Xuwen County, located in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, is China's largest pineapple production area. On average, 1 in every 3 pineapples in China is produced in Xuwen. The pineapples in Xuwen County have entered the final harvesting period now.
In the fields, many farmers are busy picking, sorting, and initially packaging the last batch of ripe pineapples. These pineapples will soon be sent to cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and provinces across the country. Some growers said that the output will increase by 30% to 35% compared with previous years.
According to the Agricultural Bureau of Xuwen County, the fresh pineapple production is the highest in the calendar year, reaching about 796,000 tons, an increase of 40,000 tons over last year. The output value of fresh pineapples is also the highest in the calendar year, reaching about 2.5 billion yuan.
The output is gratifying, and the price of Xuwen pineapple is also generally stable at 2.6~4.0 yuan/kg. The average purchase price reaches 3.0 yuan/kg. Till now, the county has sold about 740,000 tons of pineapples, accounting for 93% of the annual production.
In order to promote the high-quality development of the pineapple industry, Xuwen County regards pineapple processing as the key direction to extending the pineapple industry chain. At a processing plant in Xuwen County, workers are cutting the small pineapples that have just been harvested. After being packed, chilled, and transported with a cold chain, these products will get on the shelves of supermarket chains in major cities within 24 hours, and the supply falls short of demand.
Xu Wen produces no less than 50,000 tons of small pineapples that weigh 0.11 to 0.34 kg a year. However, these small fruits were inferior and often rotted in the field in the past because merchants only purchase large pineapples. Now small pineapples have also opened up new markets online and offline because of their convenience and juicy taste.
Not long ago, Xu Wen took the lead in the country to release the fresh-cut pineapple group standard, and the fresh-cut pineapple demonstration processing equipment has also been debugged. The intelligent equipment and production automation will further upgrade pineapple processing technology and production line. Xuwen took advantage by building a key industry of prefabricated vegetables in Guangdong province and launched prefabricated vegetable products such as grilled fish with pineapple and pineapple shrimp to extend the sales season of fresh agricultural products and broaden the product range.
Source: CCTV News