Citrus economy: science and money in the orange grove
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World-class reservoir economy
Citrus industrialization was low-hanging economic fruit as it were; now an industrialization chain is forming in Zhongxian and other counties in the reservoir area, including variety breeding, seedling nursery, base construction, scientific research and development, juice processing, and product marketing. The circulation of the orange county's contracting and operation rights can be realized in multiple forms, such as leasing, subcontracting, transferring, and shareholding.
China is the second largest citrus producer in the world, and citrus has become the champion among fruit industries in increasing the income of farmers in the reservoir area. More than 1 million people are engaged in this trade. Xia Zuxiang, director of the Chongqing Municipal Agricultural Commission, said that in 2008, his municipality’s orange orchards totaled 120,000 hectares, and the output of citrus was 125 tons, making up 6 percent of the total output of the country.
"Led by ten counties/districts such as Zhongxian, Wanzhou and Fengjie, it is predicted that by 2012 Chongqing's citrus-growing area will exceed 170,000 hectares, with an annual output of 2 million tons, including 1 million tons of late-ripening varieties; and an orange juice processing capacity of 1 million tons. By 2015, Chongqing is hopeful to become the country’s largest export base for late-ripening oranges and orange juice," said Xia Zuxiang.
In addition, Chongqing has concentrated its own complementary knowledge base -- a large number of national citrus scientific research and teaching institutes such as the Citrus Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, and National Citrus Virus Exclusion Center. The concentration of talent is a powerful knowledge economy guarantee for the advancement of the citrus industry.
In the first decade of the Western Development Drive that included the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir, "Zhongxian’s success mirrors the economic and social development of the rest of the Chongqing Reservoir Area," said an official of the Chongqing Municipal Migration Bureau. In 2008, when the global economy slowed down, its economic growth reached 16 percent. Chongqing's scalable agriculture based on five characteristic products -- oranges, pickles, Chinese prickly ash, lean-pork pigs, and medicinal herbs -- has taken shape. The reservoir area's annual GDP growth averaged 11.9 percent, 2.4 percent higher than the national average. The reservoir area's industrial structure has been improved; the proportion of non-agricultural industry has increased from 70.9 percent in 1999 to current 84.8 percent.
Economic growth has raised the living standards of the relocated people in the reservoir area. Today, the per capita net income of rural migrants is recorded at RMB 4,538, and the per capita disposable income of urban migrants at RMB 7,383; each family's housing allotment has increased more than 10 square meters since relocation.
