Passion fruit ripens prosperity in Fujian

FUZHOU — Luo Qiliang was recently pleased to see his orchard full of vitality, with passion fruit vines producing lush foliage and climbing trellises.

This is the eighth year that Luo has grown passion fruit in his home county of Wuping in the city of Longyan, Fujian province.

"I planted more than 4 hectares of passion fruit, with an average profit of about 225,000 yuan ($31,052) per hectare last year," he said.

Located in a mountainous area, Wuping has less than 0.07 hectares of arable land per capita, and local farmers previously earned a living by planting cash crops and raising pigs.

However, small-scale pig breeding has caused pollution in the surrounding rivers. Around 2014, the local government began encouraging farmers to change their livelihoods and start planting passion fruit.

Wuping's climate, which features ample sunshine and abundant rainfall, is suitable for growing golden passion fruit, a popular variety in the market, according to Lin Wenming from the county's agriculture and rural affairs bureau.

"So we organized farmers to visit major passion fruit producing areas such as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Hainan province and started to plant the fruit," Lin said.

Wuping's passion fruits are of high quality and have proved popular in the market, a fact that has encouraged the rapid development of the industry in the county. Eight standardized seedling-raising bases have been built in the county, along with more than 30 fruit processing centers, forming a complete industrial chain.

Last year, the county's passion fruit planting area amounted to 1,920 hectares, with an output of 35,000 metric tons.

"The river used to be quite dirty and smelly, but now it's clear," Lin said, while noting that this is a result of the county developing its industry in line with local requirements.

Wuping's passion fruit industry is also riding the wave of e-commerce. According to Wang Xiuzhen, head of Fujian Youxuan Agricultural Development, a local enterprise specializing in planting and selling passion fruit, the company saw its fruit orders on e-commerce platform Alibaba exceed 200,000 in a single day last year, hitting a record.

According to Wang, the company has also introduced more production lines to turn out additional products, including dried fruit and yogurt.

"Passion fruit can be made into biological feed, and it also has medicinal value, representing its huge potential market," Wang added.

In recent years, the local government has made efforts to promote the Wuping passion fruit brand by monitoring the production process to ensure quality. Related events have been organized to boost local tourism, promoting the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries.