Tseng Chun-yi has been busy discussing with technicians in Yongjing county of Gansu province how to pick dragon fruit, tend trees and manage orchards via remote video systems.

"Now it is harvest time for dragon fruit and we are busy guiding the farmers in Yongjing to pick the fruit and manage the plantation," said Tseng who comes from Taiwan.

Tseng, who had gained experience planting dragon fruit in Taiwan, came to Xiamen, Fujian province, to start his business in 2015.

He built a plantation in Xiamen's Xiang'an district after finding that the Chinese mainland had great potential for agricultural development. He established a dragon fruit cooperative to attract residents to join him and help revitalize the rural economy.

In June 2019, Tseng brought more than 1,000 high-quality pitaya seedlings from Taiwan to Yongjing county — Xiamen's targeted poverty alleviation area — to help local farmers establish a small dragon fruit orchard of about 1,333 square meters after he joined an inspection tour to Yongjing.

Although dragon fruit is tropical, Tseng is confident about planting it in northwestern China.

"Solar greenhouses can control temperatures to be suitable for the growth of dragon fruit," he said.

Previously, locally grown strawberries and small tomatoes could only be harvested in winter, but the fruit-bearing period for dragon fruit can last more than seven months, Tseng said.

"And the dragon fruit, which usually enters the full fruit stage within three to five years, can bear fruit for 20 years . So if dragon fruit is planted well, it will be a money tree for locals later on," Tseng said.

With the development of the dragon fruit industry, what Tseng conceives is not only planting but guiding and building a whole industrial chain for dragon fruit covering planting, deep processing of agricultural products, leisure tourism and e-commerce platforms to amplify the social and economic benefits.

Tseng said he hoped more young people from Taiwan would move to the mainland to engage in agriculture, a sector with great development potential for the future.

Tseng Chun-yi, from Taiwan, runs dragon fruit business in Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]