May marks the peak lychee harvest season in Hainan. As international orders continue to increase, streamlined processes are being implemented at each stage from orchard to port in order to shorten the time from harvest to loading.

In a lychee orchard spanning approximately 33 acres in Sanmenpo Town, Haikou, about 90% of the fruit is destined for export. Shan Liang, the orchard manager, said that since the end of April, around 50 orchard workers, each working about 10 hours a day, have harvested around 40 tons of lychees daily. This year, a new sorting and processing point is in operation, allowing lychees to be sorted within an hour of harvest, about 1.5 hours faster than in previous years. The sorting point also conducts random sampling and testing of the produce.

The produce testing process is also being improved. According to Cai Fudai, who works at the Sanmenpo Town Agricultural Service Center, test results are available in approximately 30 minutes. Data is simultaneously uploaded to the province-level system, and results are transmitted in advance to the Xinhai Harbour, allowing for rapid verification and release of refrigerated transport vehicles upon arrival.

Currently, some exported lychees are first transported by land to Guangdong, then packaged and exported overseas by cargo ship. Thanks to coordinated arrangements including pre-sorting, rapid testing, and information sharing, the average time for Haikou lychees from harvesting to arrival at the Shenzhen loading port is kept within 24 hours.

According to Haikou Customs, since the start of this year’s lychee harvest on May 6, a total of 110 shipments of Hainan lychees have been exported, an increase of nearly 40% year-on-year. Hainan experienced high temperatures and drought at the beginning of this year. With such unfavorable weather conditions, how was the rapid increase in exports achieved? It’s all due to improvements in post-harvest processing and customs clearance procedures.

In the packaging stage, qualified lychees are graded according to fruit diameter, pre-cooled in water, and then placed in cold storage for further packaging and storage. Zheng Xuezhi, head of Xiaozheng Farm in Jiuzhou Town, told the media that about 10% of the yield of his 66-acre orchard is exported, with the fruit mainly heading to Italy and Canada. The orchard began exporting lychees two years ago, and now, as the Hainan Free Trade Port’s sea and air transport network is expanding, Zheng plans to increase investment and expand the scale of exports.

The key to further improving export efficiency lies in the digitization of customs clearance procedures. At the Hainan International Trade Single Window, Haikou Customs now offers online application, review, and inspection and quarantine certificates for exported lychees and other specialty agricultural products, finally issuing digital copies of related documents. Farmers are guided on how to establish a traceable record of the entire planting, production, harvesting, storage, and transportation process, ensuring that exported fruits meet quality requirements all the way from their source.

Liu Tingting, deputy section chief of the Inspection and Quarantine Department of Yecheng Customs, a branch of Haikou Customs, stated that they have implemented a model combining document review and on-site inspection. Remote inspections can be conducted during the on-site inspection phase, significantly shortening processing time. After the full implementation of paperless processing for inspection and quarantine certificates, the overall inspection time has been reduced to less than one-third of the original time required.

(Photos: cctv.com)