On December 19, 2022, in the Chenzhou Zhanxiang Orange Industrial Processing Park in Yizhang County, six fully automatic intelligent screening production lines were operating at full capacity, where tons of navel oranges were being cleaned, sorted and packaged before being shipped to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

 

“We divide 30,000 kilograms of fruit per hour and ship 100,000 kilograms to the Greater Bay Area every day.” Li Daode explained in a strong Cantonese that although this year’s drought affected orange production, the oranges were fully booked before picking. Sales are expected to reach 10 million kilograms this year. Among them, there are orders of about 1.5 million kilograms from Hong Kong and one orange can be sold for 10 to 18 Hong Kong dollars.

 

 

Yizhang County, at the junction of Hunan Province and Guangdong Province, is the “National Agricultural Standardization Demonstration County” and “the Hometown of Navel Oranges”, with a planting area of 286,000 mu (about 19,066 hectares) of navel oranges.

 

Once the seeds of dreams are planted, they will always germinate. In 2010, Li Daode came to Yizhang County and established Chenzhou Zhanxiang Green Agriculture Co., Ltd., starting to grow navel oranges on the transferred land of more than 1,000 mu (about 66.67 hectares).

 

Li Daode restarted his business from the production of plastic and hardware molds to the planting industry, and many of his friends expressed their doubt. Li Daode was 59 years old then.

 

“I want to create an ecological farming model where people live in harmony with nature, so that everyone can eat healthy oranges.” That’s what Li Daode said, and that’s what he did — learning about technical details such as plant spacing, fertilization, sunshine, soil, etc. every day.

 

With no help, he kept learning, and 140 experiments were carried out on different cultivation methods. He created a set of green ecological circulation system, and successively established several breeding bases to raise pigs, cattle and earthworms for organic fertilizer orange trees need.

 

At the same time, he developed pure plant fermentation insecticidal liquid, together with army-worm boards and insecticidal lamps, to inhibit diseases and pests, which helped produce purely natural and pollution-free oranges.

 

“Fortunately, the effort of all these years has not been in vain.” On the production line, oranges were automatically sorted according to size, and Li Daode picked one up casually and asked reporters to taste it. It was fresh and appetizing with a sweet and sour flavor.

 

In 2017, the fruit produced by the base won the “Gold Award of Chenzhou Agricultural Products Expo” in its first year, and was exported to Hong Kong as a representative of Hunan high-quality navel oranges. In 2018, after testing by relevant departments, the edible rate of navel oranges produced by the base was as high as 85%, and the juice yield was more than 75%, which not only had higher vitamin and mineral content than ordinary oranges, but also had a sweetness of 1.4 to 2.6.

 

“In Hong Kong, whether it is an association or chamber of commerce holding an event, or a gathering of friends, I will let my guests taste the navel oranges I grow.” Li Daode said that because of its good taste, pure ecology and no pollution, his navel oranges have earned enough reputation. In 2019, Zhanxiang Agriculture’s navel orange base was recognized as the "vegetable basket" production base in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

 

 

In 2020, the production of navel oranges at the base reached 1.3 million kilograms. It was the peak sales season, but the epidemic hit.

 

“At that time, logistics and transportation became the biggest problem. I felt very anxious when seeing the piles of navel oranges.” Li Daode said that thanks to the coordination of the local departments, the sales was not affected, and the market share was also expanded in the Greater Bay Area.

 

In the past 3 years, orders have poured in, and Li Daode has continuously expanded the planting area. At the same time, industrialized operation is carried out through the model of "company, base and farmer", connecting more than 3,000 rural households, with an average annual income of 30,000 yuan per household.

 

“It’s the peak picking season. I’ll take you to the base to have a look.” Li Daode drove one hour to Shaping Village with the reporter. The orange trees in the base were thickly hung with oranges, giving out much fragrance. Workers are busy picking, carrying oranges and packing them into boxes.

 

The output increases, and the quality remains good. Li Daode said that on the basis of realizing green and ecological planting, the company has developed in the digital and intelligent way.

 

In May last year, the company joined hands with Ali Group and other enterprises to build the country's first citrus "digital orchard", from soil moisture, environmental meteorological monitoring, to pest and disease warning, to realize the visual traceability and production and marketing coordination of the whole chain of navel oranges from the place of origin to the dining table.

 

“We have 9 orange planting bases in the county, and we used to go one by one to see how the insect control was done, whether the watering was in place, and now we can understand it clearly on our mobile phones.” Li Daode pointed to a smart orchard APP in his mobile phone and told reporters that this is the benefit of digital real-time monitoring equipment and Internet of Things equipment. In the second half of this year, Yizhang suffered from severe drought and no rainfall for three consecutive months, and it was the real-time monitoring and timely irrigation that  ensured the production.

 

Today, Zhanxiang Agriculture has become the largest navel orange production base in China, and its two brands of navel oranges, “Longlong” and “Hecheng”, have obtained green food certificates, gold medals of the third Hunan (Chenzhou) Characteristic Agricultural Products Expo, “G.A.P”certification, and national organic food conversion certification.

 

“Now in the sales volume of a single product in the Hong Kong orange market, the oranges imported from the United States rank first, and our navel oranges rank second.I am confident that it will reach the first place within 3 years.”  “Years of hard work experience tell me that as long as you stick to your original intention, the result will not be bad,” said Li Daode.