Good juju for jujubes

A traditional Chinese proverb says that eating three jujubes a day keeps the doctor away.

Jujube, a famous Chinese fruit, is known both for its sweet taste and medicinal value. However, for many years, the fruit wasn't much of a money maker for farmers in Henan province, a major jujube planting center in China, due to primitive planting methods and low value-added production.

But now there's good juju for the jujube in Henan.

Residents in Xinzheng county of Zhengzhou city in Henan province, now owe much to the fruit. It's boosted the local economy and created a new slogan for the county: "Hometown of the Jujube."

China is traditionally the world's major jujube planting center, holding 90 percent of the world's jujube yields, according to Zao.com.cn, the country's main jujube-industry website.

There are also several new jujube planting centers in North China, including Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu provinces and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"Because the whole country has attached more significance to modern agricultural development, and better living conditions for farmers, the country's jujube industry has gained strong support from the central government," says Liu Mengjun, professor of China Jujube Industry Association under the Hebei Agricultural University.

What makes Henan's Xinzheng county stand out as the national jujube center is due to a chain of research, planting, harvesting, processing and selling a higher quality jujube product.

Located in central China, Henan province is famous for its agriculture, which takes advantage of the Yellow River, but for a long time the lack of modern farming equipment and techniques was a challenge to the jujube business.

"In the past, it was common to see farmers pushing small trolleys and selling jujubes along the county streets," Meng Lei, a local farmer says adding that every year large numbers of jujubes rotted due to poor sales.

In 1995, the local government encouraged jujube farmers to adopt modern farming and marketing techniques by improving the chain of planting and processing, creating more value-added products and establishing a steady sales pipeline connected to local, domestic and overseas markets. In time a new jujube business was created with participation by the local government and the leadership of local enterprises.

"All the jujube farmers joined to learn modern planting technologies," the farmer Meng says. He says 60,000 local farmers benefited and it resulted in the growth of jujube output.

So far, Xinzheng county yields over 30 kinds of jujubes, reaching 35 million kilograms per year, and averaging a 20 percent growth rate the last 10 years.

Under the local government's support, something more remarkable came at the end of last century, Meng says. There was a large growth of jujube processing companies, up to 280.

"To maintain our market position and meet higher demands, we must diversify our jujube products to create high value-added businesses," Shi Jubin, general manager of Henan Haoxiangni Co, Henan's largest and most famous jujube processing company, was quoted as saying by Zhengzhou Daily.

More than 300 kinds of jujube-related products have been created by the local enterprises through research in the last three years. They include dried jujubes, jujube vinegar, jujube juice, jujube powder, jujube tea and jujube candy.

"It is a non-stop process because Chinese food has been becoming increasingly popular recently," says Shi.

The diversification of jujube products keeps the price per kilogram growing. In 1993, the price was only 0.5 yuan a kilogram, but in 2007, it was 8 yuan per kilogram.

Obviously, the booming jujube business has also meant better living conditions for 24,000 local farmers in Xinzheng.

According to local government statistics, the average income of local farmers is currently 5,792 yuan a year, 2,000 yuan higher than in 2003.

Jujube tourism

In addition to urging higher standards for jujube production, the city has also been engaging in combining traditional agriculture with some modern industries, and creating more value for the jujube business.

Jujube-related tourism is the most creative project made by local companies.

Ten years ago, Haoxiangni Co invested 630,000 yuan to build a jujube park in Xinzheng county, leading tourists from both home and abroad to experience a traditional village life style.

Further, "the growing number of tourists helps build a stronger brand for Xinzheng's jujube productions", says Shi.

Xinzheng's jujubes have been exported to more than 20 foreign countries and contributing over 100 million yuan in export sales per year.

At the same time, the city's jujube products hold a 21 percent of the domestic jujube market and the Haoxiangni processing company has established over 1,000 shops in 56 cities across the country and is now China's largest jujube processor.

Modern operation

But the global financial crisis has deeply affected the city's jujube exports, as Liu Wei, a local official from the city's Agricultural Bureau, tells China Business Weekly.

"We are facing a huge challenge, mainly due to the recent shrinkage of exports to the United States, Canada and some European countries."

But this September, Henan Haoxiangni Co signed an agreement with Zhengzhou Bairui Investing Group (a company which is partly owned by local government) to help Haoxiangni with 60 million yuan's worth of venture capital.

(China Daily 12/15/2008 page10)