(Yicai Global) Aug. 21 -- BEST Inc., a leading supply chain and logistics services provider in China, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the local government of Lijiang's Yongsheng Town on Sunday to promote the sales of the town's soft-seed pomegranate.

At the signing ceremony held in Lijiang, the company announced that it will spend up to one million yuan improving local logistics infrastructures, providing fresh-fruit processing equipment and offering customized logistics solutions to the farmers in the remote agricultural region of Yongsheng.

A rising production area for the soft-seed pomegranate, Yongsheng is located in the northwest Yunnan Province at an elevation between 1,300 meters and 1,700 meters. With abundant light and rare precipitation, Yongsheng has a unique climate that gives the pomegranate produce a higher sugar content and larger fruit bodies.

Despite the superior product quality, inaccessibility of the region has increased logistics and packaging costs of the Yongsheng pomegranate, dampening consumers' interests and farmers' passion for production.

Ben Huang, Deputy Director of Marketing at BEST Inc., said the company will provide local farmers with customized logistics solutions that cover packaging, warehousing, transportation and distribution, as well as favorable shipping prices to facilitate the sales.

"We also strive to improve the sustainability and profitability of the fresh produce by investing in local infrastructures and facilities in rural Yunnan," said Huang.

Together with the local pomegranate farmer cooperative, BEST is building the largest professional pomegranate service center in west Yunnan, where up to 500 tons of fresh fruits can be stored after a series of processing such as washing, selecting, pre-cooling and packaging.

Meanwhile, BEST is also setting up ten Linliyizhan village service stations in Yongsheng where farmers can ship individual boxed pomegranates directly.

BEST Inc. has been playing an active role in supporting China's farmers by extending its logistics technology, transportation, warehousing and last-mile delivery services to rural areas. Since the initiative in 2018, the company has helped farmers from more than 10 regions across the nation sell over 2.4 million kilograms of agricultural produce. It is estimated that in the coming harvest season, BEST will help farmers in Yongsheng Town ship up to 400,000 boxes of soft-seed pomegranates.