At present, the county is still increasing its planting area by 10,000 mu (about 666.67 hectares) per year. It is expected that in 2025, the planting area will exceed 300,000 mu (20,000 hectares), with an annual output of 300,000 tons and an output value of over 1.5 billion yuan. It will become the leading industry for farmers to become rich.

 

On September 10, Zeng Guixiang, a local villager, was busy cutting branches and killing insects for navel orange trees, with green navel oranges hanging on branches, in Longcun Yao Village, Meitian Town, Yizhang County.

 

“Orchard management is a technical task with heavy work, and it is necessary to ensure sufficient sunlight for the fruit trees,” said Zeng Guixiang. He added that in 2019, with the help of the village, he applied for a loan of 100,000 yuan to plant over 150 mu (10 hectares) of navel oranges and over 50 mu (about 3.33 hectares) of oil-tea trees. Nowadays, they are growing well, which can bring an annual income of over 100,000 yuan.

 

Longcun Yao Village has 6,083 people, and was once an impoverished village. In recent years, the village has developed the planting and breeding industry through land transfer, and 16 planting and breeding cooperatives have been established in the village, with the planting area of over 5,000 mu (about 333.33 hectares) of navel oranges and over 1,500 mu (100 hectares) of oil tea trees, providing jobs for over 600 people.

 

Furui Planting Farmers Professional Cooperative has planted over 1,000 mu (about 66.67 hectares) of navel oranges, and achieved the sales revenue of 2.08 million yuan last year. Wang Yiqing, head of the cooperative, said that now it’s very cost-effective to plant navel oranges. The village collective has invested 500,000 yuan to support the development of the navel orange industry. The county also provides bonuses of 600 yuan per mu (about 0.067 hectares) and 3 yuan per navel orange seedling for new planters, with the planting process guided by professional technicians.

 

Since 2002, Yizhang County have designated the navel orange industry as the special industry of the county. Since last year, a budget of 12 million yuan has been allocated annually to support new navel orange bases, logistics and sales of navel oranges, brand building, and high-quality seedling breeding, etc.

 

At the same time, Deng Xiuxin, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has been hired as a consultant for the development of the navel orange industry. The industry-university-research cooperation mechanism has been established with higher education institutions such as Huazhong Agricultural University, Hunan Agricultural University, and Southwest University. 

 

Besides, the county has established the Xiangnan Navel Orange Comprehensive Experimental Station, Navel Orange Industry Expert Workstation, and Navel Orange Industry Development Service Center. It has also built the laboratory of over 270 square meters and invested over 3 million yuan in experimental instruments and equipment.

 

At present, there are approximately 4,600 households in the county, and the navel oranges achieve an annual output of 218,000 tons, and a comprehensive output value of 1.35 billion yuan. Nearly 100,000 people in the county have increased their income through the navel orange industry.

 

In Chenzhou Zhanxiang Navel Orange Industrial Processing Park of Yizhang County, workers were doing maintenance work on the machines to ensure the normal operation of six fully automatic intelligent screening production lines. In another three months, tons of navel oranges will be washed, sorted, packaged here, and transported to the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area.

 

This company is a modern ecological circular enterprise integrating planting, breeding, processing, and leisure tourism based on navel orange cultivation. There is one navel orange nursery base, nine navel orange bases, and one navel orange industry and mold product processing park in the industrial park. It is one of the leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization in Hunan Province.

 

The edible rate of navel oranges produced by the company is as high as 85%, and the juice yield is over 75%. The vitamin and mineral content is higher than ordinary oranges, and the sweetness is also 1.4 to 2.6 higher. Among them, “Hecheng” is one of “Xiangganhong” regional public brands in the first batch.

 

“The high yield and good quality of navel oranges are inseparable from technological support. The company has obtained a total of 15 patents in various fields such as navel orange seedling cultivation, specialized fertilizer R&D, and intelligent management.” Wang Haobo, general manager of the company, said that the company also teaches farmers in need technologies such as large seedling cultivation and planting, flower and fruit regulation, pest prevention and control, and digital intelligent management for free, and has trained more than 1,000 navel orange planting experts in the county.

 

Li Yilin, Party secretary of Shitouzhai Village in Huangsha Town, was mowing and fertilizing the 300-mu (20 hectares) orchard behind the house. The navel orange trees that were planted last year has already born many navel oranges. 

 

He said that these fruit seedlings were purchased from Chenzhou Zhanxiang Green Agriculture Co., Ltd. and fruited after being transplanted for one year, with strong disease resistance. This greatly reduced planting risks and time costs.

 

Chenzhou Zhanxiang Green Agriculture Co., Ltd. has helped more than 4,000 households to boost income through industrial operation with the model of “company plus base plus farmers”, with an average annual income increase of 30,000 yuan per household.

 

To develop the brand of Yizhang Navel Orange, Yizhang County has held 6 navel orange festivals since 2011. It has also organized enterprises to participate in agricultural product exhibition and sales fairs. 

 

Yizhang Navel Orange has won multiple gold medals at the Agricultural Expo and was included in the “Top Ten Regional Public Brands in Hunan” in 2020. In 2019, Yizhang County was awarded the title of “Hometown of Navel Orange in China”.