Yongde Mangoes

Yongde Mangoes

Yongde Mangoes are a protected geographical indication product.

Yongde Mangoes are a certified geographical indication trademark.

　　Known as the "king of fruits," mangoes are subtropical woody fruits, and Yongde County is one of the few major production areas in China. With its abundant tropical resources, the region provides ideal conditions for mango cultivation. Thanks to the high priority placed by successive county committees and governments, Yongde has built the largest mango production base in Yunnan Province. With 43,000 acres of mango orchards, it is hailed as the "Hometown of Mangoes."

　　Yongde County has a long history of mango cultivation, dating back over 300 years to when it was first introduced through artificial planting. In the Duanleng Group of Duande Village, Yongkang Town, there remains a more than 300-year-old "Three-Year Mango" tree on the contracted land of Li 0, which still bears abundant fruit—yielding over 1,200 kilograms of fresh mangoes annually. Below 1,000 meters in Yongde County, wild mango trees can be found everywhere. Varieties include Small Fragrant Mango and Three-Year Mango. According to Li Zitian, a mango expert from Yunnan Province, the tropical region of Yongde County is considered one of the origin areas of mangoes.

　　Since 1974, when the Yongkang Forestry Station introduced the Machessu mango variety from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Crops Research Institute for trial planting, yields reached over 50 kilograms per tree by 1980. In 1982, a contiguous mango orchard spanning 360 acres was established in the Jiuzhai Gully of Mendi. Later, 11 mango varieties were successively introduced from Xishuangbanna, and Li Zitian, a mango cultivation expert from the Tropical Crops Research Institute, was invited to provide technical guidance on planting and management at the farm. By 1987, cultivation had succeeded and the varieties were promoted across the farm. In 1987, the Yongde County Committee and government decided to use World Bank loans to develop commercial mango orchards. By the end of 1989, the county had planted 6,973 acres of commercial mango orchards (including 4,000 acres on the farm).

　　In 1990, the Large White Jade mango produced in Yongde County was rated the top-quality commercial mango variety in the provincial tropical fruit evaluation conference. At the same time, Yongde County was also listed as one of the province’s key counties for developing fruit commodity production bases. The cultivation shifted from scattered, self-consumption planting to large-scale contiguous cultivation. To date, the county has developed a 43,000-acre mango base, including six contiguous plots of over 1,000 acres and 21 contiguous orchards of over 100 acres. There are more than 30 varieties such as Coconut Fragrance, Three-Year Mango, Mendi No. 1, Large White Jade, Myanmar No. 3, Thai Mango, and Machessu, yielding over 35,000 tons of mangoes annually. Among them, Large White Jade and Fragrant Mango have been recognized as high-quality varieties by the Ministry of Agriculture, while varieties like Flowing Fragrance Mango, Myanmar No. 2, and Machessu are especially favored by consumers.

　　The production area of Yongde Mangoes covers the entire administrative region of Yongde County, Yunnan Province.