After more than 30 years of hard work, the development of China’s green food industry has passed its 30th year. At the end of 2021, China Green Food Development Center issued the Outline of the Development Plan of Green Food Industry in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) (the Plan). The plan shows that in 2020, the total number of green food production enterprises in China reached 19,321, and the total number of products reached 42,739. 742 standardized production bases of green food raw materials were established, covering an area of 170 million mu. The total amount of green food exceeded 200 million tons. The sales of green food exceeded 500 billion yuan, and the export value exceeded 3.6 billion dollars.

The shining numbers reflect the solid steps and vigorous vitality of China’s green food development. Zhang Huarong, Director of China Green Food Development Center, said that the scale of China’s green food industry will expand steadily during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. “The total number of green food enterprises will reach 25,000, the total number of products will reach 65,000, and the standardized production base of green food raw materials will reach 800. The pass rate of quality sampling inspection of green food products reached 99%, ensuring that no systematic major quality and safety incidents occurred.” Zhang Huarong said.

If we do not stop, the future will be promising. How to write “green” articles in the 14th Five-Year Plan period? The introduction of the Plan will point out the direction for the high-quality development of green food industry in China during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. As a key period to comprehensively promote the green transformation and high-quality development of agriculture, green food will shoulder more responsibilities and play a greater role during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

Promote industry

The proportion of national and provincial leading agricultural industrialization enterprises, large food processing enterprises and export enterprises has increased significantly.

In winter, in the National Agricultural Science and Technology Park in Lu’an, Anhui, the thin-skinned peppers covered branches. Here, 2 million seedlings of “Wanjiao No.10” can be cultivated every year, promoting the planting area to exceed 1,000 mu. In recent years, Lu’an City has continuously promoted the construction of production, processing and supply bases of green agricultural products, and built a “big vegetable garden” in the Yangtze River Delta. “Our park radiates 36 villages and has cultivated land area of about 80,000 mu. The main industries are the production and processing of green rice and vegetables, including the application and promotion of agricultural achievements, the integration of agriculture and tourism, etc. It can be said that it is not only the ‘rice bag’ and ‘vegetable garden’ in the Yangtze River Delta, but also a big platform for the integration of the three industries.” Ruan Qiqi, Deputy Director of Shucheng County Institute of Agricultural Sciences, said.

In recent years, all parts of the country have focused on the green food industry, accelerated the transformation of agricultural development mode and promoted the high-quality development of the green food industry. During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, the average annual growth rate of certified enterprises and products of green food reached 15.1% and 12.8% respectively. In 2020, green food products covered crops, livestock and poultry, aquatic products and other bulk agricultural products and processed foods. Rice, flour, soybeans, fruits and edible fungi, etc. have accounted for 5%-10% of the total similar products, and the market share of products such as machine-made sugar and edible salt has exceeded 25%. The scale of green food industry has steadily expanded.

In fact, with the rapid growth of residents’ income, how to meet consumers’ demand for green and high-quality agricultural products has become an important issue. According to the Plan, the key to improve the development level of green food industry lies in cultivating a number of large-scale and powerful production and operation entities and building a number of high-quality and high-level standardized production bases.

In terms of optimizing the product structure, in addition to vigorously developing rice, wheat flour, vegetable oil, vegetables, fruits, meat, aquatic products and other “rice bag” and “vegetable basket” products closely related to people’s lives, we will also speed up the filling of shortcomings of livestock and poultry and aquatic products, guide grassland areas with good ecological environment to develop herbivorous livestock and poultry products, and guide large lakes, reservoirs and ponds and other natural waters with good natural conditions to develop green aquatic products.

Agricultural enterprises are the “leaders” of agricultural industrialization, and their leading role is very obvious. The Plan points out that it will focus on supporting national and provincial agricultural industrialization leading enterprises, large-scale food backbone enterprises, export enterprises and farmers’ professional cooperative demonstration societies to develop green food and give play to their role in brand leadership. At the same time, we will actively promote the construction of the base, actively develop a number of green food production materials enterprises with large scale, high production capacity, good reputation and strong industrial driving ability, vigorously promote the application of green food production materials, accelerate the development of green food feed, and crack the bottleneck of the development of green food livestock and aquatic products.

Stabilize quality

The standard system of green food has been continuously improved, the leading role of standards has been highlighted, and the quality assurance ability has been continuously enhanced.

Quality is the life of green food. As a specific product quality certificate, the label of green food has become the representative of the image of high-quality fine agricultural products in China. During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, the pass rate of green food sampling inspection remained above 98%, the product quality remained stable at a high level, and no major agricultural product quality and safety incidents occurred. The achievements are inseparable from the continuous strengthening of relevant support and guarantee capabilities.

Related planning data show that during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, 85 green food standards were revised, 140 green food standards were effectively used, and 212 green food production operation procedures were organized. Through the establishment of a scientific, rigorous, standardized, efficient, fair and authoritative label licensing review procedure, 5 regulatory systems, including annual inspection of enterprises, product sampling inspection, market supervision, risk early warning and product announcement, have been improved.

Entering the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the whole quality control system will be further improved. Specifically, first of all, we should implement standardized production, actively carry out research on the quality and nutrition indicators of green food, and formulate the quality and nutrition indicators of 10 types of products such as tea, fruit wine and aquatic products. Secondly, we should continue to compile (revise) a number of regional green food production operation procedures and encourage all localities to formulate production operation specifications according to local conditions. We should strengthen the standard training for the main body of green food production and operation, and realize the production according to the standards.

At the same time, it is necessary to strictly check the licensing of labels, strictly implement the minimum application scale of vegetables and fruits, parallel production management and other measures, and effectively improve the entry threshold. We will fully implement the review and standardization actions, organize the revision and improvement of the review system, clarify the responsibility of grading review, strengthen the systems of on-site inspection and renewal verification, establish and improve the review information notification mechanism, and improve the quality and efficiency of review.

In addition, for enterprises, the behavior of reviewing and using green food standards is by no means once and for all. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, we will continue to improve the green food supervision system, strictly implement 5 supervision systems: annual inspection of enterprises, product sampling inspection, market supervision of labels, risk early warning and product announcement, and increase supervision and inspection of the implementation of the supervision system. At the same time, we will strengthen the elimination and withdrawal mechanism, and cancel the right to use the label in time for unqualified enterprises and products; strengthen the awareness of intellectual property management and continue to conduct registration, protection and rights protection of green food labels and trademarks; actively cooperate with the market supervision departments to intensify the crackdown on counterfeit green food products, purify the green food market environment, and maintain the brand credibility.

Strengthen brand

The credibility and influence of green food brands have been further enhanced, their loyalty and reputation have been further improved, and the leading role of green consumption has been significantly expanded.

In Kunming, Yunnan, a unique green food promotion and live streaming product sales activity attracted people’s attention. Many netizens paid for the products with their green and healthy positioning. According to the head of the event, in recent years, by firmly grasping the momentum of the rapid development of the digital economy, the transformation and upgrading from traditional marketing to e-commerce mode have been realized, and the e-commerce marketing platform of “Selected Yunnan State Farm Products” green food has been built, and the digital experience center of green food has been built. Live streaming sales of agricultural products with Yunnan Plateau characteristics has been carried out, and online and offline sharing platforms have been opened, and the brand of “Green Farming” has been empowered with brands and industries.

The high recognition of the market is the best footnote for the sustainable and stable development of green food for many years. Over the years, green food has won the recognition and trust of consumers with its scientific standards, excellent quality and unified image. At present, the awareness rate of green food labels of consumers in the first, second and third tier cities in China has reached 73.5%. According to market research, the price of green food is about 20% higher than that of similar ordinary food on average.

How to further polish the “golden signboard” of green food? The plan shows that the brand influence and credibility of green food need to be further enhanced. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, we will continue to build excellent brands of green food, highlight the characteristics of safety, quality and nutrition of green food, dig deep into the connotation of green food brands, strengthen the publicity of green food brands, and continuously enhance the awareness, popularity and reputation of green food brands.

At the same time, in order to further expand the market share and influence of green food and improve consumers’ satisfaction and loyalty, it is necessary to speed up the construction of professional marketing system; encourage the development of new formats and modes of green food circulation, support green food production enterprises and marketing enterprises to create e-commerce platforms, strengthen cooperation with large-scale well-known e-commerce platforms, carry out online marketing and live streaming sales of green food, and vigorously support third-party platforms to develop new retail methods of green food direct distribution and online and offline combination.

Link: http://www.jgs.moa.gov.cn/rzde/202203/t20220310_6391531.htm