Sci-tech versatility has boosted high-quality floriculture in southwest China's Yunnan Province, which has shifted from a traditional flower producer to a modern one featuring tech-savvy processing and marketing.
Yunnan Province exported fresh-cut flowers worth 570 million yuan (about 80 million U.S. dollars) in 2023, maintaining its top position in the country for the fifth consecutive year.
To meet the substantial demand for these specialty goods, Yunnan Province launched a trillion-yuan modern agriculture initiative with plateau characteristics in 2020. This initiative has facilitated partnerships between enterprises and scientific research institutions, accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies in flower cultivation.
Standardized management, integrated water and fertilizer systems, and soilless cultivation have effectively addressed industry challenges.
"The intelligent greenhouses automatically adjust sunlight, temperature, and humidity using draft fans, windows, and sunshields, which significantly improves plant growth and enhances yields. Such facilities have extended harvesting seasons to six to seven times per year, yielding between 160,000 to 180,000 flowers per mu (about 0.067 hectares)," said Sun Xiaoming, associate professor of China Agricultural University.
The classification process for flowers has also been revolutionized for greater efficiency.
"Previously, manual classification led to constant errors. Now, our self-developed automatic classification equipment uses three industrial cameras to grade fresh-cut flowers into 28 categories based on size, bloom degree, and branch length," said Sun.
Following effective post-harvest treatments, cut flowers are then distributed to markets. From planting to trading, Yunnan's flower industry is becoming more environmentally friendly and efficient, driven by these new high-quality production methods.
Sci-tech versatility boosts high-quality floriculture in Yunnan
China's national economy was generally stable with steady progress in the first three quarters of this year, and the positive factors driving the economic recovery increased, said an official of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.
Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the NBS, made the statement in briefing on the operation of China's national economy in the first nine months of 2024 at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing.
China's GDP in the first three quarters totaled nearly 94.975 trillion yuan (about 13.3 trillion U.S. dollars), up 4.8 percent year on year at constant prices, Sheng announced.
"In the first three quarters, the national economy was generally stable and made progress. Production and demand grew steadily. Employment and commodity prices maintained generally stable. People's livelihood was effectively guaranteed. New quality productive forces developed steadily, and high-quality development was steadily promoted. In September, most production and demand indicators improved, market expectations improved, and the positive factors driving the economic recovery accumulated and increased," Sheng told the press conference.
Sheng said major economic data achieved growth from different perspectives.
"Divided by industries, the added value of the primary industry grew by 3.4 percent year on year, that of the secondary industry was up 5.4 percent, and the added value of the tertiary industries increased by 4.7 percent year on year. By quarter, the GDP for the first quarter grew by 5.3 percent year on year, up by 4.7 percent for the second quarter and up by 4.6 percent for the third quarter. The GDP for the third quarter grew by 0.9 percent quarter on quarter," he said.
Sheng noted the economic recovery is still facing challenges due to the complicated external environment.
"Generally, policy effects have kept emerging, and major economic indicators have recently showed positive changes. At the same time, we must also see that the external environment has become more complex and severe, and the foundation for economic recovery still needs to be consolidated," he said.
China's national economy maintains stable with progress in first three quarters: authorities
