Orchard founder Xu Lianghui tends to his navel orange trees in Changkou. [Photo/China Daily]

However, Xu never imagined that the orchard he started far from his hometown would develop into a business that would generate financial benefits for the residents of Changkou and many other nearby villages in just four years.

The launching of his orchard in Changkou coincided with a national pilot program to deepen conservation of the Minjiang River following the principle that mountains, rivers,forests, farmland, lakes and grassland are a life community, which is one of the 10 tenets of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.

The concept has been promoted by Xi for balanced and sustainable development that features the harmonious coexistence of humanity and the natural world.

The Minjiang, which is known as Fujian's "Mother River", runs for about 577 kilometers in the province and a tributary called the Jinxi River runs through Changkou.

As a part of the huge program, with total planned investment of 12.1 billion yuan, a 70-million-yuan ecological remediation project was rolled out in the areas near Changkou in 2017.

The project not only aims to conserve the mountains, soil and water, but also improve people's living environment and raise incomes.

In addition to afforestation, control of water and soil loss, dredging, construction of sewage treatment facilities and landscaping, efforts have been made to beef up agricultural infrastructures.

For example, the government has renovated agricultural irrigation channels and drainage systems in Changkou, and laid paved roads through the farmland. All these facilities have benefited Xu greatly, saving him from having to invest his own money to build the necessary facilities for his orchard.

The government has also built a smart water-fertilizer integrated system and an intelligent monitoring system specifically for his orchard.

"I can control the water-fertilizer integrated system with just my phone," he said with a smile, adding that the investment in the system amounted to about 2 million yuan.

Supported by the internet of things and big data technologies, the intelligent monitoring system can follow and analyze all the procedures in orange tree cultivation and help adjust irrigation and fertilization in a precise manner.