Dragon fruit flowers bloom inside a fruit orchard at a community in Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo by Chen Bo/For chinadaily.com.cn]

A cross-Strait pilot project for standardized cultivation of dragon fruit was launched on Friday in Fuzhou, Fujian province, promoting overall improvement in growing techniques in Fujian and Taiwan.

"Fujian and Taiwan are geographically close, with similar climate and soil types. Dragon fruit cultivation and management techniques can be mutually beneficial and have broad prospects for cooperation," said Liu Youjie, an associate researcher at the fruit research institute of Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The institute is undertaking the project.

Both Fujian and Taiwan are important dragon fruit producing regions in China.

Since its introduction in 1980s, the scale of dragon fruit cultivation in Taiwan has developed to around 25,000 acres (1,667 hectares) and the existing dragon fruit cultivation area in Fujian is about 50,000 acres, with an annual output of over 100,000 tonnes.

However, neither has released technical standards, Liu said.

The project aims to streamline those standards over the next two years, guide producers in Fujian and Taiwan to balance yield, benefits and quality and solve problems in dragon fruit production.

The project will also establish a 500-acre pilot base for cross-Strait dragon fruit cultivation, with a radiation promotion of 3,000 acres.