“Hong Mei Ren” is a high-end citrus variety cultivated in Xiangshan County, Zhejiang Province in 2001, and was awarded as the national geographical indication certificate in 2021. The adoption of digital technology throughout the value chain from growing and marketing, to supply and branding, has strengthened the influence of Xiangshan “Hong Mei Ren” geographical indications on consumers.

On one hand, targeted digital platforms and tools facilitate a smooth marketing channel. Production and selling are bonded upon consumers’ preference in line with traits of each marketing platform. The first-class “Hong Mei Ren” fruits are directly delivered to supermarkets for high-end consumers across the country. On the supply side, strict grading criteria are set to ensure fruit quality and economic efficiency. Specifically, fruits are graded according to size, shape, colour and other indicators. Graded fruits are supplied through different channels in different packages for differentiated prices, thus a multi-tiered marketing is reached. Digital protection is applied to prevent legitimate rights and product brand of citrus varieties from being compromised. Backed by Alibaba Cloud and AntChain, a farm-to-table traceability system has been established, and the tracing information linked to a specific QR code is tamper-proof. What’s more, the Xiangshan County Citrus Industry Alliance is committed to cracking down on trademark infringement. In terms of planting, growers are encouraged to conduct standard and scaled operations and embrace digital transformation. The retail price of “Hong Mei Ren” fruits has soared from RMB5 per kilogram in the beginning to RMB50 today and even to RMB120. “Hong Mei Ren” accounts for 15% of the county’s total citrus output but 60% of the total output value, and digitalization has directly raised the farmers’ income by over 30%.

Excerpt from: Sci-Tech Empowering Rural Transformation Report 2022: Digital Technology Empowers Agricultural Value Chain Development