Villagers arrange freshly-picked strawberries in Tai'an, northeast China's Liaoning Province, March 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Surging demand for black fungus from northeast China's Jilin Province, increasing popularity of strawberries from northeast China's Liaoning Province, booming sales of freshwater crabs from east China's Jiangsu Province...Since the beginning of this year, the consumption of agricultural products has witnessed continuous growth. Not only a new consumption phenomenon, this trend also emerges as a new engine for driving rural industry development and boosting rural residents' income.
China's "No. 1 central document" for 2024 has charted a roadmap for promoting rural industrial development. The document encourages strengthened efforts to promote integrated development across rural areas' primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. Moreover, the document underlines the importance of optimizing and upgrading agricultural product processing industries, enhancing high-quality development of rural circulation, and prioritizing measures to boost the income of rural residents.
In implementation, this will advance agricultural product processing, brand building, logistics and circulation capability development in rural areas while boost rapid development of rural e-commerce and thereby push forward industry development and upgrading, experts say.
Rising local specialty consumption
With winter tourism thriving in northeast China, black fungus has emerged as one of the most sought-after local specialties among tourists.
Wangqing County in northeast China's Jilin Province boasts exceptional water quality and a significant variation in temperature between day and night, which is conducive to the growth of black fungus. In recent years, the county has established a black fungus economic belt through constant quality improvement, standardization, and e-commerce development.
In the production facility of Taoyuan Little Black Fungus Industrial Co., Ltd. in Wangqing County, automated machinery is handling most of the production process such as bagging, sterilization and cooling, producing neatly packed fungus efficiently. It is noted that the company produced 28 million packed bags of fungus in 2023, achieving an operating income of 116.4 million yuan with the processed black fungus supplied to major supermarkets and catering establishments.
The company is now working on building multiple facilities such as a tourist reception center, a fungus-themed museum and venues for visitors to experience hands-on fungus picking, according to executive vice general manager Sun Sen, adding that new products such as ready-to-eat fungus soup will be launched this year.
Wangqing black fungus is among a growing number of local specialties that have not only enriched consumer choices but also increased income for rural residents.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that China hosted more than 90,000 agricultural product processing enterprises above designated size in 2023 and 50 national modern agricultural industrial parks, 40 specialized competitive industrial clusters, as well as 200 agriculture competitive towns have been newly developed in the country.
In the meantime, the development of rural e-commerce has dramatically boosted agricultural product sales, facilitating a shift in rural areas from merely selling resources to selling own-brand products.
"The Spring Festival saw repeat customers a lot, and thanks to e-commerce, a remote village like ours does not need to worry about sales any more", according to Yang Guang, head of the village committee of Manhe Village, Dongguang Town, Wangqing County.
Last year, city government of Hulin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, collaborated with Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and e-commerce platform Tmall on a rice cultivation project spanning 100,000 mu (666,6.67 hectares). The trio intends to cultivate premium rice varieties and promote the planting initiative collectively.
The collaboration aims to launch an integrated development model merging joint planting, brand incubation, and sales assurance to seamlessly connect production, processing, and marketing. By utilizing Tmall’s platform resources and the advantages of renowned brands such as the dairy brand Bright Dairy as well as the grain and oil brands Golden Carp and Fortune, the collaboration has overcome hurdles in sales channels, thereby enhancing rural residents' income and boosting their enthusiasm for planting.
Data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that in 2023 the annual online retail sales of rural and agricultural products reached 2.49 trillion yuan and 0.59 trillion yuan, respectively. Both categories witnessed growth rates that outpaced the overall online retail market. Such industrial development and relevant employment opportunities are key drivers behind the sustained growth in rural residents' income. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the per capita disposable income of rural residents reached 21,691 yuan in 2023, up 7.6 percent year-on-year in real terms after adjusting for inflation. This growth has led to a narrowing of the income gap between urban and rural residents, with the ratio dropping to 2.39:1.
Pan Yajie (1st L) promotes grapes at a grape garden in Zipeng Township, Feixi County of east China's Anhui Province, Aug. 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
Brand building and industry development
Industry experts note that while various regions have good foundation for developing rural industries, significant challenges remain, such as weak entities, short industrial chains, and a high degree of product homogenization. In response to these challenges, this year's "No. 1 central document" calls for efforts to vigorously develop distinctive industries based on local advantages and support creating rural characteristic brands. The document also emphasizes the need to implement high-quality development projects for rural e-commerce, including promoting the construction of county-level e-commerce live streaming bases and expanding online sales networks for rural specialty products.
Zhu Weidong, deputy director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission and deputy director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, highlighted China's significant regional diversity and abundance of local products as fertile ground for developing local specialties. The emphasis is on spotlighting local advantages and crafting brands with rural distinctness through modern management, standards and methods, so as to accelerate the transformation of unique local resources into product and industrial advantages.
Zhu also pointed out that inadequate delivery logistics capabilities in some rural areas hamper the sales of quality products, which has become a bottleneck for industrial development in these regions. China's "No. 1 central document" for 2024 outlines significant strategies, including improving the delivery logistics systems at county, township, and village levels, refining the cold-chain logistics system for agricultural products, and implementing high-quality development projects for rural e-commerce, according to Zhu, noting that rural e-commerce has emerged as an important engine for fostering rural industrial growth. Specialties hidden in remote mountainous areas can now reach urban homes via e-commerce platforms, and efforts to support such development should be accelerated, Zhu added.
Yuan Ruiling, deputy director of the market and trade research division of the rural economy research center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, advocates for a well-planned and level-based layout of cold-chain logistics infrastructure for agricultural products. This needs concentrated efforts in improving cold-chain storage, transportation, and delivery networks in the countryside. Yuan further suggests deepening the comprehensive demonstrative work of e-commerce penetration in the countryside, such as establishing county-level e-commerce live streaming bases and village-level live streaming schools. This can be achieved by utilizing the venues, facilities and other resources of existing county-level e-commerce public service centers. Additionally, Yuan suggests exploring rural areas' local specialty resources and cultivating a number of small yet competitive e-commerce brands with distinctive rural features, thereby facilitating the upgrading of agricultural industry. (Edited by Niu Huizhe with Xinhua Silk Road, niuhuizhe@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
