Premier Li Keqiang goes to a villager's house during a visit to Ganzhou city in East China's Jiangxi province, Aug 22, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ganzhou produces 1.28 million metric tons of navel oranges each year, China’s largest yield of the crop and accounting for 13.4 percent of the global production. Local official Chen Baofu said the production base was opened in 1994 and now covers over 1,000 hectares that have helped lift about 3,300 locals from poverty.

Li was pleased to hear that each hectare of these oranges can produce 120,000 yuan in income ($18,000) per year. Farmer Deng Zhuping earns more than 120,000 yuan net income annually with oranges from 1.2 hectares of rented land.

"The price of navel oranges has increased by more than 10 percent over the past few years," Deng said.

Some farmers said they have started to sell the fruit online, and the premier said more investments will be made to install faster internet connections in villages to support the farmers’ commerce.