Linfen gets smart about pear farming

TAIYUAN — In Xixian county, located in Linfen, Shanxi province, a smart pear orchard spanning 33.3 hectares has been developed in cooperation with the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

In this orchard, every pear is assigned a unique QR code that enables monitoring of the entire growth process, from flowering to fruit development, including tracking watering schedules and detecting any instances of infestation.

"The QR code serves as an ID card, recording the life of a pear," said Wang Yibo, an agriculture official from the county.

"I no longer need to spend my entire day working in the fields," said local villager Liu Jianlong, who explained how his son assists him in remotely monitoring the orchard's condition through a smartphone, enabling timely updates and minimizing the need for a constant physical presence in the fields.

Established in 2020, the smart orchard is operated with the help of cutting-edge technologies such as the internet, big data, cloud computing and the internet of things. The integration of a big data service center has played a crucial role in elevating the intelligent production capabilities of the orchard's agricultural cloud platform.

In comparison to the average yield of 30,000 kilograms per hectare in traditional orchards, the smart orchard can double the output to 60,000.

Located in the Loess Plateau, Xixian stands as a prominent fruit production county boasting an expansive pear fruit plantation area of 25,333 hectares.

There are 64 villages in the county that rely on pears as their primary industry, accounting for 80 percent of the farmers' income.

Xixian has built a smart agriculture integration platform composed of 12 systems, including water-fertilizer integrated management, disease and insect monitoring, and the monitoring and evaluation of the quality of cultivated land.

Thanks to this smart platform, pear production in the county includes a series of digital operations in seedling selection, planting, pest control and meteorological analysis.

According to Wang, the platform not only helps with production but also promotes sales, as its tracking system can collect first-hand marketing feedback data.

Pear farmers can learn about the market demand through the system to accurately identify their customers and carry out targeted promotions.

In 2022, the county's fruit production hit 30 million kg, with online sales accounting for 24 percent.

"My family harvested 46,500 kg of pears last year, with almost 80 percent sold online," said Liu, adding that they earned an annual income of 120,000 yuan ($16,768) from pears.

Xinhua