China News Service, Quzhou, November 11 (Zhang Yuhuan) A Qu tangerine, after aging in the sun, turns into Qu tangerine peel with long fragrance... In Quzhou, Zhejiang, behind this industrial chain that extends from germplasm protection to the development of medicine and food, there is the continuous promotion of the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers' Party for many years. Relying on the talent advantages of other sectors, the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers’ Party has linked together research, scientific research, and industrial assistance, making the once endangered ancient orange species a starting point for increasing the income of farmers.
The picture shows the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers’ Party investigating the Quju industry. Photo courtesy of Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers’ Party
Quju is an ancient variety native to Quzhou that has been around for thousands of years, and is also the core source of local ponkans. In the past few years, due to the degradation of varieties and the reduction of planting scale, this ancient germplasm was once at risk of becoming obsolete. The Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants' and Workers' Party organized party members and experts in the fields of agriculture, forestry, and traditional Chinese medicine to conduct in-depth investigations into the production areas and formulate suggestions to promote the protection of Quju germplasm resources into key municipal agricultural tasks.
In order to break the technical bottleneck of planting and aging, the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers’ Party also established an industry-university-research platform to promote the implementation of the “Quju Orange High-Quality Germplasm Project”. Relying on the Kecheng Qu Chenpi Science and Technology Institute, the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers’ Party teamed up with universities and colleges to develop key technologies such as standardized planting and tangerine peel aging, using digital means to transform traditional techniques and form a set of replicable planting specifications. Nowadays, the planting area of ponkan has recovered from almost extinction to more than 800 acres, which also reserves precious sources for the improvement of ponkan varieties.
After the germplasm is stabilized, the industrial plate is gradually spread out. Driven by the connection with the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants' and Workers' Party, relevant party member companies have built the 2,650-acre "Quliuwei Future Agricultural Industrial Park", which can digest more than 3,000 tons of fresh fruits every year and produce more than 200 tons of Qu tangerine peel. It has derived more than 20 products such as tangerine peel tea, orange cakes, and traditional Chinese medicine pieces, which are sold to more than ten provinces and cities in China.
With the joint efforts of many parties, 11 upstream and downstream companies have established the Chenpi Industry Alliance to jointly formulate local standards, simultaneously expand agricultural, cultural, tourism and study routes, and lengthen the industrial value chain. Industrial development ultimately focuses on enriching the people, and the local government has implemented a five-in-one model of "enterprise + village collective + farmer + park + courtyard", supporting the "three golds and one dividend" shared wealth mechanism.
The project transfers land at a price higher than the market price, sets up more than 20 fixed positions and more than 100 seasonal positions, implements unified supply of seedlings, door-to-door technical guidance, and guaranteed minimum price purchase to reduce farmers' planting risks. So far, this industry has attracted more than 300 farmers from 6 towns and more than 20 administrative villages in Quzhou to participate, planting more than 200 acres of ponkans, and creating a total of more than 3,000 jobs. Many farmers rely on land rent, labor wages, labor remuneration and industry dividends to increase their per capita annual income by more than 20,000 yuan.
The small science and technology courtyard rooted in the fields continues to deliver innovative momentum to the industry. Quchenpi Science and Technology Institute has also been selected as a national-level "Science and Technology Institute". It accepts agricultural master's students to carry out research projects all year round, and the added value of deep-processed products has increased by 30%. At the same time, the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers’ Party helped cultivate the “Qu Liuwei” regional public brand and the “Qu Chenpi” regional characteristic logo, relying on brand premiums to expand market space.
"We hope to continue to leverage the unique advantages of the party sector, deepen the cooperation between industry, academia and research, and explore new business formats such as medicine and food, and health and wellness research." The relevant person in charge of the Quzhou Municipal Committee of the Peasants and Workers' Party said that in the future, they will continue to use oranges as media to help Quzhou build a highland of marginal medicine and food industry in the four provinces, and continue to write small orange fruit articles in the fields of rural revitalization. (over)
