中国·福州——热爱城市从热爱美食开始

In April, the green plums are ripe for harvest, signaling the perfect time for picking. Late spring in Geling Town, Yongtai County, is a sight to behold, with hillsides adorned with green plum trees, their branches laden with vibrant, plump fruit—a true testament to a bountiful harvest. Not far away, the Meiman Tianxia Green Plum Industry Park, one of the main collection centers, is well under construction in preparation for the upcoming green plum procurement.

The Meiman Tianxia Green Plum Industry Park Project. (Photo by Correspondent Lin Lu)

“The weather this year has been favorable, with less rainfall during the flowering season. As a result, the Yongtai green plum crop is expected to be abundant, with a projected yield of 75,000 tons. Currently, our company has 285 pickling pools and can purchase and process over 20,000 tons of green plums,” said Tian Xiongjie, head of Meiman Tianxia Industrial Co., Ltd. The company has been sourcing green plums from Yongtai for over a decade. This year, they plan to start purchasing on April 25, focusing on high-quality, hand-picked plums with a diameter of 2.6 cm or more. The price will range from 2.6 to 4 yuan per kilogram, remaining largely in line with last year’s prices.

Tian Xiongjie noted that to streamline the green plum procurement process, the park is accelerating the final stage of road hardening in the drying area. Additionally, green plum procurement equipment, including grading machines, conveyors, and cleaning machines, as well we processing materials, have been gradually equipped.

Yongtai, known as the “Home of Plums,” has over 60,000 mu of green plum orchards, yielding an average of 68,000 tons annually. In the 1990s, farmers imported more than 10,000 green plum seedlings from Taiwan, grafting them onto local varieties to improve the quality. This upgrade has greatly enhanced the quality of Yongtai’s green plums, boosting their competitiveness in the market.

In recent years, to make green plums a key driver of income growth, Yongtai County has rolled out a series of supportive policies, including initiatives to revitalize the plum industry and implementation plans for building a provincial-level modern agricultural industry park. These measures are designed to support every stage of green plum production, from cultivation to market, ensuring the industry’s sustainable growth.

To address the lack of leading companies in the industry, Yongtai has successfully introduced prominent green plum processing companies such as Meibaihua and Meiman Tianxia. These companies have set up centralized procurement stations in locations such as Geling and Chengfeng, while also regulating the management of these stations. In addition, efforts have been made to ensure clear, efficient road access, eliminating delays and congestion, so farmers can sell their plums promptly.

To avoid the risk of falling prices from a bumper harvest, this year, the Yongyang Rural Revitalization Development Group has secured a loan of 150 million yuan from the Yongtai County Rural Credit Cooperatives Union, the Yongtai Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China, and other financial institutions. This funding will enable the purchase of 35,000 tons of green plums, creating a price guarantee fund for centralized procurement and sales. The aim is to ensure that, even during periods of low demand, the price of green plums remains at or above the current market average.

To address the challenge of inadequate investment in fruit tree management, the Yongtai County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau held a green plum cultivation training session. Experts were invited to provide hands-on guidance for farmers, teaching them techniques like dwarf pruning, pest and disease control, and scientific fertilization. As a result, harvesting efficiency increased by about 30%, and the percentage of high-quality fruits rose from 30% to 80%.

To address the potential risks associated with harvesting, the Yongtai County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau has allocated 250,000 yuan this year to provide insurance for all green plum pickers in the county, offering coverage of up to 80,000 yuan. This “safety net” allows farmers to focus on their work without worrying about unexpected risks.

Yongtai has rolled out a series of policies to stabilize prices and guarantee purchases, turning “green fruits” into “golden fruits,” exactly what farmers need. As one of the first batch of national all-for-one tourism demonstration zones, Yongtai will fully harness the cultural value and ecological advantages of the green plum industry. It will focus on integrating resources such as “recreation, sightseeing and picking experiences” to create an agri-tourism park offering “winter plum blossom viewing and summer and autumn plum picking,” thereby extending the green plum industry chain. In addition, a variety of agricultural events, including the plum culture festival, plum blossom viewing, and green plum harvesting, will be held to turn the vast plum orchards into a genuine year-round “source of wealth.” (Fuzhou Daily Reporter: Ye Xintong)