County in NW China's Xinjiang cultivates thriving plum industry

Payzawat county in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is the country's largest quality plum production and sales base.

Photo shows ripe plums in Payzawat county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Yuejia Plum Industrial Park and the media convergence center of Payzawat county)

The county boasts an impressive 570,000 mu (38,000 hectares) of plum orchards, with a yield of 370,000 tonnes of plums in 2024, accounting for 50 percent of China's total plum-growing area and 70 percent of plum production. This year, the output value of plums in the county reached 7.4 billion yuan (around $1.06 billion).

Payzawat plums are known for their sweet and juicy taste thanks to the county's abundant sunlight, water, and fertile soil.

The county has promoted the development of a complete plum industrial chain covering cultivation, harvesting, sorting, cold storage, packaging, processing and sales. It has built the Yuejia Plum Industrial Park with the assistance of south China's Guangdong Province, attracting over 25 well-known enterprises, including Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com. It has established a 300,000-tonne cold-chain storage system while exploring both online and offline sales channels.

People sort plums in Payzawat county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Yuejia Plum Industrial Park and the media convergence center of Payzawat county)

The booming plum industry has emerged as a pillar industry for Payzawat to boost the incomes of farmers. In 2024, the sector increased the per capita annual income of farmers in the county by more than 15,000 yuan.

At present, the county has established 15 demonstration plum orchards at the prefecture and county levels, 50 village-level demonstration plum orchards, 60 plum planting cooperatives, and two breeding centers for superior plum varieties.

Workers put packed plums in a cold storage facility in Payzawat county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Yuejia Plum Industrial Park and the media convergence center of Payzawat county)

The planting area for plums in a village in Yingmaili town, Payzawat reached 6,100 mu. In 2023, the villagers' per capita disposable income hit 19,839 yuan, with revenue from plums accounting for 60 percent of the figure.

Thanks to improved transportation links and support from partners in China's pairing assistance program in Xinjiang, Payzawat plums have been sold to the rest of China, five Central Asian countries and parts of countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, and have been well-received by overseas customers.

Photo shows dried plums in Payzawat county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo/Wang Xiaojun)

The integrated development of the plum industrial chain in the county has created jobs for over 150,000 people.

Payzawat aims to build a 10-billion-yuan plum industrial cluster by 2026 to lay a solid foundation for the establishment of an agricultural modernization demonstration zone.