Zhejiang university drives walnut industry for rural prosperity
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For over 40 years, researchers at Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University in China have worked to improve the mountain walnut industry, benefiting communities in Zhejiang, Anhui, and other provinces.
Initially, low-quality seeds and outdated farming methods hindered growth and income for farmers in Lin’an, known as “China’s Mountain Walnut Capital.” Professor Huang Jianqin began researching solutions over three decades ago, focusing on improving cultivation techniques and addressing issues like low grafting success rates and pest infestations.
The university’s teams developed key technologies like dwarfing cultivation and asexual grafting, increasing grafting success from 28.4% to 92.7% and shortening the time to harvest from eight years to four. This laid the groundwork for expanding walnut production. Later, Professor Wang Zhengjia’s team developed nine nationally recognized walnut varieties, ending a shortage of quality seeds and increasing per-acre yields from 35 kilograms to 164 kilograms.
More recently, Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University established a “walnut industry brain”, a digital platform, to address challenges in managing the now-large 570,000-acre walnut forests. This platform uses data from sensors and AI to optimize planting, monitor forest health, control quality, and improve overall efficiency. As a result, the Lin’an walnut industry’s comprehensive index increased by 15.03% from 2017 to 2025, with the product's market premium rising by 5%.
The university’s efforts have also extended to helping over 38,414 impoverished households in areas like Guizhou and Anhui, increasing their economic benefits by 252 million yuan.
