Accelerate the development of the agricultural reclamation agricultural product quality traceability system: food safety starts in the field
The quality and safety of agricultural products concerns the health and lives of the people, as well as long-term economic development and social harmony and stability. As the backbone and representative of the state-owned agricultural economy, and as the national team safeguarding national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products, agricultural reclamation has always treated safeguarding the quality and safety of agricultural products as an important task of modern agriculture development and pursued it unremittingly.
In 2002, in the Green Food Action Plan, agricultural reclamation took the lead in proposing the establishment of an agricultural product quality and safety traceability system. After more than five years of pilot exploration, a working model and development path for an agricultural product quality traceability system suited to the agricultural reclamation production management system gradually took shape, and in 2008 the construction of an agricultural product quality traceability system was formally launched among agricultural reclamation enterprises nationwide. As of now, the number of traceable enterprises has reached 342, spread across 28 reclamation areas. The traceable scale of crop products has reached 6.68 million mu, livestock and poultry products 74.57 million head (birds), and aquatic products 600,000 mu, covering major agricultural products such as grains, vegetables, fruits, tea, livestock and poultry meat, poultry eggs, aquatic products, and milk, as well as processed agricultural products such as wine. In 2014, the total output of traceable agricultural products reached 2.3056 million tons. At the same time, agricultural reclamation also demonstrated and drove 81 local agricultural enterprises and farmers' professional cooperatives to establish traceability systems, fully demonstrating the exemplary and driving role of agricultural reclamation in modern agriculture.
Agricultural reclamation has always treated safeguarding the quality and safety of agricultural products as the core task of traceability system development. In accordance with the traceability concept of records in production, supervision in safety, testing in quality, and labeling on products, it integrates resources from state-owned farms, competent departments, and agricultural product quality inspection agencies, organically combines key quality and safety elements such as agricultural production, quality management, product testing, and product certification, researches and formulates a series of industry standards for agricultural product quality traceability, and develops and builds an integrated traceability system covering enterprise production record collection, online supervision by management departments, spot-check supervision by professional institutions, and consumer inquiry and information access, forming an agricultural product quality and safety safeguard system supported by the Internet.
This approach of the agricultural reclamation system, which emphasizes real effort, courage to take responsibility, and willingness to be accountable, has been recognized by all sectors of society and has achieved both economic and social benefits.
From the perspective of quality and safety, under the management system based on workers' household contracting and coordinated by large farms overseeing small farms, the traceability system has raised the quality and safety awareness of frontline production workers, strengthened the implementation of responsibilities, and markedly improved the quality and safety level of traceable agricultural products.
From the market perspective, agricultural reclamation traceable agricultural products have clear places of origin, responsibilities fully implemented, complete production records, and reliable quality and safety, earning the trust of consumer groups at all levels and creating a gratifying situation of brisk sales and production. The traceable Beijing duck produced by Beijing Jinxing Duck Industry was selected as the sole raw material supplier for Quanjude and was designated a supplier during the Olympic Games and the APEC meeting. Aisen brand chilled fresh meat from Shanghai Guangming Food Group and Yueguang brand rice from Liaoning Wusi Farm were selected as licensed distributors at large events such as the World Expo and the National Games. Jiangsu Suken Rice Industry Group launched the construction of a rice traceability system in 2008. After years of effort, the traceable area increased from 50,000 mu in the initial stage to more than 600,000 mu, achieving full coverage of the quality traceability system for the rice industry across the entire reclamation area.
With the development of agricultural product e-commerce, agricultural reclamation traceable agricultural products have also performed excellently in the e-commerce field. Hotan Jade Dates produced by Xinjiang Hotan Kunlun Mountain Jujube Industry Co., Ltd. use one code per bag. High-quality products plus traceable management quickly gained market recognition, with online sales exceeding 100 million yuan, making it a leader among similar products. Traceable products such as Qinmin pickled cabbage from Heilongjiang reclamation area, rice from Liaoning Wusi Farm, spicy sausage from Nanning Yongmu Food Co., Ltd. of Guangxi Agricultural Reclamation Yongxin Livestock Group, beef strips from Xinjiang Xiangbala Food Co., Ltd., and goji berries from Nanliang Farm of Ningxia Agricultural Reclamation have continuously increased their online visibility, and online order volumes have continuously reached new levels.
High-quality, safe, and traceable agricultural products are a concentrated reflection of the achievements of agricultural reclamation in building a new type of modern agriculture with Chinese characteristics. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Further Promoting the Reform and Development of Agricultural Reclamation" clearly requires that agricultural reclamation, as a demonstration zone for agricultural modernization, establish an agricultural product quality and safety traceability system from the field to the dining table.