The peak harvest season for marigolds came in Shache county, in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in September.

As one of the 10 impoverished counties in Xinjiang, in recent years Shache has made adjustments in the agricultural production. Introduced by the county, Chenguang Bio Technologies Group Shache Co., Ltd., a company principally engaged in the natural plant extracts industry, has encouraged villagers to plant marigolds to increase their income.

Providing over 350 job opportunities each year, the company has lifted more than 200,000 people from 70,000 poor households in the county out of poverty. The marigold business has become an important business involved in poverty alleviation in the county, helping farmers to increase income by more than 700 million yuan (roughly $102.6 million), while gaining export revenues of $60 million.