Pomelo festival commences in Huanjiang

The red pomelo competition attracts a large number of visitors. [Photo/gx.people.cn]

The grand opening ceremony of the first harvest festival, or the fourth Huanjiang Red Pomelo Festival kicked off in Huanjiang Maonan autonomous county, Hechi, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Oct 1.

The festival, running for 19 days from Sept 19 to Oct 7, aimed to deepen cooperation between China's e-commerce enterprises, and promote agricultural and rural development of the area to increase farmers' income. It is expected to be a massive hit to promote Huanjiang's fragrant products, as well as its brand building.

The Huanjiang red pomelo has plump and juicy pulps. [Photo/gx.people.cn]

A series of exciting events, including red pomelo exhibition and promotion, sculpture competition and full live broadcast of the festival, have drawn large crowds to experience the distinctive festival.

The online sale activity helped sell a total of 82,000 kilograms red pomelos, with sales exceeding 587,000 yuan ($85,097) during the two-hour live broadcast.

Renowned for its unique natural resources, the county is rich in natural products with great reputation, such as fragrant pig, cattle, duck, non-glutinous rice, dried mushroom, and the newly introduced fragrant red pomelo, which has become one of the local pillar industries and a major poverty alleviation industry in the county. The Huanjiang red pomelo, a new species with essential trace elements, was identified as China's geographical indication agro-product by the Ministry of Agriculture in August, 2016.

In order to accelerate the development of its red pomelo industry, Huanjiang has carried out supportive policies and set up a demonstration base, encouraging more and more farmers to plant red pomelos. The county's planting area has reached 62,000 mu (4,133 hectares) up to now, with an output of 8,000 metric tons in 2017 and 10,000 this year. The estimated output value is 50 million yuan ($7.28 million).

A traditional dance shows Maonan ethnic culture. [Photo/gx.people.cn]

The carnival night pushes the activity to a new high. [Photo/gx.people.cn]