Why Organic Agricultural Products Fail to Win Over Consumers
Food is the first necessity of the people, and safety at the point of consumption is of the utmost importance. Against the backdrop of society's intense focus on food safety, a kind of original-ecology organic agricultural product has emerged. However, in a recent investigation and interviews, reporters found that this kind of organic agricultural product, which goes from production to the dining table without pesticides, without chemical fertilizers and without additives, is not one that many consumers are willing to buy. Some say it is too expensive and they cannot afford it; some say it is hard to tell the genuine from the fake and they dare not buy it; and others say it is a gimmick, a marketing concept. So what exactly are organic agricultural products? How good is their quality? What are their development trends?
Organic agricultural products are not a concept, still less a gimmick
"Organic food is a kind of food that has passed quality certification and currently has the highest safety level internationally." Zhang Ruiming, a senior inspector at the Certification Center of Northwest A&F University, explained that the certification of organic agricultural products is especially strict. It is not simply a matter of no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers and no additives making something "organic food"; the soil, irrigation water and even the air must also pass certification standards, including a whole series of follow-up testing covering seed selection, seedling raising, transplanting, pest and disease control, drying, storage and sales, and the certification is valid for only one year.
It is understood that, looking at the province as a whole, the area under organic certification is largest in the Guanzhong and northern Shaanxi regions, and is mainly based on crop farming, but with relatively few varieties. Among these, apples account for the largest share of organic certification, with certificates making up about 15%. The certified products in the southern Shaanxi region are the most varied in type, accounting for about 1/3 of the province. Thanks to its exceptional natural conditions, Yang County is currently the only demonstration county for organic product certification in our province, with a total of 24 organic production enterprises including Heimi Wine Industry, Yonghui Rice and Baiyun Vegetables, and certified organic products in 13 major categories covering more than 120,000 mu.
"Organic agricultural products have three major characteristics: natural, healthy and environmentally friendly." During an interview in Yang County, Wang Baoqi, office director of Shaanxi Crested Ibis Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd., took reporters to the company's 90-mu vineyard that has passed organic certification. Wang Baoqi said that the grapes the company cultivates not only avoid pesticides and chemical fertilizers, but are also forbidden from using chemical hormones such as swelling agents; the grapes taste excellent, with a sweetness about 6% higher than ordinary grapes, and the price is also much higher. Ordinary grapes sell for 8 yuan per kilogram, while the company sells its for 30 yuan, and demand exceeds supply. Reporters saw that, in order to reduce pests and diseases, the vineyard uses not only sticky insect boards and insect-proof lamps, but also "smart sunlight grape bags," and several workers were manually weeding the field ridges.
Arriving at the Yang County Jingxia Organic Rice Planting Professional Cooperative, the person in charge, Han Jian'e, told reporters that a great deal of effort had gone into choosing the plot in the first place, because it had to meet the national grade-two farmland standard, and only after pesticides and chemical fertilizers had been stopped for 2-3 years could it formally become an organic farm; at the same time, there could be no factories nearby, because the water source and air both had to pass testing before certification.
High input, low output, hard to bring into ordinary households
Against the backdrop of widespread concern about safety at the point of consumption, original-ecology "organic" agricultural products would presumably be very popular. However, in interviews reporters found that this is not the case. As a high-end organic vegetable producer, Song Dongfeng, head of the Yang County Baiyun Modern Agriculture Park, and Han Jian'e, head of the Yang County Jingxia Organic Rice Planting Professional Cooperative, both admitted recently that they have so far not made a profit.
Asked why, they answered: "High input, low output, and not a high level of consumer acceptance."
"Compared with traditional cultivation, sticky insect boards, insect-killing lamps, organic fertilizer, farmyard manure and manual weeding require very large inputs, labor management costs rise, and costs remain high." Song Dongfeng said that the organic agricultural product certification fee alone, amounting to tens of thousands of yuan every year, is no small expense. In addition, ordinary compound fertilizer has a nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of 55%, while organic fertilizer has a nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of only 5%. "So growth is slow, output is low, and on top of that some vegetables have a poor appearance, so sales are not ideal."
According to Han Jian'e, because overall consumer acceptance is not high, organic agricultural products also run into the situation of "high quality but not a high price." "For organic rice, the county's guidance price is 16 yuan/kg, but in fact selling it at 12 yuan/kg would already be considered good. By the time the new rice is about to come onto the market each year, the organic rice in stock is sold off as ordinary rice at 3 or 4 yuan."
Recently, reporters could not find organic vegetables or melons and fruits in several large supermarkets in Xi'an, including Vanguard, Walmart and Metro. Only in a high-end imported food supermarket on the first basement floor of Xi'an Wangfujing did reporters see 3 kinds of organic vegetables: zucchini, hot peppers and cucumbers, all priced at more than double that of ordinary vegetables of the same kind.
Through these visits, reporters found that many residents said it was hard to tell whether organic agricultural products were genuine or fake, and some even held a skeptical attitude. Under such circumstances, price becomes the decisive factor. If the price is too high, it is very hard to sell.
How can genuine and fake organic agricultural products be distinguished? Senior inspector Zhang Ruiming said that only after an enterprise obtains a certification certificate can it have an organic code (identity card). Consumers can enter this organic code on the agricultural product quality and safety website to find information related to the enterprise's production; otherwise, it is a counterfeit product, and complaints can be made to departments such as quality inspection and industry and commerce.
Zhang Ruiming said that at present, in terms of composition, organic and ordinary agricultural products have almost the same nutritional value, but consuming organic agricultural products is safer and more reassuring.
Breaking through the bottleneck still requires repositioning
It is understood that, according to the classification by grade, agricultural products currently have 3 levels: pollution-free, green and organic. Based on the actual development situation of our province and the consumption level of residents, pollution-free vegetables still occupy an absolute share of market demand, while green and organic vegetables, affected by the "double high" of production costs and market prices, account for a negligible share of the market.
Zhang Ruiming suggested that, from the enterprise perspective, selecting one's own advantageous products and obtaining organic certification for agricultural products with high market acceptance is the icing on the cake; for example, our province's apples and kiwifruit, for which sales results are relatively good, while the effect for rice and edible fungi is less obvious. However, it is necessary to recognize the international advanced nature of organic agriculture, try as much as possible to open up high-end markets, and adopt direct sales or specialty store formats to broaden sales channels.
"In the long run, the production of organic food not only provides humanity with high-quality food, but also provides important support for ecological and environmental protection," Zhang Ruiming said. "The government should strengthen supervision of organic certification while also giving certain support to organic agricultural product producers."
In order to transform ecological advantages into economic benefits, Yang County allocates 5 million yuan in special funds each year to support the development of the organic industry, and last year increased this to 6 million yuan, to support enterprises in organic product certification and the purchase of organic fertilizer. In addition, the environmental testing fee for organic agricultural product bases is fully borne by the county finance; product certification fees and annual re-evaluation certification fees are subsidized by the county finance at 60%, and fixed-quota subsidies are provided for fertilizer used on organic bases. Of course, enterprises must also insist on putting quality first and maintaining their brands, establishing the credibility of organic agricultural products and gaining consumers' trust.
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Organic agricultural products are pure natural, pollution-free, safe and nutritious foods, and can also be called "ecological food." They are agricultural products produced and processed according to the principles of organic agriculture and the production methods and standards for organic agricultural products, and certified by organic food certification bodies.
The principle of organic agriculture is to produce under a closed cycle of agricultural energy, using agricultural resources throughout the entire process, rather than using energy from outside agriculture (chemical fertilizers, pesticides, production regulators and additives, etc.) to influence and change the agricultural energy cycle. The organic agricultural production method uses the effective cycle of the 4 production factors of animals, plants, microorganisms and soil, and does not break the biological cycle chain.