heard about the nuts in 2006 when government officials introduced them to the villagers, along with the idea of growing them together with tea.

His family planted sugar cane and corn in the past, but the returns were modest when compared with macadamias.

"Another thing is, not much time and labor is needed to take care of the nut trees," Li said.

"You just have to fertilize and spray them with pesticides twice a year and use white lime to paint the trunks in case ants and bugs gnaw at the tree."

Li added that after the trees bear fruit they have to be surrounded by an electrified fence to stop rats and squirrels eating the nuts.

He said he started growing pineapples in 2017, but it was labor intensive and the rewards were small.

Chuan Jiazhou, an official at the bureau of forestry and grassland of Mangshi, capital city of Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture where Santaishan township belongs to, said there was no need to worry about macadamia sales.

"It's popular in the international market," Chuan said in a June interview with Xinhua News Agency. "Dehong is located in the Northern Hemisphere, with its season the opposite of the major planting areas of Australia."

Reaping rewards

Party official Xian Yongming of Mangshi has been helping with poverty alleviation work in Chudonggua, a village in the township, since March 2018.

He believes that once motivated, the villagers can earn enough for food and clothing given they have planted on average of 0.33 hectares of macadamia nuts.

The trees usually begin to bear fruit three or four years after they are planted. Their yields increase until they reach a peak in their eighth year, Xian said.

The impact of the macadamias in helping relieve poverty in Santaishan is already being seen.

Most of the villagers have moved into new homes and own motorcycles or cars. In their homes they have access to clean water, electricity and the internet, although memories of cobbled roads, thatched huts, barefoot children and food shortages still linger in their minds.

Government statistics show that the average annual income last year was about 7,000 yuan, triple what it was a decade ago.

Bao Yanhua, a local government official, said the provincial Five-Year Plan (2016-20) to implement preferential policies to lift ethnic minority groups out of poverty had greatly helped the De'ang people.