Chibi Kiwifruit

Chibi Kiwifruit

Chibi kiwifruit is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Chibi kiwifruit is a specialty of Hubei Province. The city of Chibi has vigorously cultivated high-quality kiwifruit varieties and promoted industrial development, making the kiwifruit industry one of the “four major agricultural” pillar industries. As one of the city’s “four major agricultural” pillars, the kiwifruit industry has established cooperative relationships with research institutions such as Huazhong Agricultural University, the Provincial Fruit and Tea Research Institute, Wuhan Botanical Garden, and Beijing Botanical Garden. Three specialized processing enterprises have been set up: “PinGui” brand fresh fruit, “TianZiHu” brand fruit pulp juice beverage, and “BiYe” brand dried wine. The formulated standards — including the “Kiwifruit Seedling Breeding Standard,” “Cultivation Technical Regulations,” and “Fresh Fruit Standard” — have been promoted as provincial standards.

　　　The Chibi Shilipu Orchard Farm is the earliest specialized base for commercially planting kiwifruit in China. In 1980, after successfully introducing the world-renowned “Hayward” variety from New Zealand and conducting trial planting, the farm began large-scale cultivation of the “Hayward” kiwifruit with Chibi characteristics. After more than 20 years of development and variety updates, the farm now has over 1,000 acres of kiwifruit, including a 200-acre variety comparison garden that houses most of the kiwifruit varieties found around the world. To accelerate the growth of the kiwifruit industry, the city has also developed 100 acres of new land within the orchard farm to establish a kiwifruit seedling cultivation base. Kiwifruit has become the “golden fruit” that helps farmers around Shilipu Orchard Farm achieve prosperity. Led by Chibi Shilipu Orchard Farm, the city’s kiwifruit planting area has now reached 45,000 acres, with 15,000 acres already demonstrating strong economic benefits. It is reported that Chibi plans to expand the production base to 50,000 acres within the next five years, with an annual total output of 10,000 tons, and to build or expand storage and processing capacity to 4,000 tons. With Hubei PinGui Kiwifruit Co., Ltd. as the leading enterprise, the industry will be driven forward, aiming for a total industrial chain output value of 200 million yuan.

　　The production area of Chibi kiwifruit covers the entire current administrative region of Chibi City, Hubei Province.

　　 According to the book *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, kiwifruit (commonly known as yangtao) in the Dongting region was utilized as early as the Xia and Shang dynasties. The Eastern Wu scholar Shi Xie, the renowned Ji, and the divine physician Hua Tuo all used the roots, stems, fruits, and leaves of the yangtao plant for medicinal purposes to care for soldiers. As a result, during the Battle of Chibi, the Eastern Wu forces avoided an outbreak of epidemic disease, ultimately achieving victory against stronger forces and striking a blow against Cao Cao’s army. In the 1970s, Chibi introduced the premium Hayward variety to cultivate Chinese kiwifruit, which led to the highest kiwifruit yield in Central and South China.