Saturday, November 04, 2000, updated at 10:56(GMT+8)
Life
China has One Fifth of World's Orchard Area
Orchard areas in China account for 21.3 percent of the world's total area, producing the largest amount of fruit of any country.
The orchard land area in China reached 8.667 million hectares in 1999 and the total production amounted to 62.376 million tons in the year, according to official from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Apples, oranges and pears are the fruit produced the most in China. Apple orchards, for instance, totaled 2.439 million hectare in area and 20.8 million tons in production last year.
Fruit production in China makes up 14 percent of the world's total, and the production of apple and pear leads the world while orange production is ranked the 3rd following Brazil and the United States.