On March 22nd, GUAN Shengbo, the director of the Bureau of Science and Technology, Industry and Information Technology of Qianxi County, Tangshan City, and PAN Yang, the mayor of Han'erzhuang Town, led a delegation to the Institute of Changli Fruit Research, HAAFS to conduct a cooperation and exchange activity on the development of chestnut industry in Qianxi County. WANG Guangpeng, the director of the institute, ZHANG Xinsheng, the deputy director, and relevant department heads attended the event.
Qianxi County is known as the "Hometown of Chinese chestnuts" and is a core production area of national geographical indication products. The county has a total cultivation area of 0.75 million mu of chestnuts, with 50 million trees. It produces 80,000 tons of chestnuts annually, with a total value exceeding 2.5 billion yuan. The brand value reaches 4.004 billion yuan, firmly ranking first in the national chestnut industry. Chestnut products are sold in over 180 large and medium-sized cities across the country, and have successfully entered markets in Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Europe and America, with over 10,000 tons of fresh chestnuts exported annually.
The Institute of Changli Fruit Research has a long history of cooperation with Qianxi County in the demonstration and promotion of new chestnut varieties, as well as in cultivation and management. The well-known “surround-the-mountain” development model in the 1970s originated in Qianxi. Currently, the institute has established 1,000 mu of high-quality variety cultivation bases in 6 villages and towns of Qianxi, promoting the diversification of chestnut varieties. More than 70% of the chestnut varieties in the Qianxi are self-developed high-quality new varieties by the institute, such as 'Yanshanzaofeng' and 'Yanshanshuofeng'.
Director GUAN stated that the vigorous development of Qianxi's chestnut industry is inseparable from the solid quality foundation and technological support provided by the Institute of Changli Fruit Research. He hopes that the institute will leverage its advantages in varieties, talents and technology to continue providing support for the industry and assist to maintain the popularity of Qianxi chestnuts.
The two sides conducted in-depth discussions on the problems existing in the development of chestnut industry in Qianxi, the optimization of new varieties, pest and disease prevention and control, and the construction of the chestnut culture experience center, and reached a cooperation intention.
（Source from www.hebnky.com）