Field-side market demonstration helps farmers sell agricultural products conveniently
The "Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Deepening Rural Reform and Accelerating Agricultural Modernization" (Zhongfa [2014] No. 1) proposed to "support the construction of small agricultural product collection markets and collection and distribution centers at production areas," and the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture and 13 other ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Construction of the National Agricultural Product Market System," which clearly stated to "plan and build a number of national, regional and rural field-side production area markets." In 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture launched the field-side market demonstration. Drawing on practical experience and on the basis of thorough research, together with local agricultural departments, it explored the construction and operation models of field-side markets and achieved some results and experience, but these are not yet mature and require further exploration, practice and summary, with the aim of driving the construction of field-side markets, helping agricultural production and operation entities achieve "able to transport out, able to store, able to sell, able to profit," and promoting the improvement of agricultural product circulation efficiency.
Field-side markets are an effective means of serving farmers nearby and marketing agricultural products
Because for many years social capital and fiscal investment have mostly concentrated on the construction of urban consumption-area markets, problems such as insufficient quantity, uneven distribution, crude facilities and single functions of production-area markets, especially field-side markets, have become increasingly prominent, and they have become the weakest link in China's agricultural product market system. Under the urgent demand of the vast number of agricultural operation entities, various localities have explored and built a number of field-side markets, which have received positive responses and general recognition from farmers and dealers.
First, they make it convenient for farmers to sell. Without field-side markets, farmers would have to set out in the early morning and travel more than ten kilometers or even farther to wholesale markets to sell agricultural products. With the market built at the village field-side, farmers can spend a few minutes visiting the market to learn about prices and purchasing standards, then go back, pick and return to sell, without delaying farm work, and also saving transportation costs.
Second, they promote high quality at high prices. In field-side transactions, dealers learn more about farmers' production processes and product conditions, and can choose to purchase good products at high prices to achieve value-added results. Farmers can pick at the right time and choose when to sell, avoiding to a certain extent the quality suppression and price suppression of delivering to wholesale markets. Field-side markets carry out quality testing and commercialization processing, which is conducive to building brands. At the Shouguang apple field-side market, pollution-free apples that pass testing and enter the market for sale are priced 0.3 to 0.5 yuan/kg higher.
Third, they connect with market information. Field-side markets play the function of information dissemination and, to a certain extent, enhance farmers' bargaining position and pricing voice in market transactions. Guanshui and Liujiakuang fruit wholesale markets in Muping District, Yantai City, promptly publish market purchasing prices through electronic display screens, which helps fruit growers be on an equal footing when negotiating prices with purchasers. At the same time, dealers can bring consumption-area market information to the field-side, guiding farmers to a certain extent to set production according to sales.
Fourth, they reduce circulation losses. Establishing agricultural product cold storage and fresh-keeping and primary processing equipment at field-side markets allows agricultural products to be pre-cooled promptly at the production area, reducing circulation losses at the source. They enable direct handling and packaging at the field-side market according to sales requirements, avoiding the losses of bulk transport and repeated packaging.
Fifth, they improve circulation efficiency. Through a series of commercialization processes at field-side markets, the standardization level of agricultural product production and processing can be significantly improved, laying the foundation for the development of new and efficient agricultural product trading methods and circulation models such as "farmer-supermarket direct supply," "farmer-cooperative direct supply," auction trading and e-commerce.
Sixth, they promote industrial development. Field-side markets achieve effective connection between small-scale production and the demand of large markets, are conducive to cultivating production-area brands, and promote the coordinated and sustainable development of the agricultural product industry. The fruit market in Muping registered the trademarks "Yunlong Guoyuan" and "Biandixing" for its products, obtained Grade A green food certification, and promotes them in the form of billboards.
Strengthening the construction of field-side markets must be standardized and orderly
Over the past year, in practice we have worked hard to explore the promotion and development models of field-side markets, improve product collection and distribution, radiation and driving, information dissemination and commercialization processing functions, and formed some ideas and good practices, but further research is still needed to gradually form field-side market construction and operation models suitable for different varieties, different regions and different conditions, give full play to the demonstration role, drive the construction of field-side markets nationwide, and promote innovation in farmer marketing service mechanisms.
Objectives——The information service, logistics collection and distribution, and quality and safety testing capabilities of field-side markets are significantly improved. By publicly releasing relevant national agricultural product production and sales prices, guide the formation of agricultural product prices in villages and towns; through multi-channel collection and release of information on prices, production, supply and demand, services, science and technology, make field-side markets a platform for the collection, exchange and dissemination of industry information in the fields, provide farmers with true and effective information, solve the problem of information asymmetry, and guide farmers' production and trading. Through centralized trading and commercialization processing of production-area agricultural products, achieve the gathering and batch trading of agricultural products.
Layout——Field-side markets mainly deal in fruits, vegetables and specialty agricultural products that have obvious demand for production-area commercialization processing, storage or processing. The village or town where the market is located has a high degree of production concentration, has already formed a good market foundation, and has a relatively high degree of organization among farmer entities. The market must be able to radiate a certain distance and drive the sales of agricultural products over a certain area. According to the principle of balanced development in the east, central and western regions, with appropriate tilt toward the west, carry out field-side market demonstrations for fruits, vegetables, aquatic products and specialty agricultural products.
Mechanisms——Depending on the different construction and operation entities, the construction and operation mechanisms of field-side markets can be "public construction and public operation," "public construction and private operation" and "private construction and private operation." The government should actively encourage the development of "public construction and public operation" and "public construction and private operation" field-side markets, focus on highlighting the public welfare characteristics of field-side markets, have local governments lead the construction of field-side markets, and mobilize social capital investment. For markets with high construction and operation levels, the government may provide funding support in the construction of public welfare infrastructure such as site engineering, information service systems, cold chains, and quality and safety testing.
Key points——In light of the actual conditions and needs of various localities, strengthen market infrastructure and strive to achieve "a post-harvest processing site, a set of rapid quality testing facilities, a cold storage and fresh-keeping warehouse, a simple trading hall or shed, an electronic floor scale, a set of information collection and publication facilities" and "basic financial services," "production-area brand cultivation," "on-site information services" and "an operation mechanism of cooperative + broker + farmer." At the same time, while respecting current trading and settlement methods, encourage and support markets in using modern information technology and accelerate the promotion of electronic settlement.