Youqi’s first -scale Durian attempt on this ground was in 2019.
However, the first phase saw 6,000 plants die, with a survival rate of only 60%, causing an economic loss of 70 million yuan (9.6 million US dollars).
The company then adopted an approach to cultivate different heights of Companion plants: bananas with large Durian curl leaves sowing the harsh midday sun, while the larger Areca palm trees act as windbreakers.
Meanwhile, low pineapple plants still help reduce soil temperature.
Tactical measures increased the survival rate of sowing to more than 95%.
In 2023, the young Durrians of Youqi – then aged three years – gave in for the first time, producing around 50 tonnes of fruit. A year later, production reached 260 tonnes.
This year, the estimated that the total harvest will reach 500 to 600 tonnes, and the last thing he was worried was to sell them.
“These Durians will be completely pre-sold when they go to the size of the ping-pong-ball-the first step when more precise yield estimates become possible,” said.
Currently, the highest trees of the highest durian of the measurement approximately 7 m high, compared to the mature plantations of Southeast Asia where the trees reach 30 m. A significant increase in production should occur in the next two years, when each tree becomes able to give more than 50 Durians, said.
“Our trees are always like children in kindergarten compared to those in Southeast Asia,” said. “After a decade, each tree should be able to endure more than 100 fruits per harvest.”
In China, as concerns about economic growth, few industries now give initiates the same promising feeling as that of Durian agriculture.
Naturally, large quantities of liquidity have rushed into the sector in recent years, owners of Shanxi coal mines to the manufacture of Guangdong Boss.
Micheal Wang, or better known as Maikou Wang among his supporters, welcomed more than 800 lots of bosses who seek to invest in Durian plantations last year.
Managing social media accounts on various Chinese platforms, teacher knowledge of Durian agriculture, Wang also acts as a broker for plants and land.
“Durian is everyone's most counterfeit fruit,” said Wang. “Due to the pandemic and others, with all the demotion of consumption, companies had trouble and the fruits were difficult to sell. But the Durian import volume continued to increase. “
The Durian plantation area in China has at least doubled each year in recent years, Wang said.
Currently, a golden rule to select growth areas for the Durians in China is a narrow strip between 18 northern degrees of latitude and 19 degrees of northern latitude – which points only a small part of the south of Hainan.
And although efforts are underway to develop varieties of cold-resistant durian, it can take years, perhaps even a decade.
However, some of the most daring investors in the industry are already looking further, fixing the continent, with a new darling area being Xishuangbanna.
It is a small tropical region in the southwest province of Yunnan, near the border with Myanmar and Laos, although it is still not clear if the region can be so successful as Hainan.
“There is a palpable feeling that the Durian -Agraming scene of Xishuangbanna today reflects that of Hainan in 2020 – passing on the verge of explosive growth,” said Wang.
This article was published for the first time on SCCP.
