Agriculture and Rural Affairs Commission of Fengdu County

The harvest season has arrived in Longkong Town of Fengdu County, a famous hub for its delicious and juicy oranges in west China's Chongqing Municipality.

At the Common Prosperity Orange Orchard in Nanzhu Village, farmers load crates of freshly picked oranges onto trucks, which are directly transported to the nearby one-stop production base of Fengdu Orange. At the fruit cleaning and sorting center, the oranges undergo cleaning, polishing, drying and grading in sequence, before being sent to the packaging area, packed and shipped to all parts of the country.

To ensure the smooth processing and consistent quality of the fruit during the harvest season, Bai Xiaohua, director of a local agricultural development professional cooperative, shuttles back and forth between the orchards and the base, arranging the picking schedule and personally inspecting the fruit quality.

Born and raised in the orange orchards, Bai is familiar with the growth cycle of orange trees and well aware of the drawbacks of traditional cultivation methods. In 2018, he initiated the establishment of the cooperative, aiming to organize scattered local farmers and drive the standardized and large-scale development of the citrus industry through unified standards and centralized management.

To improve farmers' professional skills and ensure consistent management standards, Bai organizes on-site training sessions every month, teaching farmers scientific orange cultivation techniques hands-on.

Bai's commitment to continuous learning and proactive adoption of advanced technologies underpins this industrial transformation.

Prior to the cooperative's founding, he took an active part in various agricultural training programs organized by the agriculture and rural affairs commission of Fengdu County and made multiple study tours to other regions to learn advanced experience. In 2020, he obtained a drone operation certificate, pioneered the use of drones in his orchard, and quickly promoted their application in the cooperative's standardized operations.

His efforts epitomize the continuous quality improvement and upgrading of Fengdu's orange industry.

Longkong Town now boasts 25,000 mu of orange orchards, with an annual output of over 30,000 tons and an annual output value of 110 million yuan. Its citrus was awarded the National Geographical Indication Trademark certification in 2011.

In 2019, Nanzhu Village was named a national specialty product demonstration village by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and obtained the National Geographical Indication for Agricultural Products certification. Fengdu oranges have been exported to the Middle East and other regions many times, emerging as a renowned local orange brand.

Across Fengdu County, the planting area of Fengdu Orange reaches 52,500 mu, with an annual output of 70,000 tons and a total annual income of 150 million yuan.

A single orange has woven an income-increasing chain for local farmers and extended a modern agricultural industrial chain from the field to the market. By virtue of organization, digitalization and branding, Fengdu's orange industry is evolving from a local specialty into a pathway to prosperity and a robust industrial network for the region.

Source: Agriculture and Rural Affairs Commission of Fengdu County