Xinhua News Agency, Taipei, August 26th (Reporter Wang Chenghao, Chen Jun) "As soon as the news came out, we immediately gained confidence and started to move." Cai Hongyi, a fruit grower in Taitung, couldn’t suppress the joy on his face. The good news in his mouth is that in June this year, the mainland resumed the import of annona in Taiwan Province.
Previously, the mainland suspended the import of annona squarrosa from Taiwan Province for nearly two years due to the repeated detection of quarantine pests such as mealybug.
This is a annona orchard photographed in Taitung County (photo taken on August 9). Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Chengyu photo
Annona is called Sakyamuni in Taiwan Province. Taitung County, on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, is the largest producing area of annona in Taiwan Province with abundant sunshine and rain. As the main category, "pineapple Sakya" has a planting area of about 2,700 hectares and an annual export of about 15,000 tons, of which more than 90% were once sold to the mainland.
Leaving Taitung County and heading for the depths of east rift valley, the Benanxi River rushes out of the beaches between the central mountain range and the coastal mountain range, and the annona fruit trees full of pits and valleys are green. The reporter followed Cai Hongyi to his orchard before the morning dew.
"Pruning in July, pollination in August, and fruit thinning in a month or two … …” Cai Hongyi introduced and pollinated. He held the pollinator in his hand, pushed aside the petals, stuck the pollinator nozzle into the stamen, rotated the pollinator and pinched the powder spraying ball with his hand. After a few times, the pollen reached the stamen along the powder spraying tube. Cai Hongyi, who has 16 years of planting experience, is familiar with this set of movements.
By December, the fruit flowers in front of us will grow into fruity and Q-elastic annona. "We now have a production and sales resume, and every fruit can be traced back." Cai Hongyi’s dark face was soaked with sweat.
Cai Hongyi, a fruit grower, is pollinating annona (photo taken on August 9). Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Chengyu photo
Since September, 2022, in order to ensure the safety of annona exported to the mainland, Taitung cooperated with Taitung University to study the quality improvement plan, and organized fruit farmers, packaging factories and other operators to carry out training and rectification. "In 2020, we heard that the fruit was flawed." Rao Qingling, the county magistrate of Taitung County, said that the key to solving the problem is to remove harmful organisms.
Li Junlin, a professor at Taitung University, visited a number of packaging factories and found that "secondary pollution" caused by nonstandard cleaning was the main cause of residual fruits of pests.
“‘ Pineapple Sakyamuni ’ If it is washed with water, it is inconvenient to transport and store, so you can only manually hold a high-pressure air gun to blow off the mealybug on the fruit. " Li Junlin said that before, because the packaging factory was not well separated and the cleaning staff did not standardize the process, the blown-off scale insects easily attached to other fruits for the second time.
The reporter went to a local packaging factory and saw that there were white insect nets in the operation areas such as "purchase area", "clean area" and "packaging area", and there were air guns and special cleaning baskets covered with insect nets in the clean area.
While the facilities of the packaging factory are perfect, cleaning skills are also the key. The cleaner should hold an air gun with one hand and hold the fruit in the palm of his hand, and the fruit pedicle should be blown upward and from top to bottom. The air gun should always be downward to avoid blowing pests or eggs to other places, and the cleaning time of each fruit should not be less than 30 seconds.
"Although the new standard will increase the cost, we have to do this for the sake of fruit quality." Wu Mengtai, head of the packaging factory, said.
Li Junlin said that Taitung University will conduct on-site counseling and rectification inspection on each packaging factory one by one. According to the new cleaning standards, the pest removal rate can be increased from about 80% before to 99% today, which meets the quality standards of mainland China.
Walking into Taitung University, the reporter found that there are also a group of special "students" who are also looking forward to returning to the mainland market. Since the beginning of August, Taitung has held five training courses on quality certification of annona in Taitung University, covering the space allocation of packaging plants, certification of production and marketing resumes, pest control methods, etc. About 100 packaging plant managers and technicians participated in each course.
Yang Zhenqi, agricultural Commissioner of Taitung County, said that the rectification process is complicated and meticulous, but farmers are very cooperative. In the next step, experts will complete the on-site counseling of all packaging factories, provide suggestions for improvement, and give certification after improvement.
"Now I have great confidence in fruit, and I will put the highest quality ‘ Pineapple Sakyamuni ’ Bring it to mainland compatriots. " When talking about the future, Cai Hongyi said that only when there is a market can he earn money. Resuming sales to the mainland can triple his income, and the day of "laughing and laughing" is coming.
