Among the Yiwu pear varieties, Huanghua pear leads the top ten famous pears of Zhejiang Province. The Cuiguan and Xizilv species have also won multiple national and provincial awards for quality early-maturing pears. Yiwu pear is well known in the provincial fruit world for its long history, large scale and good quality.
Known to the world 300 years ago
Yiwu has been known for its small articles in the past more than ten years, but the fame of Yiwu pear was already established over 300 years ago. It is said that the plantation of Yiwu pear can be traced back to the Song Dynasty and according to written records, Yiwu pear was planted in large scale since the early years of Qing Dynasty and was already well known.
Before and after the liberation, the local Sanhua pear was the most well-known species of pear. It is rather big in size, shaped like a reverse placed egg or spindle, the skin is very thin and green, the flesh is white, crispy, sweet and juicy. In 1959, Sanhua pear was selected as excellent fruit of the province and has been sent to various exhibitions in China Agriculture Exhibition Center in Beijing.
In the 1980s, Huanghua pear resulted from the sexual hybridization of Sanhua pear and Huangmi pear became the major species among Yiwu pears. The fruit is large, the flesh is fine with rich juice, sweet and fragrance; the skin is dark red and the quality is super. During the past over ten years, Huanghua pear is more and more well-known and has become a representative of Yiwu pears.
Since the foundation of new China, over a hundred varieties have been introduced into the family of Yiwu pears. In recent years, more emphasis has been laid on plantation of early maturing pears with higher economic returns, among them the representatives are Cuiguan and Xizilv. Among the major species of Yiwu pears, the plantation of Huanghua pear accounted for 60% of the total last year and Cuiguan accounted for 30%.
Yiwu pear ranks No. 1 in terms of plantation area
Since the 1930s, Yiwu pear has been in one of the top ranks of Zhejiang Province in terms of area of plantation. Pear has become one of Yiwu’s top ten leading industries nowadays and takes an area of 25,000 Mu and the annual yield reaches 30,000 tons, including 16,000 mu and 18,000 tons of Huanghua pear. The area of pear plantation exceeds 2000 mu in Jiangdong Area, Fotang Town, Suxi Town and Dachen Town.
Hu Xiaodi, a native of Dachen Town, has been in business and established his own factory before. Three years ago, he contracted 320 mu of bare mountain area, established his Fusilai ecological area and planted cash crops including pear and loquat trees, including 220 mu of pear trees. The reporter saw yesterday in Fusilai ecological area that pear trees are planted on the 220 mu of mountain area with quality pears hanging on the trees. Hu said that they would be ready for the market in 20 days.
According to Fang Bingnan, the Deputy Director of Yiwu Special Product Station, Yiwu pears have formed the scale production. There are over 100 people like Hu Xiaodi who are planting pear trees on over 50 mu of land. The total plantation of pears by them takes over 10,000 mu, accounting for almost half of the overall plantation of Yiwu pears.
Reason for continued prosperity of Yiwu pears
Yiwu is a city that lays emphasis on commerce previous and also on industry as well in the recent years. How come Yiwu pear, the small branch of cash crops can sustain its development and how have become a large industry? Fang Bingnan holds the view that the first reason comes from the significant support from the government. Some policies are leading the whole country, like support to the industrialization of Yiwu pears with an annual contribution of over one million yuan. Secondly, the pear industry provides good economic returns and the planters can win benefits from it. There are many people like Hu Xiaodi who has tried business before and now has turned to do modern agriculture. Some can make over one billion yuan per year. Thirdly, the rather mature traditional Yiwu pear plantation technique has contributed to guarantee the quality. Lastly, the marketing channel is smooth and the fruit market establishment is successful. At the present time, the annual sales of fruits on Yiwu agricultural market reaches 116,000 tons, including over 80 tons of local pears daily.
Hu Xiaodi believes that the success of Yiwu pears is also related to the Yiwu people’s long-term emphasis on brand establishment. In 1996, Yiwu Special Product Service Department registered the trademark of “Huang Hua”. In recent years, a number of species of Yiwu pears including Xizilv and Huanghua pear have won awards from the national and provincial competitions. In 2003, Cuiguan pear won the gold prize of quality early-maturing pears of Zhejiang Province and obtained the right to have the name of “Huang Hua”. Huanghua pear tops the leading ten famous pear species of Zhejiang Province.
