A total of 200 kilograms of citrus seeds from Chongqing have arrived in Zimbabwe, said Chongqing Customs on Wednesday. This is the first time that Chongqing citrus seeds have been exported abroad.

This batch of citrus seeds hails from Southwest University’s Citrus Research Institute, which majors in the breeding of citrus seeds and has achieved breeding standardization, said Zhu Shiping, a research fellow with the institute.

According to Zhu, the institute has technical and variety advantages in citrus varieties studies, virus-free seedling breeding, citrus production management, pest control, storage and processing, etc., which won it the recognition of Zimbabwean customers.

Countries across the world are very strict on imported seeds due to the risk of maleficent organisms.

Therefore, this batch of seeds has been under the stringent regulation of Chongqing Customs. Staff members here had visited the breeding base many times to inspect the quality of seeds, before fast tracking their export.

"Next we’ll further explore international customers," said Zhu, adding that some South American countries have cooperation intentions.

China has a citrus-planting history of more than 5,000 years and its planting area and output ranks first in the world. Chongqing, where the climate, light, and terrain are very suitable for planting citrus, has exported some of its produce to foreign countries already.