Smart agriculture propels China's kiwifruit industry upgrading

XI'AN, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- On a high-speed sorting line, each kiwifruit is photographed 240 times from all angles to detect surface defects, while near-infrared scanners assess its internal sweetness, firmness, and dry matter. This facility in northwest China's Shaanxi Province exemplifies the country's push to modernize its kiwifruit industry.

At the newly inaugurated Zhouzhi Kiwifruit Integrated Development Demonstration Center in Zhouzhi County, every movement hums with precision and purpose.

The six-lane sorting line, provided by Norwegian company TOMRA and introduced by Xi'an Urban Green Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd., meticulously inspects each kiwifruit inside and out. Each box is assigned a unique code to ensure traceable quality control from orchard to market, laying a solid foundation for premium brand credibility.

To ensure off-season supply and "ready-to-eat" freshness, the center is equipped with a high-standard intelligent cold storage facility with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes. Advanced refrigeration systems and insulating materials maintain internal temperature fluctuations within plus or minus 0.5 degree Celsius, minimizing fruit dehydration and enabling year-round sales.

"Rather than being a mere aggregation of machines, the center aims to build a fully connected industrial chain covering variety development, standardized planting, intelligent sorting, smart cold-chain logistics, and brand building," said He Liandi, director of Xi'an Urban Green Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd. "Digital management platforms are transforming traditional agricultural mindsets into modern industrial ones."

In recent years, Shaanxi has prioritized the kiwifruit industry as a key driver of modern specialty agriculture. Zhouzhi County, together with neighboring Meixian County in Baoji City -- both nationally recognized kiwifruit industry hubs -- has leveraged the favorable ecological conditions of the northern Qinling Mountains to advance standardized cultivation, technological innovation, and industrial chain expansion.

As the native and primary origin of global kiwifruit, Zhouzhi has launched nine "enhancement projects" to upgrade its kiwifruit industry, covering variety improvement, standardized cultivation, deep processing, brand development, technological innovation, cold-chain logistics, and digital agriculture, according to Wen Qiwei, Party secretary of Zhouzhi County.

Founded in 1956, the Zhouzhi Agricultural Science and Technology Experiment Station focuses on kiwifruit variety selection, new technology trials, and demonstration promotion.

"Our kiwifruit germplasm repository provides a wealth of genetic resources for developing new varieties that are large, high-quality, disease-resistant, drought-tolerant and sweet," said Zhang Xiaobin, a senior agricultural engineer at the experiment station. He noted that the 'Cui Xiang' kiwifruit has been planted on over 150,000 mu, or 10,000 hectares, in the province, with nationwide cultivation now spanning 300,000 mu.

The experiment station has also established trial demonstration bases, with plans to complete a 200-mu high-standard demonstration orchard by the end of this year. Core technologies such as formula fertilization, regulated fruit setting and biological pest control, along with 16 standardized practices, will provide technical support for high-quality industry development.

In 2023, the China-New Zealand Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Kiwifruit, Shaanxi Center, was established in Zhouzhi, focusing on resistance breeding for kiwifruit canker and low-temperature adaptability.

Additionally, the county has partnered with the College of Plant Protection at Northwest A&F University (NWAFU) to establish an expert workstation led by Professor Huang Lili. The station will conduct research on disease control and post-harvest "ready-to-eat" kiwifruit technologies, extending shelf life from 15 to 30 days, which significantly enhances market competitiveness.

In Meixian, smart agriculture is equally remarkable. Qi Feng, chairman of Shaanxi Qifeng Fruit Industry Co., Ltd., said the company collaborated with experts from NWAFU for three years to develop a digital kiwifruit cultivation system.

By integrating meteorological, soil, operational and crop growth data with IoT, AI modeling, and intelligent equipment, they created a "monitoring-decision-execution" full-chain technology system. This system has achieved a 30 percent reduction in water usage, 25 reduction in fertilizer, 35 percent reduction in pesticides, and a 10 percent increase in yield per mu.

Qifeng Fruit has also introduced a "three-level dividend" model for standardized cultivation. Under this model, village collectives transfer low-efficiency plots, which are consolidated into standard farms. These farms are upgraded with government funding and then leased to farm operators. Profits are distributed in three rounds, ensuring benefits for both village collectives and farm operators.

From Sept. 19 to 21, the third China kiwifruit expo was held in Meixian. The event featured over 200 standard and special exhibition booths, showcasing new technologies, products and highlights from domestic and international kiwifruit industries. Sales agreements for 41,900 tonnes of kiwifruit, totaling more than 410 million yuan (about 57.6 million U.S. dollars), were signed.

Thanks to technological advancement, Meixian's kiwifruit industry is also expanding globally. Qifeng Fruit has established a local planting base in Chile to ensure a year-round supply and now exports to 32 countries and regions, including Canada, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Chile and Thailand.