Peaches in an orchard run by Ji Pinghua, a farmer from Huzhou's Nanxun district. [Photo/hz66.com]

Ji Pinghua breathed a sigh of relief when seeing the truck loaded with 1,500 kilograms of pears leave on the afternoon of July 25.

The pears on the truck were the last batch of pears sold by Ji, who owns a 4-mu (0.26 hectare) orchard in Huzhou's Nanxun district.

However, the farmer was in a hopeless situation just a few days prior after seeing Typhoon In-Fa's impending approach, which was set to disrupt Ji's harvesting plans, forcing him into a dilemma.

"I was prepared to pick the pears these two days, but I was afraid that it wouldn't be easy to sell due to the typhoon. However, if I don't pick them, the typhoon might damage them," said Ji.

Pear tree branches are brittle and easy to snap, making their fruit easy to be blown down by strong winds, he explained, adding that improper treatment might result in an economic loss of nearly 100,000 yuan ($15,384.6).

Luckily, help from local authorities enabled Ji to prepare for the typhoon, which made landfall in Zhoushan, an island city also in Zhejiang, at around 12:30 pm on July 25.

After learning about Ji's dilemna, the Nanxun supply and marketing cooperative mobilized Party members and volunteers to help him harvest pears.

In addition, they also promoted the fruit by uploading pictures on WeChat. In just half a day, 1,250 kilograms of peaches were sold.

The district also offered cold storage service for unsalable fruit and helped farmers expand their sales channels through livestreams to minimize their losses.

Volunteers help harvest peaches in Ji's orchard in Huzhou's Nanxun district. [Photo/hz66.com]