From the vast desert to the warm greenhouse, and then to the dining table of ordinary people...... "Sand Sea Oasis" Minqin has successfully domesticated wild vegetables and shallots on a large scale, making them gorgeously turned into a popular delicacy, popular in the market, and deduced an amazing growth legend!
In recent years, located in the northeast of the Hexi Corridor and the lower reaches of the Shiyang River Basin, Minqin County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, which is famous for its sand prevention and control, has been based on the advantages of the "Golden Belt" at 38 degrees north latitude, digging deep into the resource potential and continuing to make efforts in the shallot industry. Through scientific, reasonable, and forward-looking planning and guidance, we have actively carried out extensive and in-depth scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges, continuously cultivated and strengthened various relevant subjects, and carried out a series of effective measures such as multi-dimensional and all-round brand promotion, so as to promote the agglomeration and integrated development of the shallot industry, and become an important pillar industry for local rural revitalization, writing an industrial chapter of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, mutual promotion of economy and ecology, and synergy and win-win of multiple interests.
After years of exploration and development, Shallot has been widely promoted and planted in Minqin County, with Dam Town as the core, radiation drives 14 towns such as Suwu, Datan, Chongxing, Harvest, etc., and the total area of Shallot has reached 100,000 mu, including 85,000 mu of wild shallots and 15,000 mu of artificial cultivation.
From wild meat in the desert to large-scale mass production, how Minqin shallot is "wild but not wild"
Shallot is also known as "Mongolian leek", belonging to the genus Allium in the lily family. Its vitality is extremely tenacious, it can grow on deserts, sandy lands or arid slopes at an altitude of 800 to 2800 meters, and is especially resistant to wind erosion, drought and barrenness, and is a common perennial herb in the northwest.
The "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: "Onions, wild onions, mountains and plains are all there. Those who live in sand are called shallots, and those who are born in water are called shallots, and savages eat them. It blooms with white flowers and bears like shallots. "The stems and leaves of shallots are needle-shaped, with small purple flowers, and their leaves, stems, and buds have a spicy taste, which is more intense than other shallots and leeks. It is rich in a variety of vitamins, with the special effects of lowering blood pressure, lowering blood lipids, appetizing and eliminating food, strengthening the kidney and strengthening yang, and curing constipation. Food can cure red dysentery, enteritis, chest paralysis and other diseases, known as "Ganoderma lucidum in the dish". Because it grows in a harsh environment, wild vegetables and shallots are extremely precious.
Because of this, in 1999, the Yan Zizhu team of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Sand Control opened the door to the rational development and utilization of shallot resources and the development of industrialization. They investigated the wild shallot resources in Minqin County, collected wild plants and seeds, and carried out a series of domestication and cultivation experiments through root transplanting and seed sowing, and then mastered the soil environment and field management measures suitable for the growth of shallots, and successfully overcame the technical barriers to artificial high-yield cultivation of shallots.
With technical support, Ye Changlian, a villager in Bayi Village, Daba Town, Minqin County, planted shallots in his sandy land. He successfully solved the problem of winter dormancy of shallots by using the method of cold stimulation, and installed sprinkler irrigation facilities in the solar greenhouse to form a small world of "artificial rainfall", completed the artificial cultivation of wild shallots, and planted the first shed of "domesticated" shallots in the history of Minqin. On this basis, Ye Changlian applied for the invention patent of "greenhouse shallot cultivation technology", which laid a solid foundation for the vigorous development of the solar greenhouse shallot industry.
Ye Changlian said: "Sand onions like drought and fear waterlogging, but then they are born to water. When the price is low, it is not watered and harvested, and when the market is good, it is watered and harvested, and it truly achieves water-appropriate planting and water-measuring production. According to the relevant figures, the average water consumption per mu of Minqin shallot is 240 cubic meters, which is less than half of the water consumption of field corn, and its unilateral water benefit can reach 50 yuan, which is more than 20 times that of field crops. In the arid region of Northwest China, it is of great significance to firmly adhere to the red line of ecological protection, cultivated land protection and the bottom line of farmers' income increase, and develop the shallot industry.
In addition, as a fibrous root plant, Shallot has no taproot and many fibrous roots such as strings, and likes to grow in soil with good air permeability such as quicksand and aeolian sandy soil, especially suitable for planting on sandy soil where there is a drought and lack of water along the desert and it is difficult for other crops to grow. It plays an important role in ecological barrier and ecological protection in terms of wind prevention and sand fixation, water and soil conservation, water conservation, air purification, etc., and is of great significance for building a solid ecological security barrier in the western part of the country.
"Minqin's exploration and practice in the domestication and planting of shallot plants has provided valuable experience and examples for desertification control of psammophytes, and has also injected new vitality and hope into the improvement of the ecological environment and sustainable development. At the same time, the successful planting of Shallot has opened up a way for the promotion and application of other psammophytes, and has effectively promoted the process of ecological management in desertification areas. Chen Fang, deputy director of Minqin County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, said.
From the tip of the tongue consumption to force the production of fields, Minqin shallot gives birth to a "new format" of agriculture
With the hot sale of shallots in the market, people's love and demand for this unique ingredient continues to rise, and the consumption on the tip of the tongue is forcing field production to actively adapt and develop.
At the turn of spring and summer, the morning light is broken, and the bright sunshine pours on the sand onion base of Bayi Village, Dam Town, Minqin County, and the dewdrops shine brightly, and the whole base presents a lush and vibrant scene everywhere. A bunch of shallots are neatly arranged, growing gratifyingly, full of vitality and vitality. "My family grows 18 acres of sand onions in the open field, with an average income of 10,000 per mu, and 7 greenhouses with an average income of 100,000 yuan." Ye Zhixiang, a villager of Bayi Village, said that the shallot can be harvested continuously for 10 years at a time, and 5 to 6 stubbles can be harvested in a year, and the shallots in the open field are harvested in mid-October every year, and the greenhouse shallots are seamlessly connected to the market, and there are more than 6 tons of shallots in Bayi Village every day that are exported to the province and beyond, and the products are in short supply.
Not only that, the continuous progress and vigorous development of the shallot industry has also opened up an effective way for the villagers to work at their doorstep to increase their income.
In the greenhouse shallot planting base of Wenyi Village, Dama Town, the crisp and fresh sand onion is verdant and green, and the growth is gratifying, and the workers are harvesting and sorting, weighing and packaging, loading and exporting, a lively harvest scene. "Now that I'm working at my doorstep, I can take care of my family and earn money, which is really the best of both worlds." Villager Ma Hongxia moved lightly in the sand onion furrow, holding the sickle in her dexterous hand and gently cutting at the bottom of the shallot, and throwing it into the basket she carried with her, her movements skillfully and naturally. She said that after bidding farewell to "inter-provincial work", many villagers "get rent" through land transfer, and work nearby to "earn salary" and earn "double income".
In recent years, Minqin County has done enough work to make the shallot industry article, through a series of innovative measures and strategic layouts such as grasping the base, building a park, extending the chain, etc., establishing an efficient cultivation model of "open field + facilities", and taking the development road of "market-oriented, leading, resource integration, unified and divided combination, and group development", successfully stimulating the inherent vitality and potential of new agricultural formats, driving the shallot industry to accelerate the transformation in the direction of standardization, industrialization and branding, and promoting the overall shallot industry to be greener, more efficient, Move forward in the direction of intelligence, build a new pattern of industrial development with strong vitality and sustainability, and realize rural development, agricultural efficiency, and farmers' income.
At the same time, Minqin County has compiled three technical regulations for the artificial cultivation of shallots, including the "Technical Regulations for the Cultivation of Shallots in Off-season". Under this premise, actively promote standardized production technology, accurately control key factors such as planting density, soil fertility, and water supply, and pay close attention to the temperature, humidity, light and other environmental parameters involved in the growth of shallots, make full use of the advantages of modern monitoring equipment and technical means, monitor them in real time, and make timely adjustments according to the actual situation, so as to ensure that shallots can always be in the most suitable growth environment.
From "domestication of wild shallots into solar greenhouse planting" to "promotion of large-scale planting of shallots in open fields", from "seedling transplanting of shallots" to "off-season cultivation of shallots, soil quality and moisture control". Minqin shallots have achieved a qualitative leap and breakthrough, not only the planting scale has been expanding, the quality and yield of shallots have also been greatly improved, and its market influence and competitiveness have also been increasingly enhanced, injecting strong impetus and vitality into the development of the local agricultural economy.
The "small" city breaks the "big" problem, and the whole industry chain helps Minqin sand onion to "cultivate" and "revitalize the field"
Over the past few years, the development of Minqin shallot industry has not only increased farmers' income and become rich, but also given birth to large and small processing enterprises, from the front-end planting to the mid-end manufacturing, and then to the back-end sales, the entire industrial chain is getting longer and longer, and the more and more beneficiaries of "bundling" are also increasing.
In the Minqin Aoxiang Shallot Production and Marketing Cooperative, a refrigerated truck weighing 5 tons arrived on time to load the shallot that had completed the sorting, packaging and pre-cooling processes onto the car, ready to drive to the Xi'an New Taipei City Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market. Zhen Shilong, the person in charge of the cooperative, said: "The Shallot Production and Marketing Professional Cooperative is a vital part of the shallot industry chain, including product grading and packaging workshop, storage warehouse, refrigerated fresh storage, cold chain logistics distribution center and comprehensive management room, and the processing technology covers all from sorting, grading, quality inspection, cleaning to rapid pre-cooling, cold storage preservation, refrigerated truck transportation, etc. ”
"To build the whole industrial chain of shallots, we must not only make up for the weaknesses in R&D, processing, storage and transportation, sales, etc., but also let all links and subjects form an organic whole that is closely related, effectively connected, coupled and coordinated." Duan Zhenjiao, director of Minqin County Agricultural Technology Extension Center, said that on the one hand, the shallot industry must have a fixed production cycle, and the industrial chain must be interlocked to form a closed loop to ensure the benign operation of the upstream and downstream; On the other hand, it is necessary to give full play to the leading and promoting role of leading enterprises, scientific research institutions and new agricultural business entities, focus on building regional public brands as the guide, highlight the beads into lines, blocks into belts, and clusters into chains, and promote the development of industrial clusters.
To this end, in the construction of the whole industrial chain of shallots, Minqin County closely follows the cultivation of varieties, quality improvement, brand building and standardized production, establishes the concept of "big agriculture" by "grasping the industry with products", relying on "grasping the chain by industry" and "grasping the system by the chain", and encourages new business entities such as leading enterprises and professional cooperatives to develop moderately large-scale operations by cultivating key "chain master" leading enterprises, and organically connects with rural collective economic organizations and farmers, forming an echelon driving mechanism of "chain master enterprise + chain team enterprise + cooperative + farmer". to promote the efficient, orderly and sustainable development of the shallots industry, and realize the comprehensive upgrading and optimization of the shallots industry.
At the same time, the introduction of Internet technology means to strengthen the analysis and judgment of the operation data of the shallot industry, guide the change of the production, circulation and sales mode of the shallot, build the brand of agricultural products, and expand the market share. And fully relying on the Internet e-commerce platform, the integration of warehousing, transportation, finance, quality inspection and other service resources of the whole society, and actively develop the Internet mobile platform, so that "e-commerce + logistics distribution" has become a new marketing channel for shallots, so that shallots can reach a wider range of consumer groups in a more efficient and convenient way, and further enhance the market influence and competitiveness of shallots products.
"The world looks at China, China's shallots look at Minqin, and the mainland is the only country in the world that carries out artificial cultivation and industrial development of shallots." Duan Zhenjiao said that through continuous exploration and practice, Minqin County has formed a complete set of shallot planting, management and processing system, and the whole industry chain has helped Minqin shallot successfully "cultivate" the "revitalization field". In the next step, we will actively carry out market research and analysis, accurately locate the demand characteristics of different markets, and formulate targeted marketing strategies, so that Minqin shallots can be promoted to all parts of the country and even the international market, so that more people can understand and understand the unique charm of Minqin shallots.
According to statistics, at present, Minqin has gradually developed a series of products such as "pickled shallots", "shallots dipping sauce" and "shallots feast", and cultivated the "Moshanghua" shallot brand, and its public brand "Minqingyuan" won the "Top Ten Online Goods Brands" in Gansu Province.
Correspondent: Ma Aibin