The warm-up of "selling lychees" in 2021 began in March, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangdong Province laid out in advance, from provinces to cities, counties, towns and villages, five levels of departments worked together to promote lychee marketing, government-enterprise cooperation to relieve difficulties: official organization of production and marketing docking activities, e-commerce platforms with goods, increase cold chain preservation infrastructure, crack logistics bottlenecks, actively explore overseas markets, local investment and investment to develop deep processing...
A
Guide the establishment of a market system for agricultural products
Improve the Guangdong Litchi "12221" action plan
"Lychees don't just get 'on fire' all at once." The main person in charge of the Market and Information Department of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangdong Province said.
Lychee covers a wide range and is distributed from east to west in Guangdong, which is related to farmers' income, rural stability and industrial upgrading. The province's lychee industry chain has driven more than 1.8 million employees, and many growers are small and scattered. From planting to receiving and selling, a lychee is affected by multiple influences of planting management, weather changes, price fluctuations, and market competition, and there are more risks in the industrial chain.
Since March, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has deployed the marketing work of Guangdong lychee in advance, divided the four major production areas of guangdong west, east Guangdong, pearl river delta and Guangzhou according to the time and production area of lychee in the province, set up a special work class, and the responsibility fell to relevant departments at all levels.
According to the Nandu reporter, this year's lychee sales are "reported according to the village", the official sales class "stares", and the emergency occurs in time to "shoot". For example, when the price of the lychee variety "Guiwei" has a price decline, it is encouraged for leading enterprises to guarantee the bottom acquisition and stabilize the market first.
The docking mechanism of agricultural product production, supply and marketing is not close, the socialized service system is not perfect, the drawbacks have been accumulated for a long time, and once the market impacts, the ability to bear pressure is limited.
In 2018, pineapples, mainly produced in Xuwen, Zhanjiang, experienced a trough in price. In February of the following year, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs set up a special working group for Xuwen pineapple, began to investigate and explore the construction of the market system, and after two years of practice, stabilized the purchase price of pineapple.
Lychee also experienced "fruit injury to farmers" in 2018. In April 2019, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "2019 Provincial Lychee Marketing Work Plan" requiring that, on the basis of summarizing the "12221" action plan of Xuwen Pineapple, enrich and improve the "12221" of Guangdong Lychee: build a lychee whole industry chain data platform, form two teams of buyers and brokers, build two market platforms in the production area and the sales area, plan two activities for the buyer alliance to enter the lychee production area and the lychee into the sales area market, so as to build a brand, expand sales, and increase prices. Market guidance and promotion of good seeds, fruit farmers to increase income and other package goals.
This year, Guangdong Litchi took the construction of the "12221" market system as the starting point, and "grasping the resources of buyers" became the key work of marketing.
Under the overall arrangement of the provincial level, the government, associations and enterprises have taken lychees into major sales areas outside the province, going to large wholesale markets and other places to accurately promote them. In May, Guangdong launched 15 lychee promotion activities in 10 cities across the country, and the admission of lychees in the wholesale market increased.
While "pushing out" Guangdong lychees, it attracts more "fruit hunters" to Guangdong. A number of buyers' "origin line" activities have been carried out one after another, and innovative service measures have been taken in various litchi production areas, and county-level and town-level buyer service centers have been set up.
According to the Nandu reporter, in the past, local "single-handedly" to promote lychees, regardless of funds, manpower is difficult to match. Now the provincial level coordinates and coordinates resources, builds a platform, puts publicity, and allows enterprises to take the stage to "sing opera". The above-mentioned main person in charge stressed that the government ultimately plays a guiding role, not an all-in-one.
In late June, when the epidemic situation in Guangzhou and Shenzhen eased, Song Xiaosheng, head of procurement of Hubei Commercial Supermarket Leader Zhongshang Group, led a team to the south, led by the leading enterprise Guangdong Zhongli Agricultural Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongli Group), selected orchards and purchased a total of 105 tons of lychees. Cold chain cars drive from eastern Guangdong to Hubei and can arrive in about 24 hours. "Usually you can sell a batch of lychees within three days." Song Xiaosheng said.
B
Preservation of the "first kilometer"
Promote the construction of "Tiantou Small Station" fresh-keeping cold chain facilities
Lychee is listed in a centralized manner, the sales radius continues to expand, and the preservation method is constantly upgraded.
In the sweltering summer, when the sky is just white, the lynong gets up early in the morning and starts picking when the dew has not yet receded. "After 10:30, the temperature rises and you can't pick it." Li Luyan, general manager of Zengcheng Branch of Zhongli Group, described that the sunshine is in full swing, if the fruit heart thermometer is inserted into the "heart" of the lychee, up to 30-40 ° C, a large amount of sugar is released in the pulp, the "heartbeat" of the fruit is accelerated, stimulating the growth of microorganisms, and the quality of the fruit is deteriorated.
"The most important thing to keep a lychee is pre-cooling." Ouyang Jianzhong, chairman of Hualong Fruit and Vegetable Preservation Co., Ltd., introduced that fruit farmers should reduce the temperature of lychees to below 20 degrees Celsius within 20 minutes after picking fruits, and send them to the cold storage for pre-cold processing within two hours.
From leaving the fruit tree to being delivered to the mouth of the consumer, the temperature of the fruit core of the lychee should be maintained at 0-4 ° C in the cold chain transportation link. Su Yanping, head of the South China market public relations department of JD Logistics, said that pre-cooling facilities, cold storage, refrigerated trucks, low-temperature shelves and plastic bags and other equipment are indispensable.
In recent years, lychee has expanded its sales channels, but after-sales complaints have occurred from time to time. Li Endi, a fruit intermediary in Qituo Village, said: "Cold storage is scarce in the county, pre-cooling technology is not up to standard, and cold chain logistics cannot keep up." I have many failure cases, customers receive it 'stink', send a single loss a single. ”
Li Nong laughed at himself: "After more than 3 days, the red lychee tossed to the field and became a monk fruit." ”
The loss rate of China's fruit and vegetable products in the "first kilometer" is about 15%-25%, which is a "roadblock" for agricultural products to go up to the city.
In 2021, the No. 1 document of the Central Committee proposes to accelerate the implementation of the construction of cold chain logistics facilities for the storage and preservation of agricultural products, and promote the construction of small-scale storage and preservation cold chain facilities in Tiantou. According to relevant statistics, the total capacity of cold storage in Guangdong Province is only 5.6 million tons, of which the proportion of low temperature storage is high, and the freshness preservation warehouse is small; there are more meat cold storage and fewer fruits and vegetables.
Market demand is expanding, in order to alleviate the pressure of lychee preservation, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs piloted the construction of a warehousing cold chain system "Tiantou Small Station" in Maoming Gaozhou and other lychee production areas. Gaozhou, located in western Guangdong, accounts for nearly 20% of the province's lychee production. At present, Gaozhou has built a total of 46 ABC small stations.
After the lychee in the area is picked, after the "Tiantou Small Station" pre-cooling and preservation, grading and sorting, processing and packaging and other links, the storage time limit will be extended by 2 to 4 times compared with the past.
"Thousands of households in Gaozhou grow lychees, and the harvest period lasts for 25 days before and after." He Jianhe, head of a fruit and vegetable professional cooperative in Genzi Town, Gaozhou, said. He is also the person in charge of Gaozhou's Class A "Tiantou Small Station", which has invested more than 2 million yuan in the production line, subsidized 30% of the cost by the government, and spent 400,000 yuan to build a cold storage.
He Jianhe said: "The cold chain truck of the 'Tiantou Small Station' system drives into the ground and maintains a low temperature state from the time of picking. After pre-cooling lychees, the shelf life can be extended by 3-4 days. Shipped to the northeast, equally fresh. ”
Some powerful growers are planning to provide regional refrigeration and preservation services to radiate surrounding retail households.
In Zengcheng Xiancun Town, Chen Haochao, head of Xianji Agricultural Co., Ltd., pushed open an iron door, and a burst of cold air rushed in. "The pre-cooler placed in the field can reduce the temperature of the lychee to below 10 ° C in 15 minutes, and then put them into the cold storage to 'sleep' and extend the sales period." In July 2020, Chen Haochao saw the business opportunity, built cold chain storage equipment, invested tens of millions of yuan before and after, and planned to cover nearly 200,000 mu of lychee fields.
C
Reshape the supply pattern of agricultural products
Help Li Nong to continuously divert the flow of goods online channels
"Half a person has been on this hill for half my life." Lu Yongquan, head of the Lilong Breeding Professional Cooperative in Huidong County, Huizhou, started his two-generation lychee business in 1986. At that time, Guangdong Lychee seized the wave of afforestation in the province and took advantage of the momentum to expand the species. Father Lu worries that the price of the lychee market fluctuates this year, and it is not common to enter the industry for more than 20 years.
At the end of June, the lychee picking work is coming to an end, and the climbers of the fruit trees are all "elderly" people. Lu Yongquan expects that the output of 120 mu of lychee garden this year is 80,000 jin, which is in the upper middle year.
The aging lychee industry is accelerating the "touch the net". In the orchard, the express delivery packaging boxes are piled up in a mountain, and the courier brother and the truck are frequently in and out. Lu Yongquan sat in front of the computer to take stock, sending out 500-600 orders to all parts of the country every day. This year's sales, the proportion of traditional wholesale declined, and the proportion of e-commerce increased to 40%.
For a long time, agricultural products have the characteristics of weak supply chain, high loss and low gross profit, and the overall level of e-commerce penetration is low.
"To harvest a hundred fruits, it is not easy to manage." Li Endi told Nandu reporters that growers are older, and after the fruits are ripe, they rely on local intermediaries to collect fruits, commonly known as "agency", and then dock with wholesalers and distribute to various channels. Under the lamination of prices, farmers have limited profits.
In 2020, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic has stimulated the development of fresh e-commerce, driven by policy dividends and market demand, a number of e-commerce and logistics giants have stepped up "going to the countryside to encircle land", and online channels have continuously diverted flow to reshape the supply pattern of agricultural products.
According to the data provided by the Maoming E-commerce Association, 78,300 tons of lychees were sold this year through e-commerce platforms, social media, micro-businesses, etc., an increase of more than 50% over the same period last year, and the output value was 1.812 billion yuan.
"The value-added part of e-commerce is obvious, and this year's online sales accounted for 13.5% of the total, and the sales output value accounted for 25.45% of the total output value." Dai Yaowu, secretary general of the Maoming E-commerce Association, said that the e-commerce sales volume of lychees was only 11,000 tons in 2015.
In addition to the above-mentioned preservation problems, the high cost of e-commerce express delivery and cumbersome packaging have made many farmers reject "touching the net".
SF Express has undertaken a large number of lychee delivery business in Guangdong and Guangxi. Zhu Fuping, head of the characteristic economy of SF Express Guangdong West District, introduced that the company's lychees are mainly divided into 5 kg, 10 kg and 15 kg, first placing a certain weight ice pack in a foam box, covered with lychee leaves to isolate water vapor, and then laying lychees, and finally set cartons.
In 2021, the main production area of Maoming lychee has been listed so far, and nearly 20,000 tons of lychees in Maoming have been shipped out through SF. "With the rise of low-price platforms in the e-commerce market, customers are eager to reduce logistics costs." Zhu Fuping said that according to different market demands, SF Express has launched a variety of to C and to B-end distribution models in western Guangdong, including aviation heavy cargo, vehicle plus landing, cold chain vehicle, customized city distribution and direct hair from the place of origin.
According to the data provided by Jingdong Logistics, the single volume of lychees in Guangdong has increased by 107% year-on-year this year, and more than 60% of the customers are B-end orchards, lychee agricultural marketing cooperatives and government cooperation resources, while the main destinations of express delivery in addition to the South China market, East China and North China account for a relatively high proportion.
Zhong Sheng, a researcher at the Maoming Agricultural Science and Technology Extension Center, observed that during the ripening season of lychees, many young people who used to be engaged in other industries outside the village returned to the village to "help sell lychees online."
To help Linong familiarize themselves with online goods, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has mobilized universities and scientific research institutions to participate, linked up with leading e-commerce platforms such as Douyin, JD.com, alibaba, etc., and carried out a number of lychee e-commerce and new marketing talent training.
The increase in the agricultural product market is gradually dominated by supermarkets and e-commerce companies with strong supply chains. Recently, Alibaba's Hema Market has reached a cooperation with the Maoming Municipal Government to establish a lychee direct mining base for the national community shop of Hema Market.
D
Speed up the export of lychees
From January to June this year, Guangdong exported 6504 tons of fresh lychees
On May 8, 79.9 tons of fresh lychees from Maoming Dianbai and Zhanjiang Lianjiang production areas passed the quarantine of Zhanjiang Customs and loaded into ships across the Pacific Ocean and sailed to North America, which is the first batch of lychees exported by Guangdong this year.
China is home-grown and has a long history, and experts say that lychees "have a history that can be perceived and touched." The formation of replicable and popularized export models and experiences for characteristic agricultural products will optimize the trade layout of agricultural products. According to data from the Guangdong Branch of the General Administration of Customs, from January to June this year, Guangdong exported 6504 tons of fresh lychees, an increase of 79.8% year-on-year; valued at 130 million yuan, an increase of 62.4% year-on-year.
Lychee going abroad and opening up new markets is an effective way to promote the income of fruit farmers. Several lychee exporters said that the price of purchasing export lychees can be 30%-40% higher than that of farmers selling them locally.
China's lychee exports have been around for more than 20 years, and the biggest blockage was preservation technology. Shipping and air freight are the main export methods of lychee, the former is time-consuming and low-cost.
In 2004, thanks to the breakthrough of preservation technology, Guangzhou Conghua Lychee first boarded a ship and crossed the ocean to the United States. Ouyang Jianzhong told Nandu reporters that lychee shipping exports to the United States, from fruit collection to customs clearance takes about 30 days, transported to the market shelf, a total of about 35 days. With the advancement of preservation technology, the longest storage period of Conghua lychee can reach more than 40 days, and more lychee varieties that are resistant to storage and transportation are currently being cultivated.
The average annual output of lychees in Guangdong Province is more than 1 million tons, and from 2017 to 2019, the province's lychee exports did not exceed 5,000 tons.
In recent years, various government departments have strengthened joint actions to facilitate the export of lychee, upgrade international communication and marketing methods, and increase the cultivation of export entities. In 2019, Zhongli Group was established, which was established by 7 domestic lychee-related enterprises "hugging the group", and is a leading enterprise in lychee export, with a signed cooperative planting base of 32,000 mu.
According to the Exchange and Cooperation Office of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangdong Province, in April, a symposium on the "going out" of lychee was held, and a notice was issued to promote exports, and the export promotion of lychees was planned in advance. The department also strengthened the guidance services for key cities, enterprises and bases for lychee exports, and linked up with relevant departments to strengthen lychee overseas publicity and export promotion.
In 2020, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Guangdong Branch of the General Administration of Customs identified two batches of 195 provincial-level agricultural product export demonstration bases, covering multiple agricultural product categories, building a platform for the lychee export demonstration base, etc., publicizing and promoting the outside world, and promoting production and marketing docking.
An industry insider familiar with lychee exports introduced that at this stage, the overseas market of fresh lychees is still a niche, and most of the Chinese supermarket consumers, the recognition of Chinese lychees still needs to be improved. The domestic fruit market emphasizes "short and flat fast", while the international market has higher requirements for standardization, and market guidance still needs time.
This year, the Pearl River Delta a lychee production area of lychee for the first time exported to Japan, the production area of the agricultural bureau put forward a proposal, the export channels are not smooth enough, enterprises to open up overseas market awareness is not high, there are differences in product quality standards, lychee excellent characteristics lead to high export costs and other issues to be solved.
And
Enhance the industry's ability to resist risks
We cannot rely on experience alone to refine management
Although lychee is the largest fruit in South China, the market acceptance is high, but consumers do not have a clear brand recognition of the "Lingnan lychee" origin, Su Yanping said: "In addition to 'concubine smile', 80% of the varieties have low popularity, and they want to eat high-quality lychees, but it is difficult to judge whether they are good or bad." "Both governments and businesses are pushing for origin branding.
Facing an increasingly differentiated market, agricultural products are going up to the city and going to sea, whether they can play a brand is the key to premium, high quality is the basis of good price, and standardized production and sales problems need to be solved.
There are nearly 100 varieties of lychee in Guangdong. Xiang Xu, secretary general of the Provincial Lychee Industry Alliance, told Nandu reporters that 60%-70% of the lychees planted in Maoming are not highly effective, and have a greater impact on the industry. Now, the "high-quality seeding" technology promoted in the old orchard is to change the excellent varieties on the branches of the original old varieties, update the varieties, and put the fruit into production within three years.
Chen Houbin, chief scientist of the national lychee longan industrial technology system and professor of South China Agricultural University, proposed that the structure of lychee varieties should be stepped up, and high-quality varieties are more sensitive to the ecological and climatic environment. Nearly 4 million mu of lychee gardens in the province, most of which are small farmers, it is estimated that only 30% have irrigation conditions, so it is necessary to strengthen infrastructure construction and give priority to improving water conservancy projects.
At present, lychee uses big data to guide production and sales, and is in its infancy. Old concepts such as "it doesn't matter if the fruit is bigger or smaller" and "the yield is heavy" need to be updated urgently.
"Farmers can no longer rely on experience alone to plant fruits, but should be diligent in observation and record, rely on precipitated data analysis, refine production indicators, and achieve technical simplification through mechanization, but also in the direction of refinement." Chen Houbin suggested that experts should do technical training diligently, and fruit farmers should improve their scientific literacy. For different varieties of lychees, different risk response plans are formulated.
In the Lychee Provincial Modern Agricultural Industrial Park, Ouyang Jianzhong introduced that the research results of a number of scientific research teams are being applied in 1,000 acres of orchards. Through information technology, the growth of lychee is captured and a database is formed, including nutrient accumulation, flowering status, and insect monitoring. In addition, through the application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) patrols and remote sensing production estimation, the blindness of management decisions is reduced. Smart orchards are more able to cope with the aging of the industry and reduce production costs, and one person can manage 50 acres of land.
The "Three-year Action Plan for the High-quality Development of The Lychee Industry in Guangdong (2021-2023)" issued in January this year proposes that the structural ratio of early, medium and late lychee varieties in the province will be adjusted to 2:6:2, and the rate of high-quality varieties will increase by more than 50%, and the production efficiency will be increased by more than 30%. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of high-standard orchards, transform 1 million mu of low-effect gardens, create 100 high-standard demonstration orchards, and support lychee export enterprises to build 100 export certification demonstration bases.
Experts predict that 2020-2021 will have two consecutive lychee "big years", and the probability of "small years" next year is higher. Resolving the price fluctuations of "big and small years" and extending the lychee processing industry chain are necessary to cope with risks.
According to the bell, 80% of the lychees harvested in Maoming are sold in the form of fresh fruits, and the secondary processing products are mainly dried lychees, lychee vinegar, lychee wine, etc.
Zhu Shenzong, head of Gaozhou Shenma Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd., said that this year's lychee production has increased the proportion of lychee production used by the company for deep processing to one-third. "The market demand for lychee pulp has increased, which is also to avoid the situation that only high-end fruits are based on the market, while middle and lower-grade fruits have nowhere to sell."
Establish and improve the lychee grading sales system, the market call is getting louder and louder, and the classification is standardized and classified according to quality. "Sorting fruits from the source" is gradually becoming popular, using machines to select fruits, and accurately docking various markets and consumer groups in accordance with standards such as fruit diameter and sugar. The sorting line of Chen Haochao Orchard can sort 40 tons of lychees in 8 hours, which is the workload of the past 200 workers in a day.
Some localities have introduced preferential policies to guide the development of the fruit processing industry. The lychees in Guangzhou Conghua District entered the processing link this year are about 20,000 tons, accounting for 30% of the output, and the processing rate is among the top in the province. He Qiaoqing, deputy director of the District Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said: "We have built a lychee industrial park, guided by the government, led by state-owned enterprises, and united with a number of agricultural cooperatives in the region to purchase a large number of lychees from retail households and process them in a unified manner. ”
The Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Conghua District convened a meeting of major banks under its jurisdiction to increase the amount of loans issued and provide financial support to more than 20 major lychee processing entities in the jurisdiction at the lowest interest rate. Some localities have introduced preferential policies to guide the development of the fruit processing industry. At present, major banks have issued loans of more than 60 million yuan to lychee business entities.
Produced by Building One Studio
Coordinator: Nandu reporter Huang Shulun
Written by: Nandu reporter Huang Shulun Mo Zhihua Zheng Yunan Intern Chen Manyu Chen Zhuorui Li Xukui