Original dried plums, sour and sweet plum cakes, mellow plum wine... In early winter, the plum picking season has passed, but when you enter Yongtai County, Fujian Province, you still have "plum flavor".

"At present, the whole county has about 70000 mu of plum fruit picking area, with an annual output of about 70000 tons; and 53000 mu of green plum picking area, with an annual output of more than 60000 tons." Lin Jingqiang, deputy director of Yongtai County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said. In the past three years, the prices of dried fresh plums, fresh plums, fresh fruit picking, and green plum raw fruits are very gratifying, and the comparative benefits of products are constantly improving.

"Little Fruit" has produced sweet days, and has filled farmers' "money pockets" to see Yongtai's "Mei" good life together.

Yongtai plums are delicious and popular in the market. Picture provided by Yongtai County Party Committee Propaganda Department

Policy support for Li Mei's industry

Yongtai County is located in the mountainous area in the southwest of Fuzhou, "nine mountains with water and one field, ten miles around with different sky". The local "mother river", Dazhangxi, is alluvial to form sandy soil, which is very suitable for plum fruit growth. "Where there is a village, there must be Li. Without Li, there can be no village." Li Mei has also become the traditional characteristic advantageous industry of Yongtai County.

"The main varieties of plum fruit are Furong plum and rouge plum, with Furong plum as the main variety. Most of the products are used for candied fruit processing, and a few are fresh food." Zhang Yanhui, head of the Rural Industry Section of Yongtai County Rural Revitalization and Development Center, introduced. In 2001, Yongtai County was named "the hometown of plum fruits in China" by the former State Forestry Administration. "Yongtai Li Gan" is even more famous. In 2007, it was approved as China's national geographical indication product.

Qingmei acquisition. Picture provided by Yongtai County Party Committee Propaganda Department

However, there was a time when the price of raw fruit was depressed, and "Richness Fruit" once became the "sad fruit" of fruit farmers.

"The lowest purchase price of processed raw fruit fell to 0.6 yuan/jin, which means that fruit farmers will lose money." Lin Cheng, general manager of Fujian Yongtai County Shunda Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shunda Food), said, "High yield without good harvest will dampen the enthusiasm of fruit farmers.". Behind the "poor fruit hurts farmers" is the lack of industrial clustering and standardization of the local plum industry, leading to weak market competitiveness.

In order to support the development of plum industry, Yongtai County issued some industrial support policies such as "Several Measures for Revitalizing the Development of Plum Industry in Yongtai County" in 2021, and the local finance arranged 30.4 million yuan as a whole, focusing on supporting the transformation of low yield plum orchards, the construction of standardized orchards, the introduction, demonstration and promotion of new varieties of plum, new product technology research and development, and cultural publicity and display, Promote the mechanization, standardization and scale of Li Mei management, and effectively promote the upgrading of Li Mei industry.

It is understood that the provincial modern agriculture (egg duck, Li Mei) industrial park in Yongtai County was approved in 2021. As an open industrial park, it focuses on promoting the construction of projects such as "infrastructure, public service facilities, industrial upgrading and integration, innovation driven and green development, agriculture linked and beneficial to agriculture, brand publicity", so as to inject new impetus into Yongtai Li Mei industry.

Fresh plums in Gaiyang Township, Yongtai County are being sorted and packaged by fruit farmers. Picture provided by Yongtai County Party Committee Propaganda Department

"Yongtai has also increased the structural adjustment of the supply side of the plum industry, vigorously promoted the cultivation technology of fresh plum. The low yield orchard of plum has been transformed into an area of more than 15000 mu, and the annual output of high-quality fresh plum is nearly 20000 tons." Zhang Yanhui said that in the past three years, Yongtai has implemented 38 projects of plum industry revitalization, purification and rejuvenation, built 10 demonstration bases for new plum varieties, and built 9 supporting projects for dry plum processing, The new standard planting demonstration base for plum trees covers an area of 5000 mu, effectively improving the added value and competitiveness of plum trees industry, and promoting agricultural efficiency and farmers' income.

Leading the "two-way rush"

After years of development and government support, Shunda Food has become a provincial key leading enterprise in agricultural industrialization in Fujian Province, improving the added value and competitiveness of its products and driving the development of local plum industry.

"Our company purchases about 15000 tons of processed raw fruit annually, with an annual output value of more than 100 million yuan." Lin Cheng introduced that "it can drive about 5000 fruit farmers to increase their income and directly and indirectly promote local employment of more than 500 people." In addition, the enterprise vigorously develops e-commerce, brings goods through live broadcast, achieves an annual sales of more than 30 million yuan, and provides eight local live broadcast teams with supply chains, funds Technical support.

At the same time, Yongtai County has also accelerated the implementation of projects such as the Shunda Food Li Mei Solid Drink Production Line, and extended the Li Mei industrial chain. Leading enterprises play an important role in the industrial development, have a high market share and influence, and can lead and drive the development of the entire industry.

Zhang Yanhui introduced that in the early years, Yongtai's plum industry was affected by transformation and upgrading. Some enterprises engaged in plum processing were closed or transformed, and the number of enterprises above designated size was reduced from more than 20 at the peak to 5 at present, which undoubtedly brought great challenges to the development of local plum industry.

Challenges are also opportunities.

In order to further promote the development of plum industry, Yongtai County has introduced leading enterprises of plum industry in Fujian Province to "settle down" in Yongtai. Among them, after the completion of the "Plum Blossom Blossom Blossom Industry Park", the annual consumption of green plum will be 20000 tons, accounting for 30% of the total amount of green plum in Yongtai. Through the establishment of the "enterprise+farmer" cooperation mode, enterprises will directly purchase green plum from fruit farmers, greatly strengthening farmers' willingness to plant. Farmers and enterprises "go in two directions" to create a "plum" good life through win-win cooperation.

In addition, Yongtai also cooperates with well-known enterprises and introduces university expert teams to jointly develop Li Mei drinks and Li Mei flavor beer.

Lin Jingqiang said that in the next step, Yongtai will make full use of the construction opportunity of "Yongtai County Provincial Modern Agricultural Industrial Park", while strengthening the foundation and reinforcing the weak points, promote the combination of agriculture and tourism projects such as Li Mei flower picking, research, study, sightseeing and tourism, promote the development of Li Mei's entire industrial chain, promote the integrated development of the park's primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and make the people's "Mei" good life more prosperous.

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