By the Tsinghua-SAIS Dual Degree Program
From April 14 to April 16, 2023, Professor Tang Xiaoyang, Director of the Department of International Relations at the School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, led the 8th Tsinghua-SAIS dual degree program scholars and the members of the Qingsi Think Tank to conduct a field research in Xinyang City, Henan Province. Accompanied by leaders of Xinyang Government, Pingqiao District Government, Xi County Government, and the president of Xinyang Green Food Industry Association, the whole team visited Wenxin Tea Garden, Hongsheng Company, and Xinyang Green Food Industry Association, and held discussions with local government leaders. In the process of social practice, the team conducted a research on a series of topics such as the local agricultural development and “Xinyang Model” of rural revitalization.
1. Xinyang Maojian
To better understand the history, origin, production process, quality characteristics, and health benefits of Xinyang Mao Jian, the Tsinghua-SAIS dual degree program team chose the famous local Wenxin Tea Village as their first stop in Xinyang. Xinyang Mao Jian not only has a rich cultural connotation and historical background, but also shows the characteristics and charm of Xinyang local tea culture with its excellent quality and taste.
China is the birthplace of the global tea culture and the first country in the world to discover, utilize and cultivate tea trees. The Chinese tea ceremony is a quintessential representation of world tea culture, and tea culture is deeply integrated into the daily life of Chinese people. In the 18th century, tea became China’s first major export commodity, and this period was known as the “century of tea.” Chinese tea exports even became a status symbol in the West. Tea is not only a beverage, but also a bridge between China and the world, crossing history and borders, from the Silk Road, the ancient Tea Road to the modern Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road. It is beloved by people all over the world.
As one of the top ten most famous teas in China, Xinyang Mao Jian is not only a traditional beverage, but also reflects the profound heritage of Xinyang tea culture and people’s love and pursuit of life. Since 2010, China has conducted a comprehensive and centralized mechanism to evaluate the regional brand of tea, and Xinyang Mao Jian has been among the top ten of China’s regional public brand value of tea for 12 consecutive years. It currently ranks third in brand value list with a value of 7.108 billion yuan, becoming the only tea brand in Henan that has been continuously selected as one of the top ten in the country.
2. Hongsheng
In the afternoon, Professor Tang Xiaoyang and the students went to County Hongsheng Grain Products Co. Chairman Pan Daorong, General Manager Yang Jun, Party Secretary Yang Hongtao, Deputy General Manager Li Zhi and Gong Changfu of Hongsheng Company accompanied them to visit the Hongsheng Company wheat planting area and listened to the detailed introduction of the modern agricultural wheat planting operation by Chairman Pan Daorong and General Manager Yang Jun in the field.
Xixian Hongsheng Grain Products Co., Ltd. is a modern technology-based agricultural enterprise integrating grain cultivation, scientific and technological research and development, acquisition and processing, staple food production and storage and logistics, basically realizing the integration of three industries. Based on soil improvement, it adopts soil microbial balance technology, biological agents to control pests and diseases, insect traps and other comprehensive organic and green food standard planting technology, and integrates large-scale agriculture, from plowing, land preparation, seedling breeding, planting, plant protection, to harvesting, drying and other major production links, it applies production lines for intelligent mechanized operation, which improves agricultural production efficiency. The company has been awarded as “National Model Enterprise of Staple Food Processing Industry”, “National Key Agricultural Leading Enterprise of Agricultural Industrialization”, and a “High and New Technology Enterprise”, among others.
In December 2020, the base passed the assessment and acceptance by the expert group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and was awarded a license by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the China Green Food Development Center in January 2021, obtaining both organic and green certifications. Through developing its low-gluten wheat industry, Hongsheng leads local enterprises, cooperatives and farmers to develop transformational agriculture and actively seek a common market for farmers, cooperatives and small enterprises. Currently there are 7 small and medium-sized enterprises, 25 agricultural cooperatives and more than 27,000 households that have improved their income levels due to their joint participation in the development of high-quality low-gluten wheat industry.
The company is committed to promoting a combination of industry, academia and research, focusing on the empowerment of science and technology to agriculture to realize the benefits. Hongsheng Company actively cooperates with Henan Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences to jointly create new seed selection and growing infrastructure. Hongsheng promotes high-quality varieties suitable for the regional soil and climate while supporting industrialization in Henan Province. In 2021, Hongsheng’s scientific research center was recognized by the Henan Provincial Department of Science and Technology. This shows the company’s technical strength in the field of low-gluten wheat. The company regularly invites experts from the city and county agricultural academy of sciences at its own expense to train farmers. Since 2020, At present, the company has also organized more than 35 various scientific and technological service activities and trained more than 3,000 farmers across 17 villages. In addition, the company has invested 11 million yuan in special research and development funds, and signed a technical research and development cooperation agreement with Xinyang City Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Hongsheng has also planned the construction of a digital agriculture innovation application area, and intends to invest RMB 44.97 million to build a 10,000-mu research facility. In addition, the company has further proposed a development plan and goal of building the largest high-quality low-gluten wheat production base in China.
3. Seminar
In the evening, the group attended a “Seminar on High Quality Development of China’s Low Gluten Wheat Industry” with Guan Baochen, Deputy Secretary of Xixian County, Yang Changxing, Vice Mayor of Xixian County, leaders of Xixian County Agricultural and Rural Bureau, Xixian County Rural Revitalization Bureau, Xiangdian Town of Xixian County and other relevant units, Pan Daorong, President of Xinyang City Green Food Industry Association, and Yang Jun, General Manager of Hongsheng Company at Xixian County Conference Center.
Mr. Guan expressed a warm welcome to the visit of Prof. Tang and his delegation, and introduced the overview of the development of low-gluten wheat industry and rural revitalization work in Xixian County. Vice Mayor Yang Changxing made a report on the specific situation in the development of low-gluten wheat industry in Xixian County, showing the symbiotic situation of the upstream and downstream effects on the industrial supploy chain. The scale, annual output and quality of wheat cultivation in Xixian County have been increasing with such concerted efforts. Vice Mayor Yang Changxing also shared with the audience the future development plan of Xixian County for low-gluten wheat. Xixian County plans to further expand the production scale, enhance quality control, continuously improve product quality, build Xixian County’s own brand, extend their industrial supply chain, increase the added value, and continuously improve the market competitiveness and market awareness of Xixian County low-gluten wheat. Then, Yang Jun, general manager of Hongsheng Company, introduced the cultivation and promotion strategy developed for Xixian Hongsheng low-gluten wheat. Manager Yang summarized the development history of Hongsheng and its contribution to the fight against poverty, shared the business situation and business strategy as well as the measures for enterprises to actively undertake social responsibility.
Professor Tang firstly expressed his heartfelt thanks to the people’s government of Xixian County and Hongsheng Group for their warm reception and strong support. Prof. Tang reviewed the contents of the day’s visit and affirmed the positive impact of the low-gluten wheat industry in Xixian County on the county’s economic development and the improvement of the income level of local farmers, also noting that his student benefited a lot from the trip. Prof. Tang also raised specific questions from the visit to continue further discussion. Firstly, he asked how to use government subsidies to promote the low-gluten wheat industry? Secondly, how to divide work effectively between the farmers and the enterprises? Third, how to attract enterprises to grow low-gluten wheat? How to coordinate and guide the upstream and downstream enterprises to form more cohesive industrialization?
On the above questions, the leaders of Guan County, Chairman Pan and other relevant units of Xixian County Agricultural and Rural Bureau, Rural Revitalization Bureau and Xiangdian Town of Xixian County answered. Regarding subsidies, government subsidies for enterprises are mainly focused on scale standardized planting, land transfer costs, pest control and other related fields. About order agriculture, order agriculture is the main form of agricultural production combined with the company and farmers. The division of labor and cooperation between order farmers and companies is related to the quality control of wheat products, and different quality needs require different production methods. For example, Maotai and other head distilleries have high requirements for the quality of wheat raw materials, and the order farmers cannot meet the required wheat quality requirements, so the company needs to take the lead in organizing high-quality, large-scale planting. At present, in China, wheat farming is mainly carried out by family units. In family farms, the spontaneity of the members is high and the cost of staff supervision is almost nothing. When the land is transferred to the enterprise, although it is conducive to large-scale production, the supervision cost of the enterprise rises, considering that the labor motivation of the employed farmers may be reduced. The main consideration of adopting contract farming and family farming at this stage is based on farmers’ own will. In the process of developing modern agriculture, we should fully respect farmers’ wishes when making career choices, so that farmers who want to live off the land can have the opportunity to continue to live off the land. Regarding enterprise synergy and industrialization, although the cost of growing weak wheat is high, the benefits are large. It is difficult to rely on a single enterprise to make a brand name for wheat in Xixian County, so the government needs to guide more enterprises to join together, specialize in planting, harvesting and selling, to improve the quality of wheat and increase the added value.
The two sides also exchanged views on other aspects of economic development in Xixian County. The leaders of Xixian Agricultural and Rural Bureau and Xixian Rural Revitalization Bureau said that extending the industrial chain is necessary to increase added value. The county is constantly exploring the transformation of agricultural products and extending its own industrial chain, hoping to keep the “value of agriculture in the place of production” more often. In addition to weak wheat, products include hot and sour noodles made from locally grown sweet potatoes and peanut butter made from locally produced peanuts, which are sold all over the country and have formed a certain brand effect. President Pan also said that at present, Xixian County is actively using its advantages of high-quality land, water and climate to grow production of China’s staple foods, while striving to promote pollution-free agricultural industrialization.
The accompanying students also raised questions about fertilizer and pesticide control and territorial policy implementation. Regarding the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the county has promoted the concepts of environmental protections, green production and development to the public. It also has investigated and punished units and individuals who use chemical fertilizers and pesticides in violation of the law. Regarding how the policy is implemented on the ground locally, the comrades in charge shared that various provinces and cities and localities are still exploring and implementing new and innovative solutions.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Guan concluded that the real revitalization of the countryside is not simply to let people stay in the countryside, but to achieve high-quality development, so that people who stay in the countryside can also live a material and spiritual rich life.