Economic benefit evaluation of thinning technology in litchi and longan demonstration orchards

The litchi and longan orchards in main producing areas have been over 25 years old and the canopy closure phenomenon is serious，which result in lower yield and low quality of fruit，increase of production costs，decline of farmers’ income. So it’s time to adopt thinning technology to reform the orchards. The small-scale farmers tend to choose random manner which need thinning cut，but the large-scale farms tend to use the standardized thinning way. The thinning technology have been applied widely in main producing areas，such as Maoming，Zhanjiang，Qinzhou after China litchi and longan researh system was established. Choosing a litchi demonstration located in Gaozhou and a longan orcard located in Maoming as typical cases，the results showed that the input costs decreased and total yield，output value increased year by year after the implementation of thinning technology.