Henghe town in Ningbo's Cixi city is renowned for selenium-rich waxberry production. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Henghe town in Ningbo's Cixi city recently made the list of national model towns for characteristic agricultural products.

Henghe is renowned for its selenium-rich waxberry production. The plantation in the town now stands at 38,000 mu (2,533.33 hectares), accounting for nearly half of the city's total.

In 2020, the brand value of the Cixi waxberry stood at nearly 1.4 billion yuan ($215.38 million).

Local farmers here are provided with professional vocational training. The town currently has over 300 people working in the waxberry plantation and a sales team comprising nearly 200 people.

A quality certification and traceability system for waxberry has been put into operation, ensuring that the fruit is free of pesticide residue.

Presently, 10 varieties of waxberry from Henghe have obtained the national green food certification.  It also has 18 pollution-free agricultural production bases and seven provincial forest food production bases.

In addition, the town has a strong capability in processing and selling the fruit. It is now home to a number of municipal leading agricultural enterprises and has set up several online broadcasting platforms to expand sales.

In 2020, Henghe received more than 201,000 online orders of waxberry worth nearly 80 million yuan, nearly 50 percent of the total in Cixi.