Module 4 - China: Fruit Promotion in the Mid-Yangtze

Farmers were responsible for contributing to the investment in orchard development through uncompensated labor during terracing, planting, growing, and harvesting. The county governments of the project area, which received International Development Association (IDA) funds, passed on orchard development costs, such as costs of terracing and technical services, to project farmers as 10-year loans at commercial rates of interest.

Commercial Fruit Development Corporations (CFDCs) invested in and managed modern treatment, packing, and storage facilities and purchased fruit from farmers. They sell the fruit purchased from farmers in local, distant, and export markets, although farmers are free to use other distribution channels. Provincial Fruit Development Corporations provide marketing services (such as market information) and interprovincial and export trading services to the CFDCs on commission, but the CFDCs are also free to use other channels, such as Foreign Trade Corporations and direct export sales.

Benefits and Impacts

• Household income increased dramatically; for example, orange growers’ income rose by Y13,000-26,000, depending on the variety grown.
  
  
• Income-generating activities and employment opportunities for participating farm families have increased, with 13,000 additional jobs generated during construction and implementation.
  
  
• Large numbers of nonproject farmers now use technologies developed under the project. It appears that the area of new orchards developed by farmers outside the project area amounts to four to five times that in project orchards.
  
  
• Soil erosion has been reduced by terracing and by planting vetiver grass for stability. In one example, eroded area was reduced from 48 percent in 1990 to only 13 percent in 1995.

Lessons Learned and Issues for Wider Applicability

The project, providing a demonstration model for the developing waste hilly lands into orchards, has proven highly satisfactory. Key lessons include:

• Farmers’ participation and sense of ownership from the beginning made a big difference in how the project was implemented.
  
• A strong research and scientific base, drawn from domestic and international experience, and the involvement of a science and technical committee, were essential to success.
  
• Cooperation among the Ministry of Agriculture, provincial and local governments, and research institutes was essential for effective implementation.
  
• Implementing agency staff must have strong technical skills relevant to program operations.

The project has applicability to other regions of the world that need to expand production to fragile hillside lands or to reduce soil erosion while improving production on these lands. If the baseline characteristics of the Chinese example (labor surplus, government support, market demand) are used as a guide, such a project could be applied to similar regions.