Small gardenia fruit farms blossom into a major industry

By Yan Wanqin

With early winter's arrival, farmers in Duzhenwan Town are busy harvesting gardenia fruits, a crop that has become a pillar industry for the region.

"The harvest is almost over. The price is 6 yuan (80 US cents) per kilogram, and I can pick about 100 kilograms a day," said local farmer Li Zuoxiu.
 

Farmer Zhang Yongyan reported a bumper harvest of gardenias and strong sapling sales. "With over 10 mu (0.67 hectares) of nursery fields, I expect to earn over 100,000 yuan from saplings this year," she said.

Ripe gardenia fruits serve as a natural colorant and medicine. Duzhenwan Town is a key gardenia producer in Hubei Province, with planting covering 20 villages across 43,000 mu and 23,000 mu of standard orchards established.

The town has developed a year-round agricultural cycle: tea picking in spring, flower harvesting in summer, fruit picking in autumn, and sapling cultivation in winter. The industry includes 18 specialized cooperatives, creating a "leading enterprise + cooperative + farmer" production and marketing chain.
 

At the Hengxin Gardenia Cooperative, farmers deliver fresh fruit for immediate weighing and registration. This year's harvest attracted buyers from Henan, Zhejiang, and other provinces, with total orders exceeding 3,000 tons.

"After initial drying, we sell gardenias to Jiangxi, Fujian, Henan, and Guangxi," said Li Yongzhi, the cooperative's head. He added that after processing the fruits through screening, cleaning, steaming, and drying, they are upgraded into dried gardenias and natural colorant.

Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, home to Duzhenwan Town, has become Hubei's largest producer of gardenias, with plantations concentrated in five towns covering 80,000 mu. Most of these plantations are already in their high-yield period. According to Wan Songtong, director of the county’s agricultural industry service center, the comprehensive output value of the gardenia industry has exceeded 100 million yuan this year.
 

Jie Xingwei, He Yingli and Jiang Qingping also contributed to this story.