2026 Yunnan Dry Hot Valley Fig Industry Development Conference was held in Dongchuan, Kunming

China News Service, Kunming, September 22 (Wang Changhong, Lei Bin) In Dongchuan, Yunnan at the end of September, the sun is blazing. The 4,800 acres of fig base scattered in the dry and hot valley here are full of vitality, and the fruit trees are studded with plump fruits.

From the 21st to the 22nd, the 2026 Yunnan Dry Hot Valley Fig Industry Development Conference and the Founding Conference of the Yunnan Provincial Experts Association Fig Industry Professional Committee were held in Dongchuan District, Kunming City. Top domestic and foreign scholars from China, Turkey, Iran, etc. gathered in the "Tiannan Copper Capital" to discuss, exchange and offer advice and suggestions around the entire chain of fig planting, pollination, variety cultivation, and processing trade.

Dongchuan District is located on the bank of the Jinsha River in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It has a long history of copper mining and is known as the "Copper Capital of Tiannan". It is also one of the 53 dry-hot valley ecological belt construction counties (cities, districts) in Yunnan, and is the largest dry-hot valley area in Kunming. In recent years, the district has continued to promote the development of characteristic agricultural industries such as figs, relying on the advantages of light and heat resources in the Xiaojiang dry-hot valley. Up to now, the district’s annual output of fresh figs exceeds 6,000 tons, with an annual output value of more than 50 million yuan. Figs are becoming a "rich fruit" for local people.

At the meeting, Aytekin Polat, a professor at Hatay Mustafa Kemal University in Turkey, shared his "world-class production and marketing experience" with decades of deep cultivation of fig varieties and cultivation under the title "Turkey's Fig Industry: Production, Cultivation, Quality and Global Trade", providing a reference path for Dongchuan figs to "borrow ships to go to sea".

Moslem Jafari, director of the Estahban Fig Research Institute of the Iranian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and an appointed professor of the School of Horticulture of China Agricultural University, took the title "Pollination of Figs" to reveal the "invisible code" behind the flavor of figs - how the fig wasp, which is only 2 mm in length, completes a symbiotic collaboration with figs that lasts for tens of millions of years.

Mustafa Akbulut, Dean of the Agricultural College of Recep Tayyip Erdogan University in Turkey, focused on the source of germplasm. He brought first-hand germplasm research data under the title "Characteristics of Fig Groups in the Colchis Region of the Black Sea, Turkey" to provide international coordinates with reference value for Dongchuan to independently cultivate characteristic improved varieties.

Ma Huiqin, a professor at the School of Horticulture at China Agricultural University and chairman of the Fig Branch of the International Society of Horticulture, led the scientific research team on this trip to clarify the implementation plan in Dongchuan: relying on the unique climatic conditions of the local hot dry valley, carry out variety improvement and new variety breeding trials for Dongchuan figs, and help the local fig industry move from "introduction and trial breeding" to "independent breeding."

During this period, the Yunnan Provincial Experts Association Fig Industry Professional Committee was formally established. The establishment of this provincial professional platform will provide normalized and institutionalized expert intellectual support for the Dongchuan fig industry.

From the world's core fig production area in the Anatolian Plateau of Turkey to the hot dry valley of Xiaojiang in Dongchuan, this conference spanning mountains and seas is not only an academic exchange, but also a key step for Dongchuan figs to move from "climate advantage" to "industrial advantage".