Pomegranate harvest in Mengzi, Yunnan: fruit growers' lives are getting better and better

"One car for my wife to drive to work, one car for me to drive myself." Yang Hongjun said with a smile, never expecting that with just 10 mu of pomegranate orchard, he could buy two cars in just 3 years.

Yang Hongjun, 39, is a villager of Yaofang Village, Daxinzhai Village Committee, Xin'ansuo Town, Mengzi City, Yunnan Province. In 1987, Mengzi City introduced a World Bank loan, opening the path of local pomegranate industrialization.

With the government's encouragement and help, Yang Hongjun's father made a bold decision: to convert all 10 mu of the family's cornfield to pomegranates. The fiery red pomegranates changed the life of Yang Hongjun's family. He said: "In the past, growing corn depended on the weather, and the gross income from 1 mu of land was only 1,000 yuan, and it was a problem for a family of 5 to even fill their stomachs. After growing pomegranates, life has become prosperous, and 1 mu of land can earn around 4,000 yuan, so having enough to eat is no problem."

Every year September is the pomegranate picking season. For Yang Hongjun, the joy of harvest was immediately replaced by the hardship of selling pomegranates. At that time, after the pomegranates were picked, neighbors and fellow villagers had to make arrangements together, and several families would rent a truck to transport the pomegranates to surrounding prefectures and cities to sell. In order to get a good price for the pomegranates, Yang Hongjun traveled as far as Lijiang, more than 700 km away from Mengzi.

In 2009, the local government attracted investment and built 9 trading market buildings with more than 50,000 sq m in Xin'ansuo Town, and more and more pomegranate companies settled in Mengzi. Another company also set up a pomegranate purchasing station in Daxinzhai Village. "The pomegranate orchard is only half an hour's drive from the purchasing station, so it is very convenient to sell." Yang Hongjun said.

Although the pomegranates were sold, Yang Hongjun found that the purchasing station had very high requirements for pomegranate quality. "At first, most of the pomegranates I sent over were not up to standard and could not fetch a good price." Gradually, Yang Hongjun discovered the trick. "Pomegranates below 200 grams are basically not accepted. Pomegranates above 200 grams must be graded, with different prices for different grades. Pomegranates from 350 grams to 500 grams sell for the highest price."

Having dealt with pomegranates for more than 20 years, Yang Hongjun finally understood that extensive management no longer worked, and that high-quality pomegranates had to be grown. So Yang Hongjun began to relearn how to prune pomegranate trees and how to bag the fruit... After a year of learning, Yang Hongjun's 10 mu pomegranate orchard took on a completely new look. In the 2010 "pomegranate season," about 30 tons of pomegranates were picked, nearly 30% higher than the original yield. "Because the pomegranates met the company's standards, 1 mu could earn 15,000 yuan." Yang Hongjun was overjoyed.

In 2013, Yang Hongjun bought his first car. "In recent years, most families in our village have bought cars." By the end of 2015, as the pomegranate orchard grew stronger and stronger, he bought a second SUV to travel to markets. "Next I plan to build a cold storage facility to store pomegranates and reasonably arrange shipping times according to each year's market conditions." Yang Hongjun is full of expectations for the future.

After nearly 30 years of cultivation and development, Mengzi's pomegranate industry has begun to take shape. In 1987, the local pomegranate planting area was only 2,480 mu, and by the end of 2015 it had reached 125,000 mu, with an output of 276,500 tons and an output value of 885 million yuan. "This year, the city's pomegranate sales volume is expected to exceed 300,000 tons, and about 8,000 fruit-growing households will benefit from it." said Zhang Ruihua, director of the Mengzi Industrial Park Management Committee.