Thanks to the customization marketing model, Conghua district of Guangzhou, the capital city of South China’s Guangdong province, as a production area of late maturing lychee variety, takes the leading role in its lychee marketing in the province. 

The district's lychee planting area reached 300,000 mu (20, 000 ha) this year, with an estimated output of 60,000 tons. The fruit will reach its full maturity in June, and Conghua district commenced its customization marketing campaign as early as April. 

Lychee plus tourism 

Since 2018, by integrating its agricultural, cultural and tourism resources, Conghua has innovated its sales models, launching the "lychee customization" campaign and expanded its lychee sales channels. 

This year, the lychee plus tourism customization model has been upgraded to a more specialized level. 

Six high-quality rural revitalization tourism routes have been launched with a focus on Conghua’s special resources such as agricultural parks, ancient villages and courier roads, family farms and red-themed resources, unfolding the highlights of the 20 characteristic villages of the district to the tourists. The lychee plus tourism package price may be higher this year, but it covers accommodation with elevated service capacity. The tour itinerary is more in depth with diversified focuses including study tours, parent-child tours, and honeymoon tours, to meet the needs of different target groups.   

New cooperation model – “investing trees as shares” 

Hualong Fruit & Vegetable Freshness Co Ltd, a Conghua-based company pioneered a new business model – “investing trees as shares” – in the district, which has motivated the local farmers and brought them increased income. 

This new model was announced in 2019, after previous efforts to mobilize local farmers to plant lychee trees failed. Under this new model, farmers don’t need to spend a penny to become shareholders in the company. They can invest with lychee trees and will profit from each harvest starting in 2023. 

It is a highly efficient and win-win solution for both the company and the farmers, according to the company's general manager, saying that the farmers become share holders and their income will increase, and the lychee output will increase on the other hand. 

Focusing on lychee intensive processing 

The recorded history of Conghua’s lychee dates back over 200 years ago. Chinese writer Yang Shuo's Lychee Honey has made Conghua’s lychee famous all over the country. 

In recent years, the district has focused on the intensive processing of lychee to expand industrial chains and meet the diversified consumption demand. 

At present, there are more than 30 lychee processing enterprises and cooperatives in the district. The annual production capacity of lychee processing in the district reaches 15,000 tons. A number of technologies won science and technology progress awards at provincial or national level. The district's lychee processing rate is more than 35 percent, leading the province. 

Conghua Lychee Industry Research Institute has been established based on the cooperation with South China Agricultural University and the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. A team of more than 40 experts led by Chen Houbin, chief scientist of the national lychee longan industry technology system, has been introduced to jointly tackle key problems in the lychee industry chain.