The wolfberry industry faces three major development problems

Goji berry planting has both ecological and economic value and has an obvious effect in driving farmers out of poverty and is favored by farmers in the Qaidam Basin. Especially since the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”, the planting area of ​​medlar in Qinghai has doubled several times. The reporter learned that with the rapid expansion, overcapacity and uneven product quality and other common problems have become increasingly prominent, the industry has encountered development difficulties in the past two years. Industry experts believe that it is imperative to deepen the structure of the planting industry and extend the agricultural product industry chain.

　　 “Rich People’s Industry” encounters “winter”

　　 Yang Zuolu is a grower of the Fucai Plantation Cooperative in Delingha City, Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. He and three other families have contracted 1,300 mu of wolfberry land.

“The price of goji berries has fallen in recent years and sales are difficult. The year before last I raised money and only planted 700 acres of land. Last year, the market was even worse. Only one-fifth of goji berries were sold. This year, 700 acres of land cannot be planted. “Yang Zuolu said, the 1,300 acres of land can only be “set aside” at present, and he and his wife have embarked on the old way of going out to work, and they have also been in debt.

　　 Haixi Prefecture is the second largest planting base of wolfberry in my country. The wolfberry industry is the local “leading industry” and “enriching people’s industry”, with an output value of 5.1 billion yuan so far. The radiation of this industry has driven nearly 163,200 local farmers with a total of 242,000. In the past, many laborers in Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces also came to work, and the per capita income increased by more than 6,000 yuan in the picking season alone.

However, in the past three years, the market price of goji berries has been declining. Ordinary goji berries have fallen by about 13% every year. The average export price of organic goji berries this year is US$10/kg, which is only half of the price in 2014. However, organic goji berries have only organic fertilizer and plants per mu. The input cost of source pesticides is as high as 4,000 yuan, and the planting companies are unable to make ends meet, and the economic benefits of the wolfberry industry have fallen off the cliff.

　　Nuomuhong Farm, located in the Qaidam Basin of Haixi Prefecture, is currently the country’s largest and highest-altitude medlar contiguous planting area. The deputy head of the farm said casually that since 2017, growers who neither renew their contracts nor pay rent nor do field management have appeared in the farm. So far, the farm growers have owed a total of 25 million yuan in contract fees.

“The goods have crushed people to death.” said the director of a planting cooperative in Dulan County, Haixi Prefecture. He managed 103 farmers in the cooperative and planted 1,600 acres of black goji berries and 500 acres of red goji berries. In 2016 and 2017, the two years were accumulated. The loss was as high as 18 million yuan. “It turned out that when the wolfberry market was good, the cooperative society recruited poor households in the village to work, with a salary of 70,000 yuan per person per year and an extra 10,000 yuan in dividends. Now wolfberry cannot be sold, financing is very difficult, and there is no money to hire people. For poor households, only some wolfberry seedlings can be distributed for free, but no one grows wolfberry anymore.”

　　 Structural problems need to be solved urgently

　　 Similar to the development process of Yunnan maca, the wolfberry industry in Qinghai has experienced three stages of government encouragement of planting in the early stage, rapid expansion of the planting area in the middle stage, and overcapacity in the later stage. However, in the process of rapid industrial development, the problems of overcapacity, lack of technical support, and lagging in the construction of the marketing system have become increasingly apparent, which have become the three major “bottlenecks” restricting industrial development.

　　 First of all, the rapid expansion of planting area has brought about overcapacity. In 2008, based on the economic and ecological benefits of wolfberry, Qinghai began to develop the wolfberry industry with Haixi Prefecture as the origin. According to Li Shengye, deputy director of the Haixi Prefecture Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, the government adopted free saplings, technical guidance, and subsidies for agricultural machinery and equipment to encourage the masses to grow wolfberry in the early stages of industrial development.

“During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, the local wolfberry industry has ushered in the best period of development, and the average export price of organic wolfberry has reached US$20/kg.” said Zhao Yilin, general manager of Yilin Wolfberry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., Golmud City, Haixi Prefecture. In Dulan County, where wolfberry cultivation began, the average annual household income of former growers was as high as 200,000 yuan. Driven by profits, the planting area of ​​goji berries increased by 4.87 times in just a few years, but the price of goji berries increased by only 20% during the same period, and the price decline caused by the overcapacity of the industry also began to appear in the second half of 2015.

The reporter learned from the Haixi Prefecture Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau that the output of Qaidam wolfberry dried fruit reached 78,200 tons in 2017, but in terms of dried wolfberry production, so far the drying capacity of wolfberry equipment is less than 30,000 tons, and there are still about 50,000 tons. The goji berries need to be dried naturally.

　　In terms of processing and conversion, only about 3,800 tons of wolfberry were processed and transformed in 2017; in terms of product types, primary processed products such as dried fruit are the current main processing methods, and the phenomenon of homogeneity is serious.

　　 “The short industrial chain and low added value of products have become the shortcomings of the local wolfberry industry.” Li Shengye said.

　　 In addition, the construction of the marketing system does not match the scale of the industry. During the interview and research, the interviewed experts believed that the local wolfberry brands are diverse, but there is no regional public brand that has a strong influence in the wolfberry market, which has affected the popularity of Qinghai wolfberry in the market to a certain extent.

　　 Many wolfberry growers and heads of planting cooperatives reported that middlemen’s low prices and lack of sales are also a major cause of the industry’s losses. Yang Zuolu said: “In the past, every July or August when goji berries were fruiting, there were foreign distributors to buy goji berries. In the past two years, the market has been sluggish, and fewer people come to buy them, and the price is extremely low. We are anxious to spend money. The wolfberry will be sold at a low price, and there is no room for bargaining.”

　　 “Multi-pronged approach” to solve the problem

　　In view of the difficulties faced by the wolfberry industry in Qinghai, industry insiders and local grassroots cadres suggested that it is advisable to strengthen industrial planning, deepen the adjustment of planting structure, improve the marketing system, seize opportunities in the downturn of the industry, and promote industrial transformation through a multi-pronged approach.

“The area suitable for planting wolfberry is limited, and the continuous large-scale open-and-planting will have an impact on the native vegetation of the land. In addition, the use of groundwater has the potential to adversely affect downstream plants.” said Wang Zhanlin, director of the Qinghai Forestry Research Institute. Delimit suitable planting areas, and guide the gradual withdrawal of wolfberry planting in areas with excessive rainfall in the current planting areas.

　　At the same time, government departments should appropriately control the planting area through policy guidance to avoid blind expansion and the formation of vicious competition.

　　 Many interviewed experts believe that the downturn in the industry is not only a test of the ability to withstand market risks, but also an opportunity for industrial development and transformation. During this period, the government should clarify its functions, establish an industry quality standardization system, and improve industry access thresholds and supervision.

“Using a small amount of financial subsidies and policy dividends to guide enterprises in the deep processing and innovation of wolfberry products, encourage the establishment of cooperation platforms between enterprises and scientific research institutes, and promote the transformation of the industry from quantity to quality.” Pu, Chairman of the Dulan County Wolfberry Association Qing said that through policies to guide local enterprises and growers to focus on standardized planting, improve product quality, and increase product added value, can they meet the diverse needs of the consumer market.

　　 In addition, in terms of market sales, Qinghai wolfberry grains are large and thick, and have certain product advantages, but they are weak in resisting risks in the market and are still in a weak position. It is urgent to establish a relatively complete marketing system with brand building as the starting point.

To this end, several interviewees suggested that the use of trademark rights should be used to supervise goji berry farmers and planting companies, so as to form the core competitiveness of the Qinghai goji industry brand; at the same time, it is necessary to coordinate the allocation of resources from relevant departments at the provincial government level. Focus on shaping the regional public brand of wolfberry.

“While identifying the correct positioning and building a public brand, under the guidance of the government, enterprises should increase sales channels by building markets, entering supermarkets, and establishing e-commerce, and establish a Qinghai wolfberry trading market, thereby improving the Qinghai wolfberry marketing system.” Said Li Shining, president of the Damu Wolfberry Industry Association.