Zhenkang, Yunnan: A nut holds up a new path for revitalizing border villages

China News Service, Lincang, Yunnan, September 8 (Li Lijun, Li Gengchang) Recently, when I walked into Zhenkang County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province, I saw lush nut forests all over the mountains and plains, with green-skinned fruits hanging on the branches, creating a scene of good harvest. This small border county that was once "raised in a boudoir and unknown to people" is now embarking on a new path of rural revitalization with "beautiful ecology, prosperous industries, and wealthy people" thanks to small Lincang nuts.

Nuts hang on the branches. Photo by Li Lijun

Zhenkang County has a warm and humid climate, abundant rainfall, and fertile soil. It has unique natural conditions for the development of Lincang nuts. At present, the county's nut planting area has reached 430,000 acres, covering 7 townships (towns) and 68 administrative villages, benefiting 16,400 households and 72,000 people. In 2025, the production area will reach 300,000 acres, with a green peel fruit output of 78,000 tons and a dried shell fruit output of 27,600 tons. The agricultural output value will be 640 million yuan and the industrial output value will be 773 million yuan. The average income of fruit farmers is 39,000 yuan and the per capita income is 9,000 yuan. This "green fruit" has firmly become a pillar industry for local people to increase their income and become rich.

Now, relying on the technical support of the team of Deng Xiuxin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the county has comprehensively promoted six core technologies of "nutritional supplementation, happy ending, bee release in orchards, variety improvement, pest and disease control, and water management" to promote the transformation of the nut industry from "extensive planting" to "standardization, technology, and efficiency", and achieve double improvements in fruit quality and yield.

Farmers in Zhenkang harvest nuts. Photo by Li Lijun

Zhenkang County has made great efforts in extending the industrial chain. At present, the county has built 4,907 acres of standardized planting bases and has three primary and deep processing plants. At the beginning of the year, its processing capacity reached 90,000 tons and its deep processing capacity reached 29,800 tons. Three leading companies and 15 professional cooperatives, including Zhongyu, Yunpin, and Jieyuan, have been cultivated. The three companies have integrated operations of raw material acquisition, cleaning and drying, shelling and grading, and intensive processing. They have developed five series of products such as nut oil, nut butter, and nut crisps. They have established a three-dimensional revenue pattern of "selling fruits for money, turning peels into fat, and turning shell branches into charcoal" to promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry from "selling raw materials" to "selling products." In 2025, the processing output value will reach 773 million yuan, and the processing link has become a "new engine" for industrial value-added.

From "relying on the sky" to "technological empowerment", from "selling raw materials" to "selling products", Zhenkang County's nut industry is taking the attitude of a "whole industry chain" and writing a vivid practice of "ecological beauty, industry prosperity, and people's prosperity" on the frontier land.