Small Garlic Becomes a Rich Industry (People's Eye - Doing a Good Job in "Local Specialty" Article 2) Processing | Garlic | Article

Figure 1: A farmer in Jinxiang County, Jining City, Shandong Province is operating a garlic seeder to plant garlic.

Photo by Wang Wei

Figure 2: Before mechanized planting, garlic farmers in Jinxiang County artificially planted garlic.

Photo by Fang Jianbing

Figure 3: Ma Longchuan, Deputy Director of the Garlic Science and Technology Research Center in Jinxiang County, and garlic farmers inspect the growth of garlic.

Provided by the Propaganda Department of Jinxiang County Committee

Introduction

"No garlic, no feast!" With all the food and drinks served, Han Yunqi grabbed a handful of raw garlic, peeled it neatly one by one, and placed it in front of him. Take a sip, eat some hot dishes, bite into garlic cloves, and say, "Three meals a day, you'll have garlic in every meal."

Cuikou Village, Yushan Street, Jinxiang County, Jining City, Shandong Province, is prosperous and prosperous due to garlic. Last year, the per capita income of the villagers reached 46000 yuan. Han Yunqi has a particular preference for garlic, not only because one area nurtures its people, but also because small garlic has broadened the path for villagers to become rich: in the past, Cuikou Village had weak industries and a weak foundation. Later, it was Han Yunqi, who had served as the village party branch secretary for more than 30 years, who led the group to grow and sell garlic, which helped them escape poverty and become rich.

In recent years, Jinxiang County has continued to promote the experience of garlic cultivation in Cuikou Village, laying a solid foundation for wealth creation by implementing large-scale cultivation, focusing on improving the quality of garlic, building a garlic trading market, and creating a full industry chain development pattern that integrates scientific research and development, preservation and storage, deep processing, and trade circulation. Last year, the online and offline market transaction volume of garlic in the entire county exceeded 16 billion yuan, driving an average income increase of about 3000 yuan for garlic farmers. In the Notice on Promoting Typical Cases of Agricultural Brand Innovation and Development in 2022 issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, "Jinxiang Garlic" is listed.

Why has garlic become a major industry for wealth creation? Recently, reporters visited Jinxiang County to conduct research and interviews.

New method of garlic cultivation

Planting is moving towards scale, mechanization, and intelligence

Summer is the busy season for garlic harvesting and trading. When the sun was slightly cooler in the west, Zhao Fangbin, a villager of Cuikou Village, offered some cold dishes and a bottle of Baijiu, left his house and walked straight to Han Yunqi's house. Over the years, he has always liked to talk to Han Yunqi about something and nothing.

"This year's harvest is good, and the price of new garlic is also good," said Zhao Fangbin.

"Yeah, last year each person in our village received a dividend of 30000 yuan, and this year it won't be less." Han Yunqi said, "Fang Bin, your family of 7 has an annual income of over 200000 yuan just from this one. You're living a beautiful life!"

"That's true. Driving a small car and living in a big house all rely on garlic heads," Zhao Fangbin threw a clove of garlic into his mouth, chewing and laughing. "Of course, it's thanks to your old secretary."

At the end of 1978, Han Yunqi was elected as the Secretary of the Cuikou Village Party Branch. At that time, some villagers were planting garlic sporadically on their own plots, which caught his attention: there was a lot of sandy loam in the village, suitable for growing garlic, and calculated that one acre of land could produce 3000 kilograms. So, at a village meeting, he encouraged the villagers to grow a variety of garlic.

Unexpectedly, many villagers lack confidence after hearing this: "With our land conditions, the harvest has always been very low. Can we just plant garlic?"

Han Yunqi turned to guide village party members to take the lead, and Zhao Fangbin was one of them. He tried to plant garlic on his own 6 acres of land, and the yield per acre that year reached 3000 kilograms, earning 6000 yuan.

Seeing good results, many villagers were moved. Han Yunqi seized the opportunity to promote garlic cultivation in the entire village, taking the lead of party members and implementing a policy of dividing households into smaller ones.

At the beginning of this century, Cuikou Village established Dongyun Group in Jinxiang County, Shandong Province, building cold storage and expanding scale, transforming scattered planting from individual households to intensive planting; Establish a "enterprise+village collective+farmer" interest linkage mechanism, where village collective and villagers respectively invest in collective land and contracted land, with everyone holding shares. The group company allocates no less than 30% of its profits annually for dividends.

Last year, the collective economic income of Cuikou Village exceeded 10 million yuan, and the per capita income of villagers reached 46000 yuan. The construction of new houses, schools, and environmental improvement in the village have changed the appearance of the village. Zhao Fangbin sighed, "With a little garlic, life changes greatly."

The news of growing garlic and becoming rich in Cuikou Village spread, and surrounding villages followed suit. Jinxiang County has taken the opportunity to promote large-scale planting, and the area of garlic cultivation has rapidly expanded. As of now, 700000 acres of garlic have been planted throughout the county, driving the cultivation of over 2 million acres of garlic in surrounding areas.

Expanding scale, driven by demonstration, and also relying on mechanical innovation. "Garlic money is difficult to get, either kneeling or crawling," Zhao Fangbin said. "In the past, growing garlic was a manual labor."

Why do you say that? Zhao Fangbin introduced with a picture: "When growing garlic, we often have to have our cat's waist and back arched, use an iron rake to dig the garlic ditch, plant garlic cloves into the ditch one by one, and then bury them in soil. We need to plant more than 20000 garlic cloves per acre of land, squatting for a long time, and our legs can't bear it. We either tie the pony to our body, or keep changing positions, kneeling and crawling forward. After a day, our leg joints hurt."

How to make it easy for farmers to grow garlic? In recent years, Jinxiang County has collaborated with research institutes and universities such as the Nanjing Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Shandong Agricultural University to develop mechanical equipment suitable for garlic cultivation, providing a fully mechanized solution for garlic planting and harvesting. After continuous experimentation, the developed mechanical equipment meets the promotion requirements.

In October 2019, Jinxiang County launched a free garlic machinery planting plan, with one garlic planting machine entering the village for villagers to try for free. Looking at this "big guy", some villagers hesitated: although the machinery is free of charge, if the seeds are planted crooked, wouldn't the seeds be wasted?

"The garlic sowing period is over half a month, and in order to dispel public concerns, Party members took the lead in using it in the early stage. Later, everyone changed their attitude and competed to use it when they saw the good condition of the machine sown seedlings. Zhao Fangbin said," A machine can sow more than 50 acres of land every day, which not only greatly improves efficiency and reduces labor costs, but also makes planting garlic easier. "

Zhao Shifu, Deputy County Mayor of Jinxiang County, introduced that the comprehensive mechanization rate of garlic cultivation and harvesting in the main garlic production area of Jinxiang County has reached 61.35%.

Not only mechanization, but also the level of intelligence is improving. At the end of 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Finance announced the first batch of national modern agricultural industrial parks, among which Jinxiang County Modern Agricultural Industrial Park in Shandong Province was included. Entering the industrial park, advanced equipment such as garlic mulching machines, harvesters, plant protection drones, and integrated water and fertilizer have been widely promoted in the park. In the fields, photovoltaic panels, cameras, sensors, and black wind indicators can be seen from time to time, constantly rotating.

"By connecting the device to the phone, you can check indicators such as wind direction, temperature, and soil moisture by opening the phone. Even if there are abnormalities in the field, you can quickly grasp them." Dai Yantao, director of the National Modern Agriculture Industry Park Construction Service Center in Jinxiang County, introduced that more than 10 garlic production bases in the county have used such smart devices.

New improvement in quality

Government, enterprise, and research work together to connect technology to the "last mile" of the land

Standing in Cuikou Village, overlooking the distance, the fields are connected and the paths crisscross. More than two months ago, forklifts rumbled here, and bags of garlic were transported from the fields to the sun drying field, piled up in rows.

How is the quality of garlic? With a "click" sound, Han Yunqi cut off the garlic beard, peeled off the garlic skin, and each garlic grain rolled into his palm: the garlic cloves were full, and the garlic head was round. "There wasn't such good garlic in the past," Han Yunqi recalled. Villagers planted garlic on a piece of land all year round, fertilized and treated it with medicine, and the land grew thinner and thinner; "The variety of garlic is deteriorating, and the quality cannot be improved. 'Customers are decreasing, and garlic farmers are anxious.'"

How to improve the quality? As early as 2014, Jinxiang County established the Garlic Research Institute to explore the breeding of high-quality varieties and soil improvement, but the results were not ideal. Ma Longchuan, Deputy Director of the Garlic Science and Technology Research Center in Jinxiang County and Senior Engineer of the County Science and Technology Bureau, explained, "Like breeding, the technology is more complex, and our scientific research capabilities are limited."

Garlic quality improvement, involving multiple parties. In March 2017, relying on Jinxiang Dongyun Group, Shandong Dongyun Garlic Engineering Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. was established in Cuikou Village, and cooperated with Nanjing Soil Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Jinxiang Garlic Science and Technology Research Center and other units to build a garlic industry innovation platform and carry out government enterprise research cooperation.

Entering Dongyun Garlic Engineering Technology Research Center Co., Ltd., rows of bamboo baskets are displayed in the exhibition hall on the first floor. The garlic products in the baskets are different, some are round like balls, some are flat with pointed edges, and the garlic skin is purple and white.

"At present, we have collected over 280 garlic varieties," said Liu Shiqi, the technical director of Dongyun Garlic Engineering Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. Collecting varieties is not easy, just like "searching for gold in the fields.". As soon as the sun peeked out, everyone set off and didn't return until sunset. When you see garlic sprouts with excellent appearance, tie a red rope and record information such as leaf width, thickness, and length. Then, go door-to-door to inquire who owns them and whether they are willing to sell them.

"After a round of trial planting and comparative experiments, researchers have selected some excellent 'seed players' to promote to garlic farmers." Liu Shiqi said, "With the cooperation of government, enterprise, and research, our breeding technology has been improved, and variety selection has been more effective. Currently, the research center has promoted four new varieties throughout the county."

Cuikou Village explores the way, and in recent years, multiple government enterprise research cooperation projects have landed in Jinxiang County.

"The county has established town level agricultural service centers in various towns and streets, equipped with professional agricultural machinery and technicians, to promote the breeding of good varieties and successful soil improvement and cultivation management technologies to local garlic farmers, and connect technology to the" last mile "of the land. Meng Xinxia, the director of the Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Jinxiang County, introduced that relying on garlic enterprises, cooperatives and other main forces, the county has established 5 government enterprise research cooperation projects dedicated to garlic variety breeding, soil improvement, etc., and built 18 town level agricultural service centers, achieving full coverage of all townships.".

New sales expansion

Building markets offline and building platforms online

In early July, in the south of Cuikou Village, there were long queues of trucks on both sides of the provincial road. There are bags of fresh garlic in the cargo compartment, waiting for someone to purchase. Not far away is the professional wholesale market for garlic in Jinxiang County, which is also the earliest developed garlic trading market in the county. As we walked in, the sound of garlic farmers shouting kept coming and going. Garlic merchants wear straw hats and gather in groups of three or five to negotiate prices.

"How do you sell this garlic?"

"This number." The garlic farmer reached out and gestured a few times, "This garlic is very good. How about some?"

.

Han Yunqi said, "Mid to late June is the garlic harvest season. Afterwards, merchants from all over the country come to Jinxiang to purchase fresh garlic."

In earlier years, people in Jinxiang sold garlic to the point of "looking at people's faces". "It is common to weave garlic into skewers during a harvest and drive dozens of kilometers to sell elsewhere, but customers often lower prices," said Zhao Fangbin.

"Building the market in the village and winning the initiative in pricing." Han Yunqi recalled that in the 1980s, the village won the support of the county and township, and built the first professional garlic wholesale market in the county. The village party members and village representatives were divided into small groups to sell throughout the country, attracting customers with low prices and benefits, and operating with integrity to retain customers.

Later, surrounding villages also learned from Cuikou Village, built markets, ran sales channels, and attracted merchants. In recent years, Jinxiang County has built 16 garlic wholesale markets and introduced multiple preferential policies such as subsidies for transportation costs and full process assistance services for merchants who come to Jinxiang. "We have shifted from focusing on garlic production to placing equal emphasis on production, trading, and circulation, continuously expanding the influence of garlic in Jinxiang, promoting the development of the garlic market, and driving the income of garlic farmers." Meng Xinxia said that last year, the total transaction volume of the garlic wholesale market in the county reached 15 billion yuan.

The offline market is crowded with people. Online small shop, business is booming. In the factory of Jinxiang County Huaneng Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. located in Jishu Town, fans are whirring and workers are busy, packing garlic into bags and sending it to various parts of the country.

"Last year, we sold 20000 tons of garlic online," said Liu Guosai, the company's general manager, with a smile. "Business has been better this year, and when the orders were highest, we could send 50000 to 60000 pieces of garlic by express delivery in a day."

In July 2013, Liu Guosai graduated from university and returned to his hometown to start a garlic business. In recent years, he has focused on e-commerce sales. "The start was not very smooth. At that time, I stared at the screen every day and the sales volume was always hovering around a dozen or twenty orders. Later, I attended a training class organized by the county, listened to a few classes, and finally got an idea." Liu Guosai said, following the methods taught during the training, he focused on direct sales from the place of origin, highlighting low profits and high sales, and sales quickly increased.

In recent years, Jinxiang County has allocated 100000 yuan of special financial funds annually, signed cooperation agreements with e-commerce platforms, and carried out training in various forms for college and vocational school graduates, veterans, farmers, and others who are interested in engaging in e-commerce business. At the same time, through cooperation with universities, we have invited college students to become "e-commerce specialists" in the village, responsible for policy interpretation, online store construction, operation and maintenance, and cultivating a group of e-commerce "leaders".

How to quickly deliver garlic to people's dining tables as sales have increased? "A few years ago, there were no express delivery points in the village, and shipping to the city was costly and slow." Liu Guosai said, "Customers eat garlic to keep it fresh. Sending it a few days later affects the taste, and it's difficult for customers to give a good review."

In August 2020, Jinxiang County was included in the list of pilot counties for the "Internet plus" agricultural products project released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Over the years, a three-level logistics system has gradually been established, consisting of county logistics distribution centers, town and street logistics distribution stations, and rural logistics outlets. The coverage rate of town and street express delivery outlets has reached 100%, and the garlic out of the village channel has been unobstructed.

"Express delivery can be delivered to every village, saving transportation costs and improving transportation efficiency. With more positive reviews from customers, there has been an increase in repeat customers." Liu Guosai raised his voice, "In recent years, the order volume has almost doubled! Now, our processing and packaging workshop alone has about 200 people, and with the addition of sorting, warehousing, transportation and other links, it has driven nearly 300 people in the surrounding area to find employment."

With the help of the Internet, Jinxiang County has opened a new market. Last year, the online retail sales of garlic in the county reached 800 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63.8%. The number of cross-border e-commerce operators has exceeded 4000, promoting the export of Jinxiang garlic to over 100 countries and regions worldwide.

Expanding sales channels and doubling customer base, but garlic farmers still have concerns.

"Garlic prices are prone to fluctuations, sometimes like riding a roller coaster, fluctuating up and down," Han Yunqi said. "One year, the garlic market was sluggish, and prices dropped to 10 cents per kilogram. Some of them couldn't be sold, and they could only watch the sprouts grow. Garlic farmers were so heartbroken that they burst into tears."

"In order to prevent 'garlic cheap harms farmers', the county has launched the' garlic target price insurance 'since 2015. Garlic farmers share risks by participating in the insurance, reducing losses caused by natural disasters or market fluctuations." Meng Xinxia said.

Big data helps protect the rights and interests of garlic farmers. Lightly poke the screen, Liu Guo opened the "Kaisheng Agricultural Products Big Data" WeChat official account at the match point, and the garlic market trend chart came into view during this period. By entering the "voice" option, you can also listen to the market situation of the new garlic production area in Jinxiang County on that day.

In recent years, Jinxiang County has established online information release platforms such as "China Jinxiang Garlic Index" and "Kaisheng Agricultural Product Big Data" to regularly release garlic market trends. Garlic farmers can access real-time information on the national garlic market without leaving their homes.

"Observing trends, predicting market trends, knowing when garlic will be sold and how it will be priced, online information platforms give us more confidence." Liu Guosai said, "If garlic merchants lower prices, they can put them back in cold storage and sell them when they are equivalent. Next year, we can also plan in advance how much garlic will be planted and harvested, reducing market risks."

Value added new path

Extend the industrial chain and enhance the value chain

To the east of Cuikou Village, a group of garlic processing enterprises have gathered. Entering a sterile workshop of a company, there are several plates of garlic on the operating table. The garlic cloves are sticky and shiny, black and translucent. Taking a bite, they are fragrant and soft.

"Selected single headed garlic can be fermented for 60 to 90 days to make such black garlic," said Han Jinlong, the current secretary of the Cuikou Village Party Branch. "It does not have the spiciness of garlic, but retains its health benefits, doubling its value. A head of garlic can be sold for four to five yuan."

Years ago, Cuikou Village successively established a number of garlic processing enterprises, mostly focusing on initial processing with simple processes. After cleaning the garlic stems and whiskers, the garlic was put into a net bag and sent to the market. "Later, the number of enterprises increased, the market tended to saturate, and various costs increased year by year, resulting in a continuous decline in enterprise profits." Han Jinlong said that they were determined to change their thinking and rely on Dongyun Garlic Engineering Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. to develop new garlic processing technologies, continuously launch new products, and enhance the added value of garlic.

Over the years, new products such as black garlic, garlic powder, and garlic capsules have emerged. At present, Cuikou Village has developed more than 40 types of deeply processed products and applied for 10 national patents, which has extended the garlic industry chain. Enterprises in Cuikou Village are transforming and starting their deep processing business.

Drawing on the experience of Cuikou Village, Jinxiang County continues to seek innovation and breakthroughs in improving the added value of garlic products. Many villages have imitations, and many business leaders are eager to try. Li Shuanglei, the general manager of Jinxiang County and Fulong Shuifa Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., is one of them.

"In the past, we used to do initial processing of garlic and rice with low added value. The company wanted to transform, but the factory was limited, and there was no space to build laboratories and workshops. The company was built in a village, making it difficult to recruit workers, let alone introduce talents," said Li Shuanglei.

In May 2009, Jinxiang County planned to construct the Jinxiang Economic Development Zone Food Industry Park, with a total planned area of 43 square kilometers, including important sections such as the International Garlic Industry Park and the Biotechnology Industry Park. Soon, Li Shuanglei's enterprise settled in the food industry park, specializing in the production of black garlic and garlic juice. "The government department has granted us more than 200 acres of land in the park with complete hardware. We have provided full assistance in related matters and advanced services. Soon, the laboratory and cold storage were built. The park has also introduced talent policies to help us recruit talents," said Li Shuanglei.

Entering the enterprise, Li Shuanglei showed reporters a black garlic health drink, with a bottle as big as a palm and thick garlic juice. Take a sip, a taste of black garlic flows on the tip of the tongue, with a hint of sweetness mixed with sourness. "This is the black garlic juice we have developed, which has been favored by the market since its launch." Li Shuanglei said, "Previously, when producing primary agricultural products, the gross profit was 3% to 5%. Now, when producing garlic deep processed products, the gross profit is 15% to 30%."

Enterprise research and development of products, supported by government policies. Jinxiang County encourages innovative research and development of garlic processing enterprises, and in recent years, has organized enterprise leaders to conduct field research. Li Shuanglei has visited many food processing enterprises in different places, and one of them inspired him with the method of concentrating and pulping related agricultural products. "Can you try making black garlic health drinks?"

After the research, Li Shuanglei led his team to experiment and summarize, trying more than 10 flavors, and finally came up with the current product. "The county has helped us apply for loan financing support policies and connected with technical talents from research institutes, which has been of great help to us," Li Shuanglei sighed.

Continuously extending the industrial chain and enhancing the value chain. "We will continue to improve the green and high-quality garlic planting industry, expand the garlic specialty product processing industry, strengthen the modern agricultural product trade and logistics industry, and make the garlic industry in Jinxiang move towards specialization, branding, and high-end." said Zheng Shimin, Secretary of the Jinxiang County Party Committee.

At present, there are 128 large-scale garlic processing enterprises in Jinxiang County, with an annual processing capacity of 1.1 million tons. They have developed and launched more than 40 deep processing products, including black garlic products, selenium garlic capsules, and garlic polysaccharides.

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