Zaozhuang Yicheng: “Small Pomegranate” Made into a Big Article“

Yicheng is a famous “hometown of pomegranate in China”. In recent years, Yicheng District has carefully cultivated pomegranate characteristic industries, showcased regional characteristics, extended pomegranate culture, highlighted industrial effects, and achieved a trinity of economic, social, and ecological benefits in accordance with the development goals of “consolidating the industrial foundation, extending the industrial chain, and enriching industrial content”. The pomegranate industry has become a model for the deep integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in Yicheng District.

Although bonsai is small, it condenses the pomegranate culture of the entire city of Yicheng. The national situation is getting better and the level of the people is getting higher, and pomegranate bonsai is becoming more and more popular among the public. Zhang Zhongtao, a practitioner of pomegranate bonsai industry in Yicheng District, is an “old craftsman” among the practitioners of pomegranate bonsai industry in Yicheng. He told reporters that pomegranate has been produced in Yicheng since ancient times, and pomegranate bonsai production is also an old craft passed down from generation to generation. Relying on the traditional advantages of the local area, a pomegranate bonsai characteristic town has rapidly emerged in Yicheng. At present, the Pomegranate Bonsai Characteristic Town has cultivated more than 200 Pomegranate Bonsai enterprises with over 4000 employees. The annual sales of various types of Pomegranate Bonsai are 500000, with a revenue of 500 to 800 million yuan.

Based on the advantages of pomegranate resources, Yicheng District promotes the structural reform of agricultural supply side with the development of pomegranate industry, promotes the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, extends the construction of logistics marketing and service networks to the rear, and cultivates new industries and driving forces for rural revitalization.

Since 2021, Yicheng District has done a good job in seed expansion, project construction, technical guidance, and supporting services. Continuously expand the cultivation of high-quality pomegranate and promote variety updates. Build a Daliyu seedling breeding base, with an annual cutting breeding of about 150000 high-quality pomegranate varieties. Organize technology envoys to visit key enterprises, cooperatives, villages, and farmers multiple times, vigorously carry out demonstration and promotion of pomegranate varieties and cultivation techniques, hold 5 training courses, and distribute 500 seedlings of “Qiuyan” and other varieties, 13 tons of organic fertilizer, 14 black light lamps, and more than 6000 orange fruit fly sticky insect boards free of charge. The 7.7 million yuan national ecological protection support system special project “Zaozhuang Pomegranate National Forest Germplasm Resource Database Construction Project” and the “Provincial Modern Agricultural Industrial Park Construction Project” of the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs have all been completed. In 2021, Yicheng District was approved for a 10 million yuan government special bond project for the Pomegranate Rongchuang Industrial Park, making it the largest agricultural project in the city.

In order to extract the value of pomegranate, Yicheng District has extended to the front to drive farmers to build raw material bases, and extended to the rear to build logistics marketing and service networks. It encourages support for the research and development of high-end pomegranate drinks, drugs, cosmetics, health products, and other new products, forming a complete industrial chain. The pomegranate industry has become a supporting industry for local people to lift themselves out of poverty and become prosperous.