Booming lemon industry brings prosperity to locals in SW China's Chongqing

Making the most of natural conditions that are highly suitable for lemon production, Tongnan district in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has developed a burgeoning lemon industry in recent years by upgrading the entire industrial chain, which covers seedling cultivation, planting, processing and sales, bringing prosperity to locals.

A farmer picks a lemon at a lemon planting base in Tongnan district, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Tongnan district committee)

Tongnan lemon is on the list of national famous, special, high-quality and new agricultural products in China.

In 2022, the planting area of lemon trees in the district reached 320,000 mu, or about 21,333 hectares, and the total output value of the entire lemon industrial chain exceeded 6 billion yuan (about $828.4 million). Over 100,000 people worked in the lemon industry last year, and each household there saw an average income growth of more than 20,000 yuan.

Lemon planting in Tongnan district dates back to the 1970s, according to Niu Jinzhi, a professor at the College of Plant Protection under Southwest University. For a long time, farmers had cultivated lemon seedlings themselves or purchased them from other regions, incurring high costs and making lemon trees prone to diseases, resulting in rough lemon skin, declining yields and other problems.

With the support of universities and research institutions, including Southwest University and the Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a lemon seedling detoxification and breeding center was put into operation in Tongnan in November 2018. Since then, the center has been cultivating safe and high-yielding seedlings for farmers.

The center has established a mechanism for regular follow-up services and designated 14 experts for over 300 planting bases across 22 towns, townships and subdistricts to track and observe the growth performance of lemon trees all year round, Niu said.

"The seedlings we cultivated are virus-free and stress resistant, and grow quickly, ensuring the healthy growth of lemon trees at the source," said Liu Minggui, a senior agronomist at the center.

Liu added that the center has also introduced 15 new lemon varieties, and can cultivate about 600,000 virus-free lemon seedlings every year.

A researcher checks on the growth of a lemon tree at a lemon seedling detoxification and breeding center in Tongnan district, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo/Long Fan)

Tongnan district has developed appropriately scaled lemon operations and promoted mechanized and intelligent management.

Today, Tongnan has three 10,000-mu-level standardized lemon production bases, 10 1,000-mu-level lemon orchards, and over 160 500-mu-level lemon orchards.

In the district, 360 business entities have planted lemon trees on over 280,000 mu of land, with 90 percent of their lemon orchards able to carry out large-scale cultivation.

"Appropriately scaled and standardized planting reduces costs and better ensures the quality of the fruit, resulting in better returns day by day," said Liao Chengbin from southwest China's Sichuan Province. Liao came to Tongnan to plant lemon trees in 2011. He expanded the planting area from its initial dozens of mu to more than 1,000 mu currently.

Fu Qiang, head of the lemon industry development station of the Tongnan agriculture science and technology promotion center, said the planting management of lemon trees in the district is becoming intelligent. Fu explained that over 10,000 mu of lemon orchards in the district have taken the lead in piloting intelligent management.

Yin Mingjun, a local major lemon grower, has invested over 4 million yuan in various intelligent devices that can be used for over 10 years, including an integrated water and fertilizer irrigation system, at his lemon orchard.

"An intelligent orchard saves labor and increases efficiency," Yin said, adding that he saves nearly 1 million yuan in labor costs every year.

Tongnan district has constantly extended the lemon industrial chain and moved up the value chain through collaborative innovation among the local government, enterprises, universities and research institutions.

At a workshop of Chongqing Mengtai Biotech Co., Ltd., a leading company in lemon deep-processing, high value-added products like lemon juice, essential oil, and pectin roll off automated production lines.

"For us, lemon peels are more valuable than lemon pulp," said Cui Qiutan, general manager of the company. Cui, who previously started a new business in Beijing, led a team in developing dozens of high value-added lemon products that use of all parts of the fruit, including pectin, an important additive in food and medicine.

In 2017, Guo Denggao, then director of the management committee of the Tongnan national-level agricultural science park, invited Cui to run a lemon deep-processing plant in the district. Impressed by the district's sound business environment, Cui's team put down roots in Tongnan in 2019.

The company has now become a national-level high-tech company. Every year, it processes 35,000 tonnes of lemon peels and produces 2,000 tonnes of quality pectin, generating an annual output value of 200 million yuan.

Photo shows a distant view of greenhouses of a lemon seedling detoxification and breeding center in Tongnan district, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo/Wang Huaqiao)

"We are promoting the preliminary and deep processing of lemons to extend the lemon industrial chain and move up the value chain," said Wen Tianping, Party chief of Tongnan district.

In addition to Chongqing Mengtai Biotech Co., Ltd., the district has cultivated and introduced nearly 30 processing enterprises, including Chongqing Huida Lemon Technology Group, to help form a lemon industry cluster.

In collaboration with universities and research institutions, including Southwest University and the Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dongnan district has established a lemon industry technology innovation alliance and built over 20 research and development platforms.

To date, various entities in Tongnan have jointly developed over 350 lemon deep processing technologies, obtained 30 national invention patents, and developed a number of new products such as green lemon food, cosmetics, biomedicine, and healthcare products.

Since 2017, the district has held the Tongnan International Lemon Festival every autumn to build a platform connecting growers and purchasers, and organized activities such as lemon-picking to help expand sales channels. On Nov. 6, 2023, the China Tongnan Lemon Industry Development Conference, an upgraded version of the festival, was held as scheduled, with purchase orders and investment deals totaling 3.35 billion yuan.

Tongnan has actively cultivated e-commerce talents, regularly held training activities with internet companies, and encouraged major lemon growers to work together with e-commerce platforms to expand online sales channels. In addition, it has improved infrastructure such as cold chain warehouses and logistics to ensure a year-round supply of lemons.

"So far, the district has built or upgraded 20 town-level e-commerce public service centers, along with 92 town-level logistics distribution stations integrating e-commerce, logistics and warehousing,” said Zheng Guo, director of the district's commerce commission.

Zheng added that the district has incubated over 20 local e-commerce platforms focusing on lemon products, attracting over 1,200 businesses.

Tongnan has also improved services to boost exports of lemons. Chongqing Huida Lemon Technology Group exports 38,000 tonnes of fresh lemons worth over 300 million yuan annually.

"We couldn't have achieved this without the services and support from the customs authority and other agencies," said Dai Xiaoqiang, general manager of the company.

According to Zheng, the district has coordinated relevant agencies to provide support, improve lemon export standards, and guide enterprises to organize production according to these standards. "Now, Tongnan's lemons and processed products have been sold to over 30 countries and regions," Zheng said.