LANZHOU, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Vines laden with juicy tomatoes sway like red lanterns in the greenhouse. On the first day of the new school semester, He Fengxiang could be seen carefully picking the fruits from their branches and piling them in a basket.

"These tomatoes are specially planted for kindergarten kids," explained He, the 30-year-old farmer who cultivated the tomatoes in Linxia County of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Last March, He's greenhouse in Xinfu Village was selected to be a food supplier for a preschool nutrition improvement pilot project jointly undertaken by China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The pilot project in Gansu, the third such project in China, serves eight kindergartens covering approximately 200 villages in Linxia County. In addition to free breakfasts for children, the project also provides a sales channel for local agricultural products.

All ingredients collected from local agricultural bases are sent to a company-run central kitchen before being processed into meals, said Zhu Shuping, who oversees the project in Linxia.

He Fengxiang was relocated to Xinfu Village four years ago, moving from an area 30 km away that had a high altitude and harsh conditions for farming. After working odd jobs for two years to support his family of six, He, like many other new settlers, started learning about crop plantation in greenhouses provided by the village.

Aided by the skills and techniques he learned from specialists through the pilot project, He has become a farmer famed in the village for the high yields, quality and rich variety of his crops.

He said that the project purchases fruits and vegetables at higher prices compared to the market. Feeling encouraged when he learned this, he rented more greenhouses from his neighbors to expand production.

A total of 98 households in Linxia have joined the project, each earning an extra income of more than 10,000 yuan per year (about 1,447.2 U.S. dollars), and over 2,100 children have benefited, Zhu said.

Seven-year-old Ma Qian, who just graduated from one of the eight designated kindergartens in Linxia, still misses the breakfast there. "We had so many choices of food and they tasted really good."

Ma Yumei, the principal of the kindergarten, said that each week's breakfast menu is posted on campus and parents are invited to take turns participating in discussions on the combinations of food. The kindergarten also provides courses on nutrition for students and their parents as part of the project.

"I used to cook simple food like steamed buns for my granddaughter for breakfast because I had to go out on the farm early in the morning. Now I feel relieved as she can have more nutritious food at her kindergarten," said local farmer Ma Ayisha.

One of He's children started kindergarten this semester and is also covered by the breakfast project. "It gives me so much comfort to know that my child can enjoy the vegetables I planted at kindergarten almost every day," he said.