Modern tech helps increase dragon fruit's yield in Guigang

Dragon fruit receive supplementary lighting to speed up their growth in the winter and spring. [Photo by Wang Yong, Lu Hongxia, Zou Qinglin and Chen Jieyi/People's Daily]

The dragon fruit plantation base in Zhangcun village of Guigang's Gangbei district in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region recently has been lit up at night, making the base look like a starry sea.

These lights are used as supplementary lighting to dragon fruit to make up for the decrease in sunlight during the winter and spring. As a result, dragon fruit will be induced to go through flower bud differentiation so that people can harvest three to four batches of dragon fruit in the winter and spring every year.

Liao Zhihuan, the person in charge of the base, noted that the base can harvest 11 batches of dragon fruit this year with an average yield of 3,500 kilograms per mu (0.07 hectare). 

Apart from the supplementary lighting, the base has applied a wide range of modern agricultural technologies, such as the integrated drip irrigation system of water and fertilizer, as well as new equipment for physical insect disease prevention.

Rows of dragon fruit under supplementary lighting at night make the base look like a sea of stars. [Photo by Wang Yong, Lu Hongxia, Zou Qinglin and Chen Jieyi/People's Daily]

A "company + cooperative + base + farmer" model has been used to increase the benefits brought by the dragon fruit industry to local farmers. The base currently pays more than 1.2 million yuan ($165,612) to its workers annually. 

In recent years, Gangbei district has been taking an active role in promoting new agricultural technologies and has seen the booming development of its tropical fruit industry, such as dragon fruit and honey pomelo. The plantation area of dragon fruit in the district currently stands at more than 2,000 mu (133 hectares).