In Sanya, Hainan province, durian fruits are getting ready to hit the market.
"On about June 20, a few durians were ready for harvest. In the middle of July, more durians will mature, and a Hainan durian tasting activity will be held," said Du Baizhong, general manager of Hainan Youqi Agriculture.
The company's durian planting base has hundreds of durian trees. "A month before the durians ripen, workers tie ropes to reinforce them and prevent them from falling," said Du. At the same time, in order to protect the durian trees, in the first year of fruiting, each tree only retains three to five durians.
"We check the data from the soil moisture monitor, so that we can set the water output through mobile phone remote control operation, which achieves precision irrigation. This saves manpower and improves efficiency," said Tian Ling, the company's technical director.
Tian added that there is a lot of intelligent equipment based on the internet, the internet of things, and big data in the base, all of which provide effective support for durian cultivation.
Since 2018, Hainan has been introducing durian to the market on a large scale. To date, 25,000 mu (1,667 hectares) of durians have been planted in Sanya, Ledong, Baoting, and Lingshui.
At present, the imported durians from Southeast Asian countries are picked in advance and gradually mature during transportation. Hainan durians are ripen on the trees, thus making them fresher, according to Du.
