Navel orange farmer's gamble leads province to fruitful success

When it comes to navel oranges, Yuan Shougen's face lights up. The first to grow the fruit in Jiangxi province half a century ago, he introduced the highly reputed variety to southern Jiangxi now known as the Gannan Navel Orange.

"The navel orange is like my child," he said. For 50 years, Yuan has participated in the crop's development in the province and keeps a hoard of treasured newspaper clippings and old photographs at home.

Helping more people increase their incomes through the fruit business is both a mission and a dream. Even at 80, he remains busy around the orchards, giving guidance to farmers.

Many people don't call Yuan by his real name, but refer to him as "Huaqi", which is also his tag on social media. It's a Chinese language abbreviation of the Washington navel orange, the citrus variety he introduced to Jiangxi in his younger years.

In 1970, as an agricultural technician in Xinfeng county in southern Jiangxi, Yuan went to neighboring Hunan province to purchase tangerine seedlings to help develop the county's horticultural industry.

In addition, he secretly returned with 200 navel orange seedlings and planted them on a sunny hillside 50 meters from his house.

"That was my own decision. I heard it was a good variety, but I didn't know if it would be suitable for growing in Jiangxi, so I decided to try it out for myself," he said.

After three years, the trees produced their first crop. Jiangxi's climate proved suitable. The fruit was of a high quality, and soon word got around. "Local people liked it. Because of its belly button, people called it a navel orange," he said.

Yuan improved cultivation techniques through practice. He got up in early morning to collect manure as fertilizer and recorded the growth of each tree.

"At the time, the trees were always on my mind. I would sit holding my bowl during meal times and eat in front of them. Sometimes, when I woke up in the middle of night, I would sneak out to peek at them," he said.

The local government renamed the fruit the "Gannan Navel Orange", and Yuan was honored as "the first person to introduce the navel orange in southern Jiangxi".

With the support of national policies, the Gannan Navel Orange has become an important pillar of horticulture in Jiangxi. Yuan says the province is home to the largest planted area of the variety in the world and produces 1.56 million metric tons of the fruit worth around 68 billion yuan ($10.6 billion) each year.

Since retirement in 2001, Yuan has worked as a consultant for the county science and technology association and has made more than 30 quality-related suggestions to authorities for further development of the navel orange industry in southern Jiangxi.

When yellow shoot disease ravaged the region in 2013, many citrus trees had to be chopped down, greatly worrying farmers. Devastated himself, Yuan suggested a series of measures that helped prevent everything from being lost.

"Having worked with fruit growers for a long time, I understand the hard work they have done, and the importance of the navel orange to them," he said.

As many farmers did not understand what was happening, Yuan explained the disease to them in simple terms, including why it turned the leaves yellow and made them fall, and why the trees continued to grow but not bear fruit.

Yuan maintains his habit of checking weather forecasts every night. In the frosty season, he reminds growers to take protective measures. He visits fields to give advice, and if he doesn't feel well enough to go in person, he checks on the growth of trees via video chat.

Once, Yuan was approached by a fruit company in the county, which wanted to hire him as a consultant at a high salary. He turned the offer down, telling the company that: "If you have any difficulties, I will try to help. But if I accept your offer, I will be working for you full-time and won't be able to help other people in need."

"I hope the Gannan Navel Orange can continue to follow the path of high quality development, and that more people can benefit from this golden fruit," he added.