Xiuwen county starts kiwi fruit harvesting amid COVID-19

Harvesting has kicked off of the kiwi fruit crop in Xiuwen county – in Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province – amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A farmer trims kiwi fruit trees in Xiuwen county. [Photo/Guizhou Daily]

The kiwi fruit industry in Xiuwen operates across 108 administrative villages in 12 townships and sub-districts in the county, with a planting area of 167,000 mu (11,133 hectares) and a fruit-bearing area of 134,000 mu.

At present, some areas of Guiyang have entered static management due to the pandemic, but with the recovery of logistics, some areas less affected by the pandemic have gradually resumed flow.

In response to the outbreak, Xiuwen has expanded distribution channels through e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD and Pinduoduo to promote online sales of its kiwi fruit.

Currently, Xiuwen has more than 7,000 kiwi fruit growers, 169 enterprises and 130 cooperatives. Through the strong support of the province and city, 348 fruit storage warehouses have been built with a holding capacity of 24,000 metric tons.

The county has 10 kiwi fruit sorting lines, with a daily sorting capacity of 3 million kilograms, as well as three kiwi fruit processing enterprises and more than 30 product brands.

Xiuwen's kiwi fruit brand value is on the rise. It was worth an estimated 2.34 billion yuan ($331.73 million) in 2021.

An aerial view of a Xiuwen County Kiwi Fruit Planting Base. [Photo/Guizhou Daily]