What makes longan production in Thailand so attractive?

Longan production in Thailand occupies a very important position in the world, with planting area and output ranking second in the world and fruit export ranking first in the world. Its economic value exceeds that of pineapple, durian and mango, and it is the fruit with the highest economic benefit in Thailand. Its charm is mainly manifested in:

(1) Thailand's unique ecological environment suitable for longan production is mainly distributed in Chiang Mai and Nanpengfu in the north, where the climate is warm, with an annual average temperature of 28℃, a maximum temperature of 38-39℃ and a minimum temperature of 4℃, similar to Haikou City, Hainan Province, China. The annual precipitation is 1200mm, but the distribution of annual precipitation is uneven, especially in dry and wet seasons. May ~ 10 is the rainy season, and it rains for 90 ~ 100 days. Dry season 1 1 to March and February of the following year, longan blooms. At this time, there is enough heat and good pollination conditions. In China, on the contrary, the flowering period of longan is in the spring rain, which is not conducive to pollination. The rapid increase of fruit is accompanied by drought in autumn, and the lack of irrigation facilities is not conducive to the normal development and quality improvement of fruit. (2) Pay attention to the breeding of fine varieties. Thai Dragon Eyeliner was imported from China. It is said that in 1896, an immigrant from the south of China brought 1 1 longan seedlings to the princess of King Rama V of Thailand, five of which were planted in Chiang Mai and six in Bangkok, and then gradually propagated and expanded. In recent 50 years, Thailand has bred many internationally competitive varieties of early, middle and late maturity from many longan seedlings domesticated by tropical ecology. For example, Ee-Dor, which ripens in the middle and late July, has strong adaptability, easy flowering, stable fruit setting rate, single fruit weight12.5 ~13g, and soluble solid content of 22. Suitable for fresh food and canned food storage. Sri-Chumpoo, ripe in early August, pink flesh, 14.5g, crisp and sweet, soluble solids 19%, suitable for fresh food. Beow-Koew, Ee-Hea is suitable for pot storage and air drying. Extra-large fruit (single fruit weighs 25g) has stable flowering, high quality and no flowers, and the flowers are more and more stable. Yiduo and Phet tend to bloom many times a year, and the success rate of anti-season flowering is high. At present, the main varieties in China are mostly baked or canned, and the quality of fresh foods is high, but the fruits are generally small. (3) Premature market grabbing Thailand is located near the equator. The unique ecological environment makes longan blossom and bear fruit much earlier than other producing countries (see Table 3). In addition, Yiduo and other early-maturing varieties account for more than 1/3 of the total planting area. Thailand longan makes full use of the advantages of early maturity to meet the psychological needs of consumers to taste new products and seize the markets of Hong Kong, Macao, Southeast Asia and the world, thus obtaining rich economic benefits.

Table 3 Flowering and Harvest Time of Longan Major Producing Countries/Regions Harvest Period: Thailand 65438+February to the end of February to the end of June to the end of August, China Taiwan Province Province from the end of February to the end of July to the end of September, Australia from the end of August to September 65438+1mid-October to mid-April (4) Unique cultivation techniques The rainy season in Thailand is from May to 10, with moisture content. On the basis of extensive application of postharvest fertilizer in longan producing areas in Thailand, the new shoots are generally kept at 10 ~ 15 cm every year for fine management, such as re-shrinking and full bud smearing, which can promote the second autumn shoot. After 1 1 month, it enters the dry season, and the rain is scarce, which is conducive to inhibiting the germination of winter buds and thus successfully differentiating flower buds. Not only the longan tree is strong and short, but also the growth progress of autumn shoots is consistent after the second harvest, and the quality of mother branches is good, which provides a solid physiological carrier and operating platform for the implementation of mature cultivation techniques and annual harvest. Guangdong and Guangxi made use of regional and variety advantages to popularize the experience of autumn shoots in Thailand on green and strong longan twice, but both failed because of autumn drought, fine branches and poor flower quality in China. (5) Pay attention to the construction of irrigation facilities. Most orchards in longan producing areas in Thailand have irrigation facilities, which can basically meet the water demand period. There are two forms of irrigation facilities, one is low-nozzle sprinkler irrigation directly buried under tree roots, and the other is that water pipes send water to faucets under various trees, and hoses are connected to faucets for sprinkler irrigation. They all realize that water is one of the important factors that determine the output. (6) Breakthrough progress was made in anti-season cultivation and anti-season technology, and the annual supply of fresh longan fruit was initially realized. (7) The Longan Growers Association was established in the highly organized Longan producing area of Thailand, providing technical support for the members of the association, producing high-quality products and market risk planning services through the transformation of new technologies, so that fruit farmers can benefit from reducing the profits of middlemen. (8) There are two main sales channels for Thai longan with strong export competitiveness: one is that the processing factory buys it directly from the orchard, and the other is that the wholesaler sets up a point to buy it at the place of origin, and then sells it to exporters and fruit sellers respectively, and both have relatively fixed wholesale channels. In recent years, Thailand has implemented standardized production in harvesting, packaging and transportation. Fresh fruits are mainly exported to Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Canada, the United States, Japan and other countries. Longan is usually harvested when the peel changes from green brown to yellow brown and the sugar content of pulp exceeds 65,438+08%. It was sorted on the spot and put in plastic baskets. Fruits are divided into five grades: LX with less than 60 grains per kilogram, A with 60-70 grains, AB with 70-80 grains, B with 80-90 grains, and B with 90- 100 grains. Generally, the export of LX grade, A grade and AB grade requires ear-shaped fruit, with loose grains not exceeding 1% and clean peel. At the same time, the government implements the policy of encouraging and supporting exports, simplifies the export procedures, and generally ensures the close connection between production, supply and sales, so that fresh fruits harvested on the day of origin can be airlifted to the Bangkok market and sold on the market the next day. The export is refrigerated or airlifted, so it usually takes only 48 hours to reach the destination of Singapore and Hong Kong. See table 4 for the export situation.

Table 4 Types, Quantity and Value of New Longan Products Exported from Thailand in 2000