Cool-climate vegetables cool down the summer vegetable market
Summer and autumn cool-climate vegetables refer to vegetables produced in high-altitude (high mountain, plateau) and high-latitude cool regions.
Every year from July to September, affected by the transition between vegetable production cycles, summer high temperatures, and disastrous weather such as typhoons and torrential rain, many areas in South China, Jiangnan, and the Huang-Huai River basin enter the off-season for vegetable supply, with reduced output and a monotonous variety. In some plateau and high-latitude areas, however, the higher altitude and cool climate make them suitable for developing vegetable production, which plays a major role in compensating for and enriching market supply.
Reporters from this newspaper separately investigated the production and marketing of summer and autumn cool-climate vegetables in the Zhangbei area of Hebei, Lanzhou in Gansu, and Yunnan, to learn how these localities arrange production around the market, keep distribution channels open, carry out brand building, and promote effective linkage between production and marketing.
Lanzhou plateau summer vegetables: plant by following the market and stagger the market period
⟦NL> Early on the morning of July 10, Liu Shiyun, a vegetable farmer from Dingguanying Village, Sanjiaocheng Township, Yuzhong County, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, went into the vegetable field to pick the last batch of green-stem loose-curd cauliflower and rush it to a nearby vegetable fresh-keeping storehouse, to hand it over to a vegetable dealer he had arranged with in advance. “After selling this crop, the second crop will come to market in mid-to-late September, and I will have to keep busy until the end of October before I can rest.” Liu Shiyun said that this year he planted more than one mu of green-stem loose-curd cauliflower and more than two mu of cauliflower, and if prices remain stable, the two crops can bring in about 15,000 yuan.
Yuzhong County is a national pollution-free vegetable production demonstration base county and also the main production area of Lanzhou plateau summer vegetables. In 2014, the vegetable planting area in Yuzhong reached 340,000 mu, with total output reaching 840,000 tons, realizing a vegetable output value of 1.28 billion yuan. This year, the county's vegetable planting area is expected to reach 360,000 mu, with output expected to reach 860,000 tons.
Adapt to market demand and optimize the variety structure
“Yuzhong plateau summer vegetables mainly target southern markets such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen.” said Teng Hui, section chief of the Economic Crops Section of the Yuzhong County Agriculture Bureau. To ensure there is a market, in recent years Yuzhong County has put great effort into studying the demand of southern regional markets, and agricultural departments have continuously compared, selected, introduced, and trial-planted new varieties, training and guiding farmers to optimize the vegetable variety structure.
“At the earliest, local vegetables in Yuzhong were mainly cauliflower, and at their largest the area was nearly 50,000 mu.” said Yang Haixing, head of the Vegetable Station of the Yuzhong County Agricultural Technology Center. Starting in 2009, their research found that southern consumers preferred “green-stem loose-curd cauliflower” with good taste and high nutritional value. So they introduced and promoted this variety from the south, and guided farmers to gradually reduce the cauliflower planting area and adjust the variety structure.
“Southern customers prefer peppers with good quality and good spiciness, but previously the amount of peppers produced locally in Lanzhou was very small. In response, we made ‘Lanzhou long pepper’ one of the key fruit-vegetable varieties for development. In addition, according to the needs of southern merchants, Yuzhong County increased the planting area of fine vegetables such as endive, Andrographis paniculata, and chayote sprouts, and carried out strict standardized management, so that no matter how much is produced, it can all be sold.” Yang Haixing said that vegetable planting in Yuzhong County has already formed a production and sales pattern of “multiple varieties, assembled as side dishes.”
Guide farmers to plant off-season and bring vegetables to market evenly
Bai Chenghu, director of the Yuzhong County Agriculture Bureau, said that in order to avoid concentrated large-volume marketing of local vegetables, they have consistently guided farmers to plant off-season, aiming for staged and balanced marketing and trying to maintain a balance between production and sales.
“After selling these cabbages, I will prepare to plant the second crop.” Yang Han, a villager from Zhangjiaying Village, Sanjiaocheng Township, told reporters that in recent years, under the guidance of local agricultural departments, vegetable farmers in the Yuzhong Chuandong area where he lives have planted two crops of vegetables every year. “By staggering planting and selling, income can be better. When the market is bad, the two crops can sell for about 17,000 yuan; when it is good, it can reach 30,000 yuan.”
Yang Haixing said that in order to guide balanced marketing of vegetables throughout the county, they divided the county into 3 planting areas according to climate, soil, light, and heat conditions: the Chuandong area, the Chuanxi area, and the southern Eryin area. “Starting every June, vegetables from Chuandong come to market first; then from late July to mid-August, vegetables from the southern Eryin mountainous area are sold in succession; after that, vegetables from the Chuanxi area follow; and after that, the second crop from the Chuandong area can be sold until the end of October……”
Producing them also requires being able to sell them. During the interview in Sanjiaocheng Township, the reporter saw agricultural tricycles loaded with all kinds of vegetables parked on both sides of the road leading to the county seat, while vegetable farmers were busy sorting and moving vegetables to hand them over to vegetable vendors. Dealer Xu Shouqing told the reporter that last year he sent more than 5,000 tons of vegetables to southern markets. Since Yuzhong plateau summer vegetables came to market this year, he has sent more than 50 tons to Nanchang, Jiangxi every day. “To ensure that all the vegetables I buy can be sold, I found a partner in Nanchang. Both sides share risks and benefits, and regardless of profit or loss, we settle and split accounts in one lump sum at the end of the year.”
The reporter learned that Yuzhong County currently has 36 vegetable distribution enterprises, with a total storage capacity of more than 120,000 tons. These enterprises have become the backbone force for Yuzhong plateau summer vegetables to enter markets across the country. In the first half of this year, the county's vegetable planting area reached 240,000 mu, with estimated output of 600,000 tons, of which 350,000 tons have already been marketed.
Open up new markets and win export competitiveness with quality
In recent years, Lanzhou plateau summer vegetables have made a name for themselves in the domestic market, and Yuzhong has now set its sights on foreign markets. Data show that in 2014, 10% of Yuzhong County's plateau summer vegetables were sold to Hong Kong, China, Macao, China, and Taiwan, China, as well as Southeast Asian countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Bai Chenghu said that in order to enhance the international competitiveness of export vegetables, the county party committee and county government launched the creation of a national-level export vegetable quality and safety demonstration zone. Relying on leading processing and export enterprises, Yuzhong County strictly implements market access and exit systems in key vegetable planting bases in 17 townships (towns), vigorously promotes standardized production technologies such as full-film double-ridge three-furrow, soil testing and formulated fertilization, and integrated biological pest and disease prevention and control, and establishes and improves eight major quality management systems, including an agricultural input management system, a standardized planting system, an integrated pest and disease prevention and control system, and a quality and safety supervision and testing system.
It is understood that creating a national-level export vegetable quality and safety demonstration zone will drive Yuzhong's export vegetable planting area to reach more than 100,000 mu, the foreign exchange earned through vegetable product exports to reach 100 million USD, and the qualification rate of export products to reach 100%.
Zhangbei County, Hebei off-season vegetables: increase production of fine vegetables and upgrade toward “green”
Every year from late June to September is the concentrated marketing period for off-season vegetables in Zhangbei County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province. The county's total annual vegetable output is 750,000 tons, of which 700,000 tons are sold outside to more than 20 large and medium-sized cities across the country, including Beijing, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, as well as Hong Kong, China and Macao, China, and one-third of local farmers' per capita net income comes from this.
After years of development, facing the pressure of market competition and the requirements of industrial upgrading, Zhangbei is now working to adjust its structure and transform its mode, realizing the shift from common vegetables to fine vegetables, from open-field vegetables to facility vegetables, from seasonal production to year-round production, and from pollution-free to green and organic, targeting the Beijing-Tianjin market and supplying high-end demand.