The huge amount of bayberry waste accounts for at least 40 percent of the province's total output this year, which adds up to 250,000 tons, according to Monday's China Daily report.
Bayberries, formally called "Myrica Rubra," are a popular kind of sweet and sour fruit that mainly grows in red and yellow soil under warm and wet weather. The fruit ripens in late June, which happens to coincide with the rainy season in eastern China.
Experts say the first typhoon this year, which hit the province on June 25, and the heavy rain that kept pouring between June 24 and 27 combined to leave thousands of tons of bayberries rotting on the trees before they could be picked, the newspaper said.
Growing bayberries is a highly profitable business, although ripe bayberries fresh for only a short period of time and are seen in the market for about 10 days each year.
In order to avoid such damage in the future, experts suggest that farmers should try to grow bayberries in a more efficient and scientific way.
A new kind of bayberry that ripens a week later than the usual species has turned out to be very successful this year since it avoids the rainy season.
Experts say efforts should be made to develop more bayberry- related industries, such as bayberry wine, preserved bayberries and canned bayberries, so that the fruit can be put to more use instead of being wasted.
(People's Daily 07/16/2001)
