The city of Tainan (southern Taiwan) will export jujubes to Japan for the first time after setting out to achieve the goal seven years ago. Although Taiwan's jujubes are excellent in quality and flavor, the country’s effort to export the fruit to Japan had suffered setbacks because Taiwan is an ‘Oriental fruit fly epidemic area’.
A major break came when Tainan Agriculture Trading Co., located in Tainan’s Yujing District, passed inspections by using a freezing process to kill pests. The company will, for the first time, export jujubes to Japan after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Tainan Agriculture Trading Co general manager Lee Wei-hsiung said that obtaining permission to export jujubes to the Japanese market, which is characterized by consumers with high levels of disposable income, is especially helpful in increasing the economic value of the fruit, according to the report.
The cultivation area of jujubes in Taiwan is about 1,970 hectares, and Tainan accounts for 13.8%, Lee said, adding that most of Tainan’s jujubes cultivation area is concentrated in the Yujing and Nanxi districts. The first batch of the jujube export is expected to reach 2.5 tons.
Lee noted that jujubes have to meet many requirements before being allowed to export to Japan. At first, the jujubes have to pass pesticide testing, then they are frozen at a temperature below 1.2oCelsius for 14 days to make sure all fruit fly eggs are killed.
According to taiwannews.com.tw¸ the ‘Kaohsiung No.12 Cherish’ variety is sweet, crispy, and juicy, and is therefore expected to become a staple export.
