Located in northern China's Shanxi Province, Youyu County was once an isolated garrison along the Ancient Great Wall of China. However, decades of afforestation turned the once barren land green. One plant was instrumental in the miraculous turn-around – the sea buckthorn.

Now is a busy time of the year for many local farmers who are actively harvesting sea buckthorn berries which brings health and economic benefits.

Cao Man, Head of the Youyu Sea Buckthorn Research Institute, has been researching the sea buckthorn for thirty years.

"The sea buckthorn is quite hardy. It's resistant to temperatures as cold as minus-50 degrees Celsius. It's also resistant to high temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius. It's saline-alkaline resistant, and it can cope with rare rainfall. It's even able to improve the soil," Cao introduced.

Cao says the sea buckthorn is a plant like no other, "The sea buckthorn has excellent economic, ecological and social values. Especially its nutrition - no other fruits can compete. It also helps improve the environment in poor areas and brings more income to the locals."

Super rich in Vitamin C, the sea buckthorn is an even better source than kiwis, lemons or oranges. Experts say it also contains hundreds of other substances with health benefits.

Youyu is home to large numbers of the plant which are cultivated by local farmers. A factory was built here in 1984 to produce sea buckthorn drinks. Now the county has eleven such companies.

The sea buckthorn juice tastes thick and sweet first of all and also a little bit sour. It's a good appetizer before meals.

Youyu has 200 square-kilometers of sea buckthorn shrubs, including both wild and planted ones. They produce 10,000 tons of sea buckthorn berries every year. And the annual sales volume is more than 100 million yuan (14 million U.S. dollars). But now there's a feeling that the plant has the potential for so much more.

"I think making sea buckthorn drinks is not enough. We should make better use of it to make the most of its nutrition, like using it to make food that can help ease some chronic diseases. That means we will head for intensive processing of the plant in the future, making high value-added sea buckthorn products," said Cao.

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