A Detailed Explanation of the Strategic Management of Walnut Industrialization

  1. Optimize the layout and highlight distinctive features. Agricultural industrialization is the breakthrough point for advancing the strategic restructuring of agriculture and the rural economy, developing the rural economy, and increasing farmers' incomes. As a suitable tree species for most of China's arid and rain-scarce ecological regions, the walnut, as a newly developed advantageous industry, will make an important contribution to the management of agricultural industrialization.

  Because regions differ in geography, resources, climate and other conditions, the advantageous industries are inevitably not all the same. It is necessary to proceed from reality, adapt measures to local conditions, and identify the key industries, so that advantageous industries can truly be cultivated and developed and distinctive features can be formed. The regional characteristics of China's vast "Three North" region are: vast land area, arid climate with little rain, strong sunlight, and large temperature differences. The walnut is fully suited to such environmental conditions. On the basis of adjusting the agricultural production layout, market mechanisms and policy guidance should be used to promote standardized, intensive and standardized walnut production, forming a walnut production layout with clear regional characteristics and prominent advantages.

  2. Make new breakthroughs in cultivating leading enterprises. Because farmers produce in a scattered manner and lack understanding of the market, they often feel at a loss when facing the rapidly changing market. Leading enterprises, however, are linked to domestic and international markets on the one hand and to the broad masses of farmers on the other. They are the support for farmers to enter the market and are the true main players in market competition. Supporting leading enterprises means supporting farmers. But at present there are still too few leading enterprises that truly have strength, competitiveness and the ability to drive development. Quickly cultivating and strengthening leading enterprises has become an urgent task. For example, Shanxi Weite Food Co., Ltd. is a national leading enterprise mainly engaged in walnut planting, production, processing and export trade. Its operating scale ranks first in the same industry nationwide, and it has now been recognized by the state as a national-level leading enterprise. Driven by this enterprise, Shanxi Province's walnut industry has experienced unprecedented rapid development.

  3. Technological innovation is the driving force of industrialization. Technological innovation is the source of power for promoting the rapid development of industrialization and promoting the optimization and upgrading of industries. At present, to do a good job in agricultural technological innovation, four problems should be emphasized. First, do a good job in the seedling project. Accelerate the industrialization process of seedlings, establish an integrated seedling industrialization management mechanism of breeding, production and sales, break down regional blockades and industry monopolies, and improve the seedling market supply system; by increasing the intensity of introduction and breeding, accelerate the pace of variety improvement, and lay the foundation for producing high-quality products. Second, accelerate agricultural scientific research and development. In accordance with the direction of enterprises running scientific research, actively encourage enterprises to cooperate with colleges, universities and scientific research institutes in various forms to jointly develop new technologies and new products and increase the technological content of products. Third, strengthen the intensity of technology promotion. Stabilize the existing agricultural technology promotion team, support collective, privately run and other scientific and technological service organizations, and implement diversified development. Fourth, vigorously develop pollution-free agriculture. Quickly formulate and improve agricultural product quality and safety standards, and produce safe, high-quality agricultural products. In places such as Wanrong and Yuci in Shanxi Province, the competent government departments actively supported and coordinated the organization of walnut production cooperatives, becoming liaisons between farmers and colleges and universities and "relay runners" of science and technology, promoting the steady development of the walnut industry.

  4. Improving the operating mechanism is the guarantee for the healthy development of industrialization. The development of agricultural industrialization is both the development of productive forces and the innovation of agricultural operating mechanisms. To do a good job in walnut industrialization, it is necessary to innovate mechanisms, link enterprises and farmers well by market economy methods, and realize integrated operation of production, processing and sales. Vigorously promote the "enterprise + base + farmer" operating model, establish a community of interests among all operating entities, effectively form a benefit distribution mechanism of "sharing risks and sharing benefits," properly handle the interest relationships among production, processing and sales, and realize true industrialized operation. Adopt various forms, and through developing "order agriculture," cooperative economic organizations and various industry associations and other methods, accelerate the formation of various communities of economic interests and improve the degree of organization of agricultural production.

  5. Change the government's management organs into service organs. The development of agricultural industrialization has put forward new requirements for the work of agricultural departments. Agricultural departments at all levels should improve their working methods and improve services to agriculture, shifting from the past direct management of taking everything on oneself and urging plowing and sowing to indirect management focused on guidance, coordination, support and service. It is necessary to establish the concept of a large market and large agriculture. One must not focus only on the small markets of the locality and the province to develop certain products, but should aim at domestic and international markets to develop large-scale industries; one must not grasp only the production of agricultural products, but must grasp production, processing and sales together; one must not grasp agriculture only for the sake of agriculture, but must grasp the opening up of agriculture and develop agriculture through attracting investment, intelligence and enterprises and by carrying out external economic and technological exchange and cooperation. In this way, a good external environment is provided for the healthy and stable development of the walnut industry, and a support and guarantee system for advancing walnut industrialization is established.

  Using industrialized operation to drive the development of the agricultural and rural economy is a long-term and complex socialized systematic project. It is a shock to the traditional mode of agricultural production and operation and a further improvement and development of modern production and operation concepts. For this reason, departments at all levels should take agricultural industrialized operation as the fundamental way to develop agriculture, increase farmers' incomes, realize rural industrialization and urbanization, and achieve the goal of leapfrog development, further increase policy support, and strive to create a suitable policy environment; they should truly change concepts, strengthen service awareness, eliminate departmentalism, overcome departmental interests, and jointly promote the smooth implementation of the strategy of driving development through agricultural industrialization.