A total of 65 metric tons of bird's eye chilies from Maonan district were exported to Thailand for the first time on June 17.

Farmers choose high-quality bird's eye chilies in Maonan district, Maoming. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

Maonan district is the main area for the cultivation of bird's eye chilies, which began in the 1990s with the development of the pepper cultivation industry. At present, the planting area of Maonan district is about 50,000 mu (3,333 hectares), with an annual output of 75,000 tons.

Maonan bird's eye chilies are bright in color, have thin skins, a moderately spicy taste, and are favored by both domestic and foreign merchants. Additionally, Maonan has been exporting bird's eye chilies to Heilongjiang, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces, as well as Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Maonan has also been exporting bird's eye chilies to Malaysia and Singapore for the last six years.

Maonan's annual average temperature is 24 C, which is suitable for bird's eye chili cultivation. Bird's eye chilies bloom four or five times throughout a year and can be picked from October to July. Many farmers in Maonan have planted bird's eye chilies. For example, Jintang town planted 15,551 mu of bird's eye chilies in 2022. Among them, 75 farmers were cultivating more than 50 mu each.

"From June 13 to the end of June, 60 to 150 tons of bird's eye chilies are exported every day, and the export volume can reach more than 1,300 tons this year," said Yu Yinggan, a legal representative from Xintian Agricultural. "Another 61 tons of fresh bird's eye chilies were sent to Beijing, Hunan and Guangxi today," Yu continued.

Yu has planted more than 400 mu of chilies in Maonan, and has set up purchasing points in Guangxi and Maoming. He employs 160-170 people every day to run these purchase points, with an hourly wage of 16 ($2)-18 yuan. His company has created nearly 10,000 jobs.