Yidu in C China's Hubei turns citrus fruits into industrial chain worth over 10 bln yuan

Photo shows a citrus fruit national park in Yidu city, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo/Chen Dandan)

Yidu city in central China's Hubei Province is a major citrus fruit producing area in the country.

The total output value of Yidu's citrus fruit industrial chain has surpassed 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) and local farmers have managed to increase their incomes by over 20 percent by engaging in the industry.

Yidu has extended the industrial chain of the citrus fruit industry and improved the added value of citrus fruits.

"We don't apply pesticides or fertilizers to the fruit trees, and by following relevant technical guidelines, we grow high-quality fruits that can be sold for nearly 10 yuan per kilogram," said He Yong, head of a high-quality citrus fruit plantation in Gaobazhou township, Yidu.

In Yidu, high-quality citrus fruits are sold to the market and those of lower quality are sent to factories for deep processing.

Jiang Zhangmei is a local fruit grower and a worker at a local food company which mainly produces and exports canned food.

"In the past, I couldn't sell all of my fruits because some of them failed to meet the standards. Now, the farmers' cooperative purchases these fruits from us and then sells them to food companies, helping us make more money from the fruits," said Jiang.

Photo shows storage tanks for citrus fruit vinegar owned by Hubei Hanway Ecological Agriculture Group, a local company in Yidu. (People's Daily Online/Wang Guoji)

Hubei Hanway Ecological Agriculture Group, a local company in Yidu, has invested 1 billion yuan to build a biotech park for the deep processing of citrus fruits. It produces such products as vinegar and cooking wine out of the citrus fruits.

"Through deep processing of the fruits, we can increase the added value of the fruits sixfold to eightfold," said Chen Shigui, chairman of the board of the group.