A store selling Xixiang agricultural specialties opens in Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong, on Dec 28. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

A store selling Xixiang agricultural specialties opened in Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong, on Dec 28. On sale are more than 200 products including black fungus, honey and mushrooms from over 30 enterprises in Xixiang county.

Under the jurisdiction of Hanzhong city in Shaanxi province, Xixiang county has fertile land and rich products. In April 2017, it paired up with Qidong for poverty alleviation.

In December, Qidong founded a store to boost the consumption of Xixiang agricultural specialties. It is also an exhibition and sales center for them.

The usable area of the store covers 150 square meters. All the exhibits are directly transported from the place of origin, many of which have obtained ISO9000, national geographical indication, green food and organic product certifications.

Integrating exhibition, sales, taste and business talk, the store aims to introduce Xixiang's original ecological high-quality agricultural products to Qidong locals, broaden their sales channels and help Xixiang keep poverty at bay.

So far, Qidong has allocated 157.2 million yuan ($24.07 million) as Jiangsu-Shaanxi poverty alleviation funds and implemented 84 poverty alleviation projects. Through those projects, 12,052 people in Xixiang have got rid of poverty and 70,420 people have obtained benefits. In February, Xixiang was officially declared free of poverty.