In early winter, it’s time for small yellow ginger in Rucheng county to be harvested and put on the market, and villagers are busy sending it to the storage. Rucheng county is a traditional gathering area for the small yellow ginger industry, with a planting history of over 100 years and an area of over 50,000 mu (3,333.33 hectares).

 

In recent years, the local government has focused on building bases, cultivating leading enterprises and creating brands, making unremitting efforts to extend the ginger industry.

 

A modern industrial park integrating storage, processing and sales has been built in Maqiao town, the main production area, driving and leading quality improvement and efficiency of the ginger industry and promoting its vigorous development.

 

Zhu Genquan has been planting ginger for some years in local areas and other places, with an average benefit of over 10,000 yuan per mu (0.067 hectares). When small yellow ginger is harvested, the ginger nationwide is also put on the market.

 

 

In the past, to alleviate sales pressure and achieve staggered gains, Zhu Genquan dug underground cellars near his home to store ginger.

 

However, the cellar is wet and damp, which always causes significant losses. Once the market improves, transporting ginger will also require a lot of manpower.

 

To address concerns of ginger farmers, in recent years, the county government has developed 46 professional ginger cooperatives in Maqiao town, introduced and cultivated five agricultural enterprises. 

 

With a total investment of over 150 million yuan, 80,000 cubic meters of standardized small yellow ginger cold storage facilities were built, supporting the scale-up of the small yellow ginger industry.  

 

As the head of Fuyuan Food Technology, Song Haijian, who is 45 years old this year, has been growing ginger for more than 20 years. “After I grew up, I began to engage in the small yellow ginger industry with my father.” 

 

 

He led to build a professional cooperative in 2012. Nowadays, the cooperative has grown from the initial 6 people to over 400 people, driving the development of over 3,000 mu (200 hectares) of ginger. It has been rated as a national demonstration farmers’ cooperative. 

 

In 2021, Song Haijian started the construction of a cold storage facility with a capacity of over 11,000 cubic meters. 

 

“Sending ginger into the cold storage, ginger farmers only need to pay a storage fee. This can reduce the previous loss rate of up to 20% to below 5%. Besides, there is also mechanical operation when ginger needs to go out of the warehouse for sales, which is much more convenient.” 

 

Song Haijian said that after the cold storage is completed, the ginger can go in and out of the warehouse in an orderly manner, maintaining full load operation all year round.

 

“Last year, the price of ginger was 7 yuan per kilogram when it was put into storage, and it doubled when it went on sale during the summer this year.”

 

 

“I didn’t expect it to be so popular, with phone calls flooding in for inquiry. In fact, the warehouse was fully reserved as early as June or July,” said He Wei, a villager from Zidong village. 

 

Over the years, He Wei has developed the e-commerce industry in Shenzhen, Guangdong province and accumulated assets of over 100 million yuan. In March of this year, he returned hometown to establish a company, with an investment of 40 million yuan to develop the small yellow ginger industrial chain.

 

The first phase project will build a cold storage and distribution center, a grading and sorting center, a logistics service center, a deep processing plant for small yellow ginger, etc..

 

The 30,000-cubic-meter cold storage was put into operation in October, with full storage soon. 

 

“The demand for cold chain continues to rise, and while we continue to improve the construction of the first phase project, we are simultaneously accelerating the launch of the second phase project.” 

 

He Wei said that after the small yellow ginger trading market is completed, it will open up a large platform for ginger trade all over the country, and build a solid guarantee for the rapid and stable development of the industry.

 

“Just this year alone, the industrial park has added 43,000 cubic meters of cold storage, 2,000 square meters of distribution centers, 2 processing production lines, and 1 cleaning assembly line. Compared to 2021, the cold storage capacity has increased from 10,000 cubic meters to 80,000 cubic meters, and the distribution and trading capacity has increased from 40,000 tons to 130,000 tons, showing a good development momentum.” 

 

Chen Guanzhou, secretary of the Party Committee of Maqiao town, said that now, five enterprises gathered in the small yellow ginger industrial park to store local ginger, and attract new ginger from ginger producing areas such as Shandong, Yunnan and Guizhou to come for distribution and trading. 

 

The popularity and influence of the industrial park are rising constantly. 

 

In the past, farmers would casually discard defective ginger and scraps in their hands when they went on sale, causing a mess and affecting the living environment. 

 

In 2022, Song Haijian introduced equipment to process defective ginger into ginger powder foot bath bags, soaked foot dried ginger slices, and other products, turning waste into treasure and increasing added value. 

 

At the same time, it has developed and produced a series of deep processed products such as dried ginger slices and ginger tea, increasing farmers' income and company efficiency. 

 

Last year, the company’s sales revenue reached over 15 million yuan.

 

Song Haijian will continue efforts in ginger cultivation and sales, and in developing ginger products. 

 

Now, Fuyuan Food has established stable and long-term partnerships with well-known enterprises such as Yanjin Shop Food, Guangzhou Gomore and Hunan Jiudaowan. 

 

However, Song Haijian still wants go further. He plans to export small yellow ginger to Southeast Asia like Japan. Now, the relevant customs clearance and approval procedures are under way. It’s expected to achieve this goal next year. 

 

Apart from Song Haijian, He Wei not only developed the ginger industry, but also developed a processing industry for local specialties and opened up the live e-commerce channel. His sales performance is impressive now.

 

“I have been engaged in e-commerce for many years, and applying my mature experience to the agricultural industry also drives the sales of other agricultural products,” said He Wei. His company established flagship stores on Tmall, Douyin and Pinduoduo platforms, with sales of over 40 million yuan so far. 

 

This year, the county government has added 4 green food certifications for ginger and two “vegetable basket” ginger production bases in the GBA. It has also developed over 300 ginger distributors in 32 provinces and cities across the country, promoting the sales of small yellow ginger in such cities as Changsha, Guangzhou and Nanchang. 

 

In addition, it has developed over 70 live streaming platforms for small yellow ginger products, established over 6,000 marketing outlets, and achieved an annual sales revenue of 180 million yuan.

 

Thanks to the cooperation agreement reached with Guangdong Yuanji Food Group, edible ginger powder of Rucheng county has been used in over 3,000 stores of Yuanji Food. 

 

Now, the annual comprehensive benefits of the ginger industry in the county have exceeded 2 billion yuan.

 

 

Chinese source: rednet