Jiangnan's Turpan: Gong'an County Builds a Full Grape Industry Chain, Inviting Visitors from All Directions for Picking Tours

Gong'an County is located in the southern part of the Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. In the late 1980s, villagers in the county, driven by the desire to change their impoverished circumstances, began growing grapes. After some experimentation, they succeeded in 1988, debunking the saying that "grapes are not suitable for growing in Jiangnan."

Quan Yunbao, deputy secretary of the Gong'an County Party Committee, introduced that in 1988 the county's grape planting area was only 4.8 mu, and starting from 2007 it increased at an average annual rate of 10,000 mu. Now the county's grape planting has expanded to 15 townships and more than 100 villages covering 110,000 mu, accounting for "half" of Hubei Province's grape planting area and making it the largest grape-producing region in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

In recent years, amid the adjustment of the agricultural industrial structure, Gong'an County has vigorously developed the grape industry through financial support, policy support, and environmental optimization, achieving rapid development. As of now, the county has 90 various types of grape market entities and 78 specialized grape cooperative organizations, and many people have made their fortunes through grapes.

Last year, the "Gong'an Grape" national geographical indication certification trademark and the "Jingliangtian" ordinary trademark were successfully registered, ending the nearly 30-year absence of a unified brand in the development of Gong'an County's grape industry. Driven by the influence of the brand, Gong'an County proactively "went online," exploring a sales model of online sales with offline pickup at fruit stores, achieving full sales coverage in regions across the country except ** and Tibet.

Liu Jun, a large-scale grape grower in Buhe Town, said that the "Hubei Grape Engineering Technology Research Center" established at his company has bred 90 excellent grape varieties suitable for local cultivation, and the sales period has been extended from more than 30 days in the past to more than 100 days. Through greenhouse cultivation and cold storage, Gong'an County can sell grapes year-round.

At the press conference, ruby-like crystal-clear wine and sweet-and-sour grape vinegar drew rounds of admiration. Quan Yunbao introduced that in recent years the county has attracted relevant enterprises to participate in product preservation, sales, and ecological park construction, producing grape juice and wine, carrying out production-sales matching, and forming a complete industrial chain.

Relying on the grape industry, Gong'an County has formed a new type of consumer business format. The county offers tourism and picking experiences to the whole country, and in the past two years more than 20,000 visitor-trips have come to the county for picking annually.

It is reported that during the 8th "Xingling Gong'an Grape Festival," Gong'an County will carry out 13 activities including a grape industry development summit forum, bicycle riding and picking, and grape marketing matching, in order to expand and strengthen the grape industry.