How Baiqiao thrives with lychee industry

Developing industries has been a fundamental driving force in China's fight against poverty, and nowadays continues to empower its rural revitalization. In China's vast countryside, industries are often associated with what locals can grow out of their land. In Baiqiao Village in Guangdong Province, the lychee fruit is fueling an expanding industry.

Lychee, a tropical fruit native to China, is now out of season. But Lin Changzhen in Baiqiao Village of Maoming is still busy livestreaming, to sell the dried fruits.

Maoming is China's largest lychee production base, and Baiqiao is one of the villages specializing in lychee cultivation in Maoming. Baiqiao boasts one of China's most ancient lychee plantations, with some of the trees over 1,000 years old. In 2022, the per capita income for the village was around 51,000 CNY (about 6,980 USD), one of the highest in Guangdong. However, the lychee industry hadn't always been thriving. The industry gradually took shape in Baiqiao in the 1990s. But the prosperous times didn't last long.

Fresh lychees have a very short shelf life. They can only last two to three days at room temperature. And heightened competition among farmers only exacerbated price reductions. As a result, though production levels rose, there was only very limited increase in income. Over the years, Baiqiao has been exploring solutions to break the bottlenecks for development. And farmers' cooperatives have emerged to be an effective measure, especially amid the government's rural revitalization drive.

As new fresh-preservation technologies emerged, lychees can now be sold to faraway cities and reach consumers' tables much faster than before. The sales channels have been further broadened, thanks to the booming e-commerce industry.

A deep processing industrial chain also took shape, which further increased the fruit's added value. Now, lychee products from Baiqiao have not only been sold across China, but also exported to many other countries. The booming lychee industry is injecting new hope, and confidence into the local community.