Located east of Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake in Dali, Yunnan Province, and on the southern bank of the dry-hot valley of the Jinsha River, Binchuan County is a fertile and resource-rich area. It boasts abundant produce, including flowers and trees from all over China, as well as fruits from both the north and south, earning it the titles of "Hometown of Citrus," "Hometown of Grapes," and "Hometown of Fruits."
Speaking of Binchuan, one must mention its year-round produce of "Binchuan Fruits," including grapes, citrus fruits, pomegranates, winter peaches, and apples! Currently, Binchuan County is the largest county-level early-ripening grape production base in China, with an annual output of 600,000 tons of high-quality fruits such as grapes, citrus fruits, and soft-seed pomegranates, generating a value of 4.5 billion yuan.
In June 2019, the Binchuan Grape Product Promotion Conference and the launch of the Binchuan Fresh Fruit Regional Public Brand "Bingguo'er" were held in Beijing and Shanghai. After leaving the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Zhang Minghong, known as the "King of Selenium-Rich Black Grapes," told reporters that he had previously transplanted black grape seedlings from Dalian to Dali, Yunnan, enabling hundreds of thousands of fruit farmers in that area to grow early-ripening grapes with better economic benefits, and leading the fruit farmers of his Xinghongda Farmers Professional Cooperative onto the road to prosperity. Now, he hopes that his carefully cultivated thousand acres of Ziyu seedless grapes will also spread from Binchuan to the Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau regions.
This selection activity was based on voluntary application and recommendation by the local agricultural administrative department, receiving nearly 300 applications from all over the country for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area "Vegetable Basket" Production Base (Fourth Batch). After preliminary review, 186 applications met the requirements. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area "Vegetable Basket" Production Base certificate is valid for 3 years.
The "Vegetable Basket" project for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was launched in May 2019. Using the quality and safety standards for supplies to Hong Kong and Macao as benchmarks, it aims to provide the market with higher-quality agricultural products and promote the improvement of the quality and safety standards of edible agricultural products in the Greater Bay Area. Operating under the model of "one standard for the market, one platform for circulation, and one system for quality and safety supervision," the government guides enterprises to ensure their products are "affordable, high-quality, and authentic" through the introduction of relevant supporting policies, creating a "vegetable basket" platform that allows consumers in the Greater Bay Area and even the mainland to eat with peace of mind and buy with satisfaction.
At Zhang Minghong's 100-acre Ziyu seedless vineyard, the reporter saw that this year's Ziyu seedless grapes have reached their peak growth period, growing even better than the Golden Finger, Ruby, and Sapphire grapes from the United States and Australia, and have already begun to bear clusters of fruit.
According to Zhang Minghong, the selenium-enriched black grapes he initially introduced were first sold to Guangdong, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macau, establishing a solid foundation for their production. Especially in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the selenium-enriched grapes from the Binchuan Xinghongda Agricultural Products Professional Cooperative have long been among the most popular fruits in high-end fruit shops.
The reporter also learned that Zhang Minghong's Ziyu seedless grapes have passed relevant testing according to the national standard GB5009.93-2017, "National Food Safety Standard: Determination of Selenium in Food," with a measured selenium content of 0.484 mg.
Looking at Zhang Minghong's lush and verdant Ziyu seedless grape orchard, the reporter tentatively guessed that, allowed, friends in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau would be able to taste the Ziyu seedless grapes from the Dali Binchuan Xinghongda Farmers Professional Cooperative next month.
It is understood that Binchuan will continue to focus on developing high-quality plateau-characteristic agriculture, strengthening the connection between production and sales of agricultural specialties and brand promotion, enhancing cooperation in breeding, planting, processing, display, and trading of characteristic and advantageous agricultural products, actively participating in the construction of the "vegetable basket" circulation system in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and further promoting Binchuan's agricultural opening-up and cooperation.
Reporter: Zhang Yaohui
Editor: Wang Yutian