In Guangzhou, from fruit comes fortune

GUANGZHOU — Early summer is one of the most enchanting seasons in the city of Maoming in Guangdong province, as the harvest season begins in the country's largest producer of lychees.

"As soon as the fruit hits the market, Maoming receives a continuous influx of orders from across the country," said Zhang Xianfeng, head of a lychee cooperative in Baiqiao village in Genzi township. "We now receive about 500 orders every day. During the next peak harvest season, we expect to see up to 3,000 orders every day."

Lychees are a signature fruit in Maoming, which is known as the "hometown of lychees". Here, 85 percent of farmers grow the fruit, and some 92,700 hectares are planted with around 80 varieties.

In the past, less than 40 percent of lychees from Maoming were high-quality varieties, but since large-scale cultivation began, that proportion has risen to 80 percent of the city's yearly crop.

In recent years, Maoming has vigorously developed an integrated industrial chain that includes the processing and sale of lychees to increase added value and boost incomes.

In the middle of the busy harvest season, the city's processing factories, which produce a variety of lychee products, are buzzing with activity.

Zhai Hongping, deputy director of the equipment management department at the Guangzhou Wanglaoji Health Industry, said that their factory is currently running at full capacity. "Our automatic juicing lines can turn 200 metric tons of fresh lychees into canned drinks every day," Zhai said.

The thriving lychee processing industry gives farmers a stable source of sales. "We have signed a long-term purchase agreement with cooperatives, which provides a sales guarantee for lychee growers," Zhai added.

To overcome the challenge of selling the perishable fruit to buyers far away, Maoming has collaborated with logistics enterprises and introduced cold chain logistics. The efforts have been fruitful and currently enable the export of lychees to 19 countries and regions.

"We use room temperature long-acting preservation technology during transportation, which extends preservation at room temperature from two days to seven days," said Ruan Xifeng, vice-general manager of the purchasing department at the Guangdong GuoXing Cloud Warehouse Supply Chain.

In addition to tapping into overseas markets, Maoming has also expanded online sales channels by venturing into e-commerce and livestreaming. Last year, lychee sales in the city rose 14 percent despite a 6 percent drop in production, thanks to the diversity of sales channels.

At present, Maoming sells 11 billion yuan ($1.56 billion) worth of lychees and lychee products a year, creating 150,000 new jobs and making per capita income in major lychee-growing townships 30 percent higher than elsewhere in the city.

"Many people have made their fortune in the lychee industry. My family now owns a five-story house and lives a prosperous life," Zhang said.

In a lychee orchard in Baiqiao village, an inspiring sight awaits, as around 1,000 lychee trees aged over 500 years can be seen growing among a sea of 19,000 trees that have been there for over a century.

"We have tailored protection strategies for each ancient tree to make the most of the assets left to us by our ancestors. Traditional industry will usher in new development opportunities," said Zhuang Yuequn, Maoming Party chief.

Xinhua