The Development Of Pomegranate Industry In Huaiyuan County Of Anhui Province

Located on the middle reaches of the Huai River, and reputed as Pearl on the Huai River, city of pomegranate and home of flower-drum lanterns, Huaiyuan county is the major area of agricultural optimization and development in Anhui Province. It is the focus of comprehensive exploitation of agriculture to strongly promote the construction of pilot area for modern agricultural comprehensive exploitation in Anhui during the five-year plan period. Huaiyuan county has a long history in the planting of pomegranate which enjoys great popularity and is a famous landmark product there. As a result, Huaiyuan ranks top in five production areas of rare pomegranate in China. In recent years, Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry, which was listed on the agenda of initiative 861 in Anhui, has experienced a rapid growth. A fairly complete service system of pomegranate planting technology was initially formed. It consists of about one hundred service organizations of various sectors and converges into a industry complex which specializes in the storage, transport, processing and selling of pomegranate and enjoys a annual overall processing capacity of over eight hundred tons. Among them, three pomegranate wine production enterprises, namely Chengguo, Yatai and Ruquan, had built bases for deep pomegranate production. They also built specialized wholesale market for pomegranate and a group of large-scale professional cooperative agencies for pomegranate and product selling enterprises, accommodating several hundred brokers all year round. However, there are also some outstanding problems facing the development of pomegranate industry in Huaiyuan, such as low production, mixed varieties, lack of the protection of brand development, inadequate capacity in the deep processing of pomegranate products and insufficient investment in pomegranate industry, hampering the development of Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry.This thesis starts with the history of pomegranate planting, distribution of production areas and the current situation of the industry. It summarizes the distribution of pomegranate's planting in Huaiyuan, the application values and brand advantages of pomegranate industry, and the selling system of Huaiyuan's pomegranate product market, production and processing industries and the current situation of culture and tourism industry. It offers a in-depth analysis to five advantages influencing the development of Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry, namely brand, quality, territory, policy and culture, and some disadvantages like the lack of scale effects, irrational industry structure, unfavorable selling and late time to market. Prominent issues affecting and limiting Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry are also pointed out:insufficient protection of pomegranate brand and incomplete social service system; lagged technology in planting, nurturing and marketing and poor management ability; backwardness in the management of storage, processing and marketing; inadequate governmental emphasis and lack of a unified technology standard and standard for product classification; the dramatic decrease of planting area of pomegranate in Huaiyuan's original production place due to the division adjustment; the yet-to-be formed concept of cultural tourism linked to Huaiyuan's pomegranate. To handle the major problems limiting the development of Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry, the thesis presents solutions and suggestions on how to step up the process to promote the transformation and upgrading of Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry. To achieve the sustainable growth of Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry, we should further clear our mind, strengthen leadership and organization and specify the objectives of pomegranate industry's transformation. Efforts should also be made to make a reasonable plan to adjust the variety of pomegranate, planting and layout of processing and storage. We should strengthen the development of three system, namely scientific and technological bracing, policy support and investment guide. Standardized system should be built to optimize the brand value chains of Huaiyuan's origin for pomegranate production. Efforts should be paid to build a brand and quality standard for Huaiyuan's pomegranate origin, accredit and introduce it and develop leading enterprises, build a information sharing platform, establish a system of "Huaiyuan pomegranate identity" and extend the industry chains of pomegranate. We should continue to explore the cultural essence of Huaiyuan's pomegranate, forge a upgraded Huaiyuan pomegranate industry and achieve the transformation and upgrading of Huaiyuan's pomegranate industry.