On August 28th, fruit farmers packed apples in Fangxiang Village, Yongxiang Town, Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province. Xinhua News Agency reporter Tao Mingshe
Since the beginning of this year, the price of apples has continued to rise, which is due to natural disasters such as frost, which led to the reduction of production in the main apple producing areas. This reflects that the apple industry has a weak ability to resist natural disasters and market risks, and at the same time faces rising costs such as labor and land. A few days ago, the Economic Daily reporter walked into the main apple producing areas to learn about the problems encountered in the transformation of the apple industry.
Since the beginning of this year, due to tight supply, the price of apples has been rising continuously. The average monthly retail price of first-class red Fuji apples in Shaanxi market was once close to 9 yuan per catty. Why is the supply of apples suddenly reduced? What are the challenges facing the development of Apple industry? The Economic Daily reporter recently came to Shaanxi, one of the main producing areas of apples, to find out the source.
The ability to resist natural disasters needs to be strengthened.
"At present, the total planting area of apples in China is about 38 million mu, and the output of Bohai Rim region and Loess Plateau region accounts for more than 85% of the total output of apples in China." Cha Yangliang, the stationmaster of Xianyang Horticulture Station in Shaanxi Province and the stationmaster of Xianyang Comprehensive Experimental Station of National Apple Industry System, told the reporter.
More than 10 years ago, Shandong ranked first in the country with more than 9 million mu of apple planting area. In recent years, with the adjustment of planting area, the apple planting area in Shaanxi Province has developed rapidly, reaching 10 million mu at present. The output of apples in Gansu has also increased to be second only to Shaanxi and Shandong.
With the transfer of planting area and the expansion of planting area, the influence of weather on apple planting has become more and more prominent. In the face of natural disasters such as frost, gale and hail, the defense ability of the existing technology is very limited. In April, 2018, Shaanxi apples suffered a frost that had not happened for many years during the flowering period, resulting in a large reduction in production, which became one of the main reasons for the sharp price increase of apples this year.
According to reports, more than 20 years ago, the flowering period of apples in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province was mostly in mid-April, a little later than now, and the probability of encountering frost was small. However, with the change of environment and temperature, the flowering period tends to advance, which leads to the annual flowering period just encountering frost in recent years.
"Traditional methods mainly rely on measures such as smoking and spraying water to alleviate the impact of frost, but last year, we encountered a longer and lower temperature frost, and these methods could not solve it." Cha Yangliang said that researchers are now studying delaying flowering to avoid frost, such as watering apples before they sprout in spring to delay germination, and then delaying flowering to avoid frost. However, this method needs to comprehensively consider the actual situation of water shortage in the Loess Plateau and the possible cost increase.
Experts believe that there are multiple factors behind the transfer of apple’s main producing area to high altitude areas, and the shift from pursuing "high yield" to pursuing "high quality" is one of the core driving forces.
At the same time, the pressure of planting structure transformation is increasing. Liquan County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province is a famous production base of high-quality apples in China and the largest fruit distribution center in northwest China, with an annual output of millions of tons of apples and an annual distribution of more than 3 million tons of fruits. Cui Haiyang, chief engineer of the Fruit Industry Bureau of Liquan County, told the reporter: "Early and middle ripe apples in Liquan County only account for 17.5% of the total apple area, forming ‘ Shortage of early maturity, insufficient middle maturity and excessive late maturity ’ The variety pattern of. The proportion of late-maturing varieties is too large, and the listing is concentrated, which makes the fruit sales pressure increase. Therefore, we are now focusing on accelerating the transformation of fruit structure. "
Scale development should also reduce labor costs
For a long time, insufficient planting scale is an important factor restricting the development of modern apple industry. Nowadays, in the northern counties of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, the trend of large planters and social capital developing large-scale planting through land transfer is becoming more and more obvious. It is understood that there are more than 20 enterprises with an apple planting scale of more than 500 mu in Xianyang; There are more than 100 large-scale farmers, cooperatives and enterprises.
Zhang Zhaolong, head of production of Shaanxi Fruit Industry Group Liquan Co., Ltd., told reporters that the company’s planting base has transferred 1,000 mu of land, of which 800 mu is planted with apples, and the rest are planted with peaches and grapes. This year’s apple output is expected to reach about 500,000 Jin.
The reporter walked in the planting base of Shaanxi Fruit Industry Group Liquan Co., Ltd. and found that there was a sharp contrast between the two sides of the road: on the one hand, there was an orchard planted on a large scale, with tall and straight fruit trees and plump apples; On the other side is the farmer’s own orchard, with sparse leaves and thin fruit. "Many young people have gone out to work, and there is a lack of manpower at home. The orchard is neglected and even abandoned." Zhang Zhaolong said.
"Once young people go out to work, they rarely come back to grow apples. Why? Earn a lot outside, and it is not as hard as planting fruit trees, and the risk is still great. " A local villager told reporters.
The advantages of large-scale planting are obvious, but it is followed by problems such as increased land transfer costs and shortage of manpower. "We have hired more than 40 people, and the per capita salary is about 3,000 yuan. The salary cost of employees will be more than 1.5 million yuan a year." Zhang Zhaolong said that the company is starting to build a new orchard, which can better realize mechanized operation. After completion, it is expected to reduce the labor cost by about 70%.
Cha Yangliang said that at present, both apple planting techniques and management methods are developing in the direction of saving labor. For example, in the past, it was mostly artificial fruit thinning, but now it can greatly save labor by spraying flower thinning agent; The labor-intensive bagging technology of apples will gradually be replaced by bagging-free cultivation technology.
Strengthen the industrial chain to resist market risks
In addition to the challenges in production, the storage and sales of the Apple industry still need to strengthen the chain. Experts believe that at present, the storage of apples in cold storage accounts for a low proportion of production in China. If the storage capacity of cold storage can be further improved, the sales chain will be lengthened, the ability to cope with production risks and market fluctuations will be improved, the risk of unsalable sales will be reduced, and the interests of fruit farmers will be better safeguarded.
Bai Pingjun, the person in charge of cold storage management of Shaanxi Qingfeng Modern Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. told the reporter, "Our cold storage scale is about 10,000 tons, and the storage cost is about 2 cents per catty. Last year, the fruit was greatly reduced by the disaster, and only 70% of the cold storage was used; This year’s fruit harvest is expected, and the reserves will definitely be even greater. "
Now in Liquan, there are 105 modern cold storages like this, with a storage capacity of 350,000 tons, an annual supply period of 10 months, and an annual storage appreciation of over 100 million yuan. At the same time, Liquan has also built more than 200 fruit packaging bags, packing boxes and foam net factories, becoming the largest production base of fruit packaging materials in northwest China.
"Although the Liquan apple industry has been developing steadily and the industrial chain has been continuously improved for many years, there are still some problems. For example, fruit enterprises generally have problems such as small scale of operation and weak processing value-added ability, and lack deep processing projects such as fruit vinegar, fruit wine and preserved fruit. " Cui Haiyang said that at present, we are fully implementing the cultivation project of new fruit business entities, supporting a number of new fruit business entities with the integration of primary and secondary industries, moderate scale and diversified operations, cultivating a model family farm, demonstration cooperative and demonstration agricultural industrialization consortium, and promoting the continuous upgrading of Liquan fruit industry.
"Compared with the past, Apple’s sales channels are wider, but off-site sales, retail and wholesale are still the mainstream, and the proportion of e-commerce sales and direct docking of production and marketing is very limited. This situation has restricted the further development of the Apple industry. " Cha Yangliang said that to further broaden the sales channels, it is necessary to connect farmers with family farms and cooperatives more closely, reduce management costs through scale, and realize fruit classification. Under the support of large-scale production and quality classification, it will bring more opportunities for sales and make growers more profitable, thus forming a virtuous circle. (Reporter Dong Bijuan Lin Huocan)
