"The so-called 'Blood orange' is named for its flesh which gradually turns from pink to red. Among the many varieties, the Lido blood orange (Tarotaceae) belongs to a emerging variety, introduced from Italy by the Hunan Agricultural University. After the optimization, purification and rejuvenation of individual plants, the quality of the Lido is a significant improvement on the older blood orange varieties," according to Jiang Zhe of Quanzhou County Woye Xingyuan Ecological Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd.
"Although the cultivation of Lido Blood Oranges in China is only a recent phenomenon, the development prospects are very optimistic. This is mainly due to the unique characteristics of the variety: the peel is smooth, hard and easy to store and transport. The flesh is also really tender. Secondly, it contains anthocyanins, which have health benefits. Secondly, compared with other late-maturing varieties, the Lido is on the market earlier, and the fresh fruit picking period is from January to April every year. The supply period of cold storage fruit can last until September."
"We have a blood orange orchard in Shaoshui Town, Quanzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The company plans to plant 2,000 mu and promote 100,000 mu, which will be completed in 5 years. The first phase of 300 mu has been completed in May 2018. Most of our blood oranges are used to process juices (base for fruit juices), and fresh fruits are sold to first and second-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai through traditional sales models. In the future, we hope to be able to use online business platforms and export them when the time comes."
"Blood oranges have high requirements for temperature and soil. In order to ensure a good planting environment and stay ahead in seedling research and development, we cooperated with Hunan Agricultural University to implement an integrated water and fertilizer operation system at the orchard. At the moment when many products are suffering from overstocking problems, I believe that product positioning is the key. Many varieties on the market now have no distinctive features, there is no production standard output in the management process, and there are few production records and archive information, which makes it difficult to trace the quality of the products. As a former seedling company, we are very concerned about these aspects. Although we are a young company, with standardization and scientific management, I believe that the market prospects of our varieties will be very optimistic."
