Nanjing Agricultural University in East China’s Jiangsu province is helping farmers in remote areas grow chrysanthemums to shake off poverty.

Chen Fadi, vice president of the university, said that the university started to grow the flowers in the Hushu community of Nanjing’s Jiangning district in 2013.
Its Hushu base, as the world’s largest gene bank of chrysanthemums, keeps more than 3,000 varieties of the flower.

“The base received more than 550,000 visitors last fall and contributed more than 52 million yuan ($7.7 million) to the local economy,” Chen said during the province’s Political Consultative Conference, which started on Sunday and ends Wednesday.

The university has introduced the flower to many poverty-stricken areas in the country, such as some counties in Southwest China’s Guizhou and Northwest China’s Qinghai provinces, he said.

“People in Guizhou’s Majiang county now grow more than 133 hectares of chrysanthemums. It’s highly welcomed by the local farmers and contributed 120 million yuan to the local economy.”