Farmers in Huize County, Qujing City, southwest China's Yunnan Province are preparing for a bumper crop of pomegranates this season.

The bountiful harvest is the result of a lot of work, determination and efforts from both local farmers and the authorities to get rid of poverty in the region.

Located in a mountainous area, the land in the county was once barren and poor, forcing many villagers to look for work in the bigger cities instead of being local farmers despite the area's 300 years of pomegranate growing history.

However, starting in 2015 as part of an arrangement in China's poverty elimination movement, the Chinese Academy of Engineering has been sending scientists to the county to find out which type of pomegranate is most suitable for the region.

After repeating tests and comparisons, they had determined that the farmers should cultivate soft seed pomegranate, which is loved by consumers for their size, colorful and soft seeds, and sweet juicy flavors.

Throughout the years and various promotions, the region has gained significant market recognition for the quality of their pomegranate.

In order to ensure the brand recognition and quality, the local government has adopted measures such as unified branding, unified standards, and unified packaging through government guidance and supervision.

Yang Yong, the secretary-general of the county's soft seed pomegranate production and marketing association, explained the brand's anti-counterfeiting measure to a farmer: "The scanning code is to prevent fruits grown in other areas from simulating our brand. The county's fruit station specially offered us the code. Every pomegranate must receive a code for anti-fake purpose when we pack them."

In addition, to increase their brand visibility and promotion, the local authorities have set up an association to expand the farmers' sales through various channels.

"We introduced online and offline promotional activities to sell the farmers' products through various channels, including some companies' internal procurement. As long as the farmers' pomegranate quality meets commodity standards, we introduce marketing companies to guarantee that their fruits will be sold," said Yang.

At present, the agricultural department of Huize County has organized 230 million yuan (about 34 million U.S. dollars) for the construction of various projects including an irrigation management system and other supporting facilities. The production of pomegranates is expected to reach 46,000 tons this year, with an output value of 600 million yuan (about 88 million U.S. dollars). According to the plan, in two years, the local pomegranate planting area will be expanded to 4,667 hectares, and the output value will climb to over 1.6 billion yuan (about 236 million U.S. dollars).