Dragon fruits enter harvest season in Long'an county, S China's Guangxi

Photo shows a dragon fruit at a planting base in Long'an county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Long'an county committee)

Dragon fruits are in their harvest season in Long'an county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Long'an is a major producing area of dragon fruits in the country.

Various varieties of dragon fruits at the Fangba dragon fruit planting base of Guangxi Jinsui Agriculture Group Co., Ltd. were recently harvested.

Thanks to exceptional geographical and climatic conditions and the application of technologies, the harvest season of dragon fruits lasts from June to February.

Last year, the planting base achieved an annual yield of 4,000 to 5,000 kilograms of dragon fruits per mu (0.067 hectares), according to Zhou Yuhe, deputy general manager of the production technology department of the company.

Photo shows dragon fruits at a planting base in Long'an county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Long'an county committee)

The company's standardized planting area of the fruit has reached a total of 13,000 mu in several towns and townships in Long'an county. In 2023, the company's sales revenue in the dragon fruit industry exceeded 200 million yuan ($28.13 million). Since 2018, the company has helped over 3,000 households engage in the dragon fruit industry and offered job opportunities to local people.

Workers harvested the first batch of dragon fruits in just two days at the Longxiang dragon fruit planting base in the county.

Liang Jianfeng, general manager of the Longxiang dragon fruit planting base, said that it adopts contract farming, which guarantees sales. This year, the planting base expanded the fruit’s planting area to 400 mu.

Workers harvest dragon fruits in Long'an county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Long'an county committee)

"After two years of planting and experiments, the annual yield per mu has reached 3,000 kilograms," Liang said.

At a digital warehouse in Long'an county, newly harvested fresh dragon fruits went through an automated sorting line for washing, drying, grading, and packaging, and were then stored in a cold chain before being transported to various parts of the country.

"The sorting line can process 150,000 kilograms of dragon fruits per day," said Lu Shuijun, head of the digital warehouse.

The dragon fruit planting area in Long'an county has reached 75,400 mu, with an annual output of more than 200,000 tonnes.

Photo shows the Fangba dragon fruit planting base in Long'an county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Long'an county committee)