Farmers are busy collecting pineapples in Xuwen county, Zhanjiang. [Photo by Zhang Zaiyang / gdzjdaily.com.cn]

Xuwen county in Zhanjiang has seen a bountiful harvest season of pineapples this past April, but farmer in the country's largest pineapple production base are in no mood to laugh. They have guarded the pineapples from the harsh cold wave but failed to protect themselves from the lower prices this year.

Although the poor sales have picked up a little upon the media's purchasing appeal for the public, locals need to think twice to find a fundamental approach to solve the problem. In view of the poor market and the low prices of pineapples from time to time, more attention is now turning to Xuwen's industrialization and branding process.

Most of the pineapple production bases worldwide have established a mature industrial chain to make multiple uses of pineapples with advanced technology, but Xuwen is not one of them, commented reporters Liang Ranqu and Li Yangming from Zhanjiang Daily.

"Pineapples are treasured all over. We should update our production and processing concept to match international advanced practice. In addition to increasing the variety of pineapple products and extending the industrial chain, we also need to step up our scientific research to improve the workmanship, making the pineapple industry bigger." said Mr. Chen, a member of Xuwen Pineapple Association.

Xuwen county government hosts a Pineapple Culture & Tourism Festival on April 27 to 29 to promote the pineapple industry and tourism development. [Photo / gdzjdaily.com.cn]

Actually, Xuwen has made progress in the deep processing of the fruit, with products ranging from canned pineapple, bromelain, and juice to quick-frozen pineapple. However, according to Chen Ruyue, president of the Xuwen Nuoxiang Park Agricultural Products Cooperative, the county's pineapple processing remains at a low level and it is difficult to elevate the added value of the products. There needs to be an urgent call for improvements in industrial restructuring, to boost large-scale production and branding.

At a family workshop in Qujie town, Xuwen county, devices for making dried pineapples are placed neatly in the small space. Liang Shijie, the owner, sliced the peeled pineapples into pieces and then baked them for around 10 hours in a machine. The dried pineapples still require further processing and packaging before sales promotion, Liang said.

Liang said that dried pineapples are in good demand, so he plans to build more plants and update technology to expand production. He said he could not make it without the support of government, especially in financial support and land use. Wu Jianlian, president of Xuwen Pineapple Association, also believes that it's high time for local government to show support for such innovation in terms of finance and policy.