Pomegranate carries the ancient Western civilization, along the long Silk Road, accompanied by the sound of camel bells, through the "Long River Sunset Circle" border scenery, into the ancient Chinese civilization. Open the curtain of time layer after layer, stay in the Central Plains, enter the beautiful Jiangnan town, enter the depths of the reckless Yunling Mountains, and finally settle down in the vast red clay plateau known as the "Pearl of Southern Yunnan"...
The blood-colored fireworks that stretched along the way became a brilliant fire that illuminated the Silk Road and Chinese and Western civilizations. The spiritual connotation derived from this has long exceeded material wealth and is integrated with the wisdom and blood of human life.
In the Pomegranate Park, there is a pomegranate poetry section, which selects the pomegranate poems of famous Chinese dynasties. In addition to the poems of Famous Artists such as Li Bai, Li Shangyin, Dongpo, and Yang Wanli, there are 3 imperial poems among the 15 pomegranate poems: Xiao Xuan, Emperor Liangyuan of the Southern Dynasty, Wu Zetian (Wu Meiniang) and Kangxi Emperor.
The pomegranate recorded in the poems and songs has both historical value and aesthetic value, and careful taste can also read the poignant and moving love story contained in it.
Wu Meiniang's "Ruyi Niang" wrote: "Look at Zhu Chengbisi, haggard and fragmented as a memory." Among them, the last two sentences, "I don't believe it more often than I cry, open the box to check the pomegranate skirt", which has become a famous sentence throughout the ages. Meaning: If you don't believe that I've been crying lately because I miss you, you might as well open the box and look at the tear marks on my pomegranate skirt! The lovesickness that directly expresses the chest is touching, and the pomegranate skirt has become synonymous with women and love.
Building "Forest Fruit Village, Ecological Homeland"
Latitude 23°30'33"N, Longitude 103°19'27"E - Wuba (Mengzi) Digital Agriculture Demonstration Base in Caoba Town, Mengzi City. Founded in October 2018, the base is a key investment attraction project in Mengzi City and a leading enterprise in Yunnan Province.
It is 16 kilometers northwest of Mongolia to caoba town. The land is flat, the land is fertile, the resources are abundant, and it is suitable for growing a variety of crops; It is an excellent fruit production area and a large agricultural town in Mengzi City. With an average altitude of 1280 meters, it is known as a "natural greenhouse". Standing on the base, I can see that the slopes of the mountains near and far are all pomegranate trees.
The 58 (Mengzi) Digital Agriculture Demonstration Base follows the people-oriented and based on the characteristic agricultural industry of Mengzi. We are committed to the introduction and demonstration of new varieties of characteristic crops, cultivating and supporting leading enterprises, and promoting the integration of agricultural three industries.
"In accordance with the planning idea of 'leading by example, leading by example, leading by point, and advancing as a whole' and the overall requirements for cultivating new farmers, building new rural areas, and developing modern agriculture, based on agricultural technological innovation, supported by high technology, marked by facilities, factories, and parks, with integrated industrial operation as the means, and with the provision of safe and healthy agricultural products and ecological services as the main goals."
Shen Jun, deputy general manager of the Wu8 (Mengzi) Digital Agriculture Demonstration Base, introduced that at the beginning of the construction of the base, we conducted a detailed investigation of pomegranate planting nationwide. In summary, for the fruit and pomegranate industry, the north and south are bounded by the Huai River, and the basic taste is "north sweet and south sour". Therefore, we have built the industrial park into a modern agricultural demonstration area integrating pomegranate and blueberry high-quality production and preservation processing logistics.
"At the same time, strengthen the promotion and application of new varieties and new technologies, give play to the role of provincial leading enterprises, develop fine processing of fruits and vegetables, build a wholesale market for transactions, and supporting cold chain logistics systems, increase production capacity, meet local market demand, supply markets outside the province, expand foreign markets, promote the development of fruit and vegetable industry in the direction of scale, facilitization, standardization, high quality, and commercialization, and build the park into an important fruit and vegetable production, processing and export base in Honghe Prefecture." Achieve a virtuous circle of economic, social and ecological benefits. ”
Shen Jun introduced that the May 8 (Mengzi) digital agriculture demonstration base project is an agricultural industrialization project introduced by Mengzi City in 2018. Through the introduction of models and technological innovations in the layout of the whole industrial chain, the company finally realizes agricultural modernization and standardized production, achieves high-quality and high-yield, energy saving and high efficiency, ecological environmental protection, sustainable development of related industries and local economy, realizes the demonstration effect of "taking the point with the face", improves the employment rate of local residents, comprehensively promotes the rejuvenation of agriculture through science and technology, and accelerates the process of agricultural modernization production.
Guided by market demand, relying on high-tech and protecting the environment, the company uses the modern industrial planting development model, vigorously develops characteristic industries, accelerates the construction of Mengzi "Forest Fruit Village • Ecological Homeland", boosts industrial transformation and upgrading, and thus drives the sustainable development of agricultural modernization in Mengzi City.
"Now, the base adopts a Y-shaped planting of pomegranates; Except for picking, it is basically all automated planting and management. Shen Jun introduced that at the beginning of planting, we used two modes of mulch film and floor cloth, but after experimentation, mulch film was better to use. To increase moisture and inter-orchard moisture, we also plant grass to moisturize the orchard; Grass can also be crushed to increase soil organic matter.
"Using Y-shaped planting technology, the branches are fixed to the fences on both sides, which can enhance ventilation and light transmission and reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases; Increase the yield per unit area, increase the rate of fruit commodities, and facilitate mechanized management. ”
116 pomegranate transplants diaoyutai state guesthouse
The pomegranate industry is one of the main sources of economic income for Mengzi City's important characteristic fruit pillar industry and agriculture and rural areas, and successive leaders have attached great importance to it and put it on the government's key work agenda.
In 2021, Mengzi pomegranate planting area of 140,000 mu, accounting for 31.1% of the city's fruit industry planting area (450,000 mu), with an output of 360,300 tons, accounting for 63.2% of the city's total fruit output (570,000 tons); The output value is 1.202 billion yuan, accounting for 38% of the city's total fruit output value (3.16 billion yuan).
"Mengzi's pomegranate planting, mainly laid out in Xin'ansuo Street, Caoba Town, Wenlan Street, Wencui Street, Guanlan Street, Yujiaopu Street 2 towns and 4 street offices, Zhicun Town has a small amount of planting, to 1300 meters above sea level - 1450 meters dam area and mid-level mountainous area. Mengzi has become one of the main pomegranate producing areas in the country. ”
Zhang Yingmei of Mengzi Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs introduced that the development of Mengzi pomegranate has gone through several stages: the introduction period and the scale formation period (1987-2000), the rapid development period (2001-2015), the quality improvement and efficiency improvement period (2016-2018), and the transformation and development period (2019-present).
Nowadays, the integration of 140,000 acres of continuous pomegranate gardens and the city has formed a unique landscape of "orchards in the city and the city in the orchards" in the world, and has also become an important way for the masses to increase their income and become rich. More than 100,000 people have directly or indirectly benefited through land circulation, base work, packaging logistics and other means of pomegranate industry, achieving win-win economic and ecological benefits.
According to folklore, in the tenth year of Tang Tianbao (751 AD), a 100,000-strong army attacked the Nanzhao state, and pomegranates were brought into Yunnan by officers and soldiers from the Central Plains. During the Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Tiankai period of Dali (about 1210 AD), pomegranates were transmitted to Mengzi and planted in wealthy households for ornamentation. In the ninth year of Ming Zhengde (1514 AD), Zha Jun, the commander of the Xin'an Shou Imperial Palace, saw that the pomegranate flowers in Mengzi County were beautiful, so he asked Sun Zheng of Zhixian for more than a dozen plants to bring back for careful cultivation, and since then pomegranates have been widely planted in the area of Xin'anso and gradually become large-scale. From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to modern times, the cultivation of pomegranates in Mengzi is in a state of spontaneous planting, and farmers mostly plant a few trees in front of and behind the house to eat themselves, and the pomegranate planting area in the county is about 1,000 mu.
Old photos of pomegranate cultivation history
In 1987, the Mengzi County government loaned 3.6 million yuan to the World Bank to support the development of the pomegranate industry, and the pomegranate cultivation in the county rapidly developed to more than 10,000 mu. Its economic benefits are 10 times that of rice and 2 times that of vegetables, and the output value of mu is 3,000 to 4,000 yuan. By 1995, Mengzi pomegranate area was 34,000 mu, with an output of 31,900 tons and an output value of 47.53 million yuan. In July 1995, the Wulichong Reservoir of Mengzi County's key water conservancy project was successfully completed to store water, laying a solid hardware foundation for the development of mengzi pomegranate industry.
In 1996, Mengzi County held the first China Yunnan Mengzi Pomegranate Festival; The Standing Committee of the County People's Congress decided to name the pomegranate flower as the Mengzi County Flower; Mengzi was listed as the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" fruit (pomegranate) base county in Yunnan Province, planning to plant 50,000 mu of pomegranates, and the development of Mengzi pomegranates ushered in opportunities. By 2000, the pomegranate area was 64,800 mu, the output was 42,000 tons, and the output value was 62.58 million yuan. Mu output of 0.65 tons, mu output value of 966 yuan, pomegranate industry has gradually become a scale.
In 2002, Mengzi Pomegranate was listed by the Ministry of Agriculture as a famous base for hot farming in South Asia. In 2003, Mengzi was listed as the fourth batch of agricultural (pomegranate) standardization demonstration areas in China, and successfully applied for the protection of "Mengzi Sweet Pomegranate Origin Mark". Mengzi pomegranate industry has entered a period of rapid development. In 2004, Mengzi County was awarded the title of "Pomegranate Town of China" by the State Forestry Administration.
In order to accelerate the development of the pomegranate industry in Mengzi and achieve unified planning and layout, Mengzi City has introduced industrial development support policies, and in the planning area, farmers who plant pomegranates are given 40 yuan of seedling financial support for each mu planted, and the support period is until 2007. In 2005, 116 large pomegranate trees in Mengzi were successfully transplanted to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing for cultivation. On August 26, 2022, the Standing Committee of the Mengzi Municipal People's Congress decided to approve the pomegranate flower as the "city flower" of Mengzi City.
Construction of a variety resource garden for Chinese pomegranates
In 2006, Mengzi Pomegranate won the "First Prize of 2008 Beijing Olympic Promotion Fruit"; Mengzi Wanmu Pomegranate Garden was awarded the "China Top Ten Well-known Agricultural Tourism Demonstration Award"; In 2010, Mengzi Pomegranate obtained the certification of geographical indication products for agricultural products. In 2013, it was built from Pomegranate Manor, covering an area of 45.5 acres. In 2019, it was expanded to an area of 1,000 acres and changed to Mengzi Pomegranate Park. In 2015, Mengzi Pomegranate won the title of "2015 Top 50 Regional Public Brands of Fruit in China".
Sweet pomegranate
In 2016, Mengzi Pomegranate won the "2016 National Famous Fruit Regional Public Brand". In 2017, taking the development of modern agricultural industry and rural revitalization strategy with plateau characteristics in Yunnan Province as an opportunity, the pomegranate industry in Mengzi entered a period of quality improvement and efficiency improvement.
In 2018, the Mengzi Pomegranate Festival was included in the first "Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival" series of activities by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Mengzi City held the "First Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival and China Pomegranate Industry Development Seminar"; Mengzi City created a national civilized city LOGO creative design for "Fuwa" and "Xiwa" two pomegranate dolls. By 2018, the direct economic benefits of pomegranates have increased significantly.
Old photos of pomegranate cultivation history
In 2019, Mengzi City was awarded the honorary title of "Pomegranate City of China" by the Pomegranate Branch of the Chinese Horticultural Society; Mengzi Pomegranate was awarded the Top 10 Most Popular Regional Public Brands of Famous And Excellent Fruits in China's Fruit Industry in 2019.
In 2019, taking the green food brand building in Yunnan Province as an opportunity, the pomegranate industry in Mengzi has entered a period of transformation and development, accelerated the creation of a "one county and one industry" demonstration county with pomegranates as the mainstay, consolidated the scale and moderately expanded the planting area, and continued to promote quality improvement and efficiency improvement in accordance with the requirements of scale, organization, specialization, greening and marketization.
In 2021, the area of pomegranates will increase to 140,000 mu, with an output of 360,300 tons and an output value of 1.202 billion yuan. In the future, Mengzi Pomegranate faces the need to improve the value of goods and brand benefits, and accelerate the transformation and development of the integration of the three industries.
Pomegranate is a major fruit species in Mengzi Fruit Industry, is the key development project of the adjustment of the planting industry structure, the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Government attaches great importance to it, and has introduced a lot of support policies: build a new platform for product sales, build a new platform for financial support, build a new platform for technical support, build a new platform for green certification, build a new platform for industrial poverty alleviation, and build a "Mengzi City Digital Voucher Authorization Management Platform".
At the same time, Mengzi also created a resource garden for Chinese pomegranate varieties. The Pomegranate Variety Resource Garden covers an area of 45 acres, which is the southernmost resource garden with the most preserved pomegranate varieties in China, with 308 pomegranate varieties preserved, a total of 2549 plants.
Yunnan Province actively builds the strategic deployment of "three cards" of green energy, green food and healthy life destination, which has been well reflected in the pomegranate garden of 10,000 mu in Mengzi; In the construction of the pomegranate variety resource garden, the concept of biodiversity conservation is also integrated into it.
In May 2020, a total of 2549 pomegranates were planted in Mengzi Pomegranate Park, planted in five regions, and the pomegranate varieties planted in different regions were also different, including 38 varieties from the United States, Italy, Israel, Australia, Myanmar and other countries, and 270 varieties from various pomegranate producing areas in China, a total of 308 excellent varieties. Combined with the terrain and other natural configurations of trees and roads, a pomegranate variety resource garden is established to protect variety resources.
China Pomegranate Variety Resource Garden adopts water and fertilizer integration double-row drip irrigation pipe water fertilizer mode, ridge surface covered with black and white film form of planting, which is an advanced irrigation method, this mode has the characteristics of water saving, fertilizer saving, manpower, high yield, high quality, high yield, and currently has a demonstration and leading role in the pomegranate planting industry. (To be continued) (Text/Zhang Mi Zhao Mengting Photo/Propaganda Department of Mengzi Municipal Party Committee, Mengzi Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs)