Villagers in Zahan Village of Hainan’s Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, sing a welcome song to reporters and editors during a media tour promoting Hainan FTP on July 18 (COURTESY PHOTO)

Hainan Province in south China has been working hard to increase the speed of its agricultural modernization and strengthen the development of tropical agriculture. These efforts are being boosted by the Master Plan for Construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), which was released on June 1, 2020. 

In line with the Master Plan’s encouragement of tropical agriculture in Hainan, Fu Wenying, CEO of Wanwei, a biopharmaceutical company in Wanning, introduced the noni fruit (Morinda citrifolia) to the island in 2004. Noni is said to have a number of health benefits and, as Hainan’s climate is well suited to commercial production of the fruit, Fu made the decision to establish orchards and to extract juice to create added value. 

Fu told Beijing Review that Wanning’s noni industry is now worth 80 million yuan ($12.4 million). “Our business activities are aligned with the goals of the Master Plan, I believe we could receive support under the FTP initiative,” she said. 

Staff of biopharmaceutical company Wanwei wash noni fruits in preparation for juicing and fermentation in Hainan’s Wanning County on July 17 (COURTESY PHOTO) 

The Master Plan also encourages industrial enterprises in the Hainan FTP to produce goods that do not contain imported materials, or that add at least 30 percent in value when processing imported materials. These goods are exempt from import tariffs when entering the rest of China. 

To facilitate this production and processing, additional infrastructure is being built across the island. One such facility is the China Hainan Free Trade Port (Wangling) International Agricultural Products Processing Industrial Park, currently under construction in Hainan’s Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County. 

Ouyang Hua, deputy mayor of Hainan’s Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, gives the media an introduction to the China Hainan Free Trade Port (Wangling) International Agricultural Products Processing Industrial Park on July 18 (COURTESY PHOTO) 

“The plan is being implemented throughout Hainan,” Ouyang Hua, deputy mayor of the county, told Beijing Review. “Many processing plants have settled in the park because of the associated policies and because of the quality of the transportation infrastructure.” While Qiongzhong is located in the middle of Hainan, it takes only 90 minutes by road from Qiongzhong to the capital city of Haikou and other ports around the island.  

According to Ouyang, last year’s revenue from the industrial park was 100 million yuan ($15.45 million). “It’s not a very high figure. However, the first step is always the hardest and we have made it,” he added. 

(Reporting from Hainan) 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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