Tech-driven blueberry industry thrives in Huaining county, E China's Anhui

Photo shows a blueberry greenhouse in Huaining county, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Gao Feiyue)

At the blueberry planting base of a company in Huaining county, east China's Anhui Province, smart temperature control, automated irrigation system, and real-time soil pH monitoring have replaced conventional cultivation methods.

The blueberries are cultivated in pots within smart greenhouses, where technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data enable precise and intelligent environmental control.

"One person with a smartphone can now manage blueberry fields measuring dozens of mu (one mu equals 0.07 hectares) in size," said Liu Jinlong, general manager of the company.

Thanks to this tech-driven approach, Liu's greenhouse blueberries can hit the market in March, two months earlier than those planted outdoors, while achieving a yield double the amount of outdoor planted blueberries.

Cao Liangyuan, director of the blueberry industry development center of Huaining county, said the county is actively piloting smart greenhouses for blueberry cultivation through multiple measures, including collaborating with universities and research institutes to breed premium varieties.

The county's commitment to innovation extends beyond cultivation and variety breeding. In November 2022, China's first production line for extracting anthocyanin from blueberries began operations in the county's blueberry industrial park.

Photo shows blueberry products of a company in Huaining county, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Ruotian)

"At full capacity, we can process nearly 30,000 tonnes of fresh blueberries annually, generating 720 million yuan ($100.2 million) in output value and creating jobs for over 2,000 people," said Xu Jun, general manager of the company that owns the production line.

There are 10 blueberry deep processing projects at the county's blueberry industrial park, with a total investment of 2.06 billion yuan and the deep processing capacity of blueberries reaching 70,000 tonnes per year. In addition, over 30 kinds of blueberry products have been developed.

Huaining's blueberry industry has flourished under this tech-driven approach. The planting area of the fruit reached 90,000 mu in 2024, and the comprehensive output value of the blueberry industry is expected to exceed 7.5 billion yuan this year.

"By 2025, we aim to make the cultivation area of the fruit exceed 100,000 mu and make the output value of the blueberry industry surpass 10 billion yuan," Cao said.