Xinhua News Agency, Jinan, August 10th Question: Does the price of ordinary vegetables increase 10 times when you spend some money on branding? — — Health vegetable certification chain tracking
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Shao Kun, Richard Chang and Wang Yang
At present, in large supermarkets in many cities, besides ordinary bulk vegetables, there are often sales areas for brand vegetables. Unlike ordinary vegetables, which are sold in large quantities, these vegetables are mainly packaged in small packages such as 2 onions, 3 cucumbers and 4 peppers, and are labeled as "pollution-free", "green" and "organic".
The price of branded vegetables is several times higher than that of ordinary vegetables, and the price of organic vegetables is as high as 10 times. However, some insiders revealed that some of the "aristocrats" in these vegetables are not true, but they are actually ordinary vegetables, and the qualified rate of organic vegetables is even less than 10%.
Although the price of healthy vegetables is high, the profits of farmers and enterprises are not high.
On July 30, the reporter saw in Shanshui RT Mart Supermarket in Jinan that the price of ordinary bulk tomatoes was 1.99 yuan per catty, and the price of a brand of tomatoes labeled "green" was 14.8 yuan per catty; Bulk cucumber is sold in 2.3 yuan per catty, and the price per catty with brand and "green" label is 6.8 yuan. On the e-commerce platform, the online sales price of a certain brand of organic tomatoes is 25 yuan per catty, which is more than 10 times that of ordinary tomatoes.
Although the price of green and organic vegetables sold in supermarkets is high, the income of vegetable farmers has not increased much.
Dailou Village, Heguan Town, Qingzhou City, Shandong Province, is a concentrated vegetable planting area. Liu Guanjun, a vegetable farmer, once supplied a brand of green vegetables. He said that green vegetables have high requirements on pesticide residue standards and quality, and each batch should be sampled. In order to meet the supply requirements, it is necessary to make insect nets and use biological pesticides, which takes a lot of time. Calculated, the cost of cucumber per mu will increase by more than 500 yuan, but the output is about 1000 kg lower.
Enterprises that operate high-end vegetables also feel that the profits are not great.
Ci Runyu, chairman of Youwo Organic Agriculture Co., Ltd. said that in order to manage organic vegetables, the company did not plant anything on the land in the first three years, but buried soybean meal and slowly "raised" the land to meet the requirements of organic soil standards. "It has been six years since we started to make organic vegetables, and we are losing money every year. We are ready to lose money for eight years."
Li Aihong, deputy general manager of Shandong Liaoyuan Science and Technology Co., Ltd. said, taking green cucumbers as an example, in order to make vegetable farmers motivated, the company’s purchase price is 20 cents higher than the market price per catty, and the cost per catty is at least increased by 1 yuan. In addition, there are expenses such as employee salaries, logistics and transportation, and supermarket shopping guide salaries.
Zhu Zaijun, chairman of Shouguang Vegetable Farmers’ Home Association, said that in the supermarket, the cost of sales has suddenly increased. In some supermarkets, the entrance fee is as high as 20%, and the admission fee is charged by category, and the settlement time is more than half a month.
"The sales volume of green vegetables is only about one tenth of that of ordinary vegetables. If vegetables can’t be sold, they will rot. According to the price, it is good that the payment rate can exceed 70%. " Li Aihong said.
Li Aihong said: "Without pesticides and fertilizers, the labor cost is greatly increased. Real organic vegetables can only be guaranteed at a price several times or even 10 times that of ordinary vegetables. "
In addition to cost and market problems, the most worrying thing for green vegetable operators is that this high-end vegetable market is full of mixed fish and dragons. Some merchants use ordinary dishes to imitate green and organic dishes, which leads to a large number of shoddy products entering the market, and even to a certain extent, the phenomenon that bad money drives out good money.
A green vegetable dealer said that some companies that produce ordinary vegetables are not certified, but they also imitate the packaging of green vegetables, and their appearance is very similar. "They sell as much money as we sell, and consumers mistakenly think that they are all the same." He said.
Cui Dayou, head of Junhui Farm in zouping county, Shandong Province, has been engaged in organic agriculture for 8 years and has cooperated with famous hotels and restaurants in Jinan and Zibo. "They used organic dishes several times and thought it was really good, but they didn’t need it after the high cost. They can continue to pretend to be our brand." Cui Dayou said that he had seen vegetables sold under the banner of his enterprise in other places, but at first glance they were not produced.
Counterfeiting happens from time to time, and certificates can be handled with money.
It is understood that the standards of pollution-free, green and organic vegetables are different. Pollution-free means that pesticides and fertilizers are allowed to be used, but highly toxic and residual pesticides cannot be used; Green is a transitional product from pollution-free to organic development; Organic standards have the highest requirements, not only prohibiting the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the production and processing process, but also having strict requirements on the surrounding planting environment such as soil and water quality. It is considered as pure natural, pollution-free, safe and nutritious food, and almost becomes synonymous with health.
Although the price is higher, with the concept of green consumption deeply rooted in people’s hearts, high-end healthy vegetables are increasingly welcomed by the people.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, since the green food project was started in 1990, there have been more than 10,000 green food enterprises in China, with nearly 25,000 products and a base area of nearly 200 million mu. Some products have accounted for 5% to 8% of the total amount of major agricultural products. Since the certification of organic agricultural products in the agricultural system was launched in 2003, there are nearly 1,000 certified enterprises and 4,000 products in China, and the number is still increasing.
So, are the vegetables with various certification labels genuine?
A number of business leaders engaged in vegetable production and management said that it would be a good achievement for vegetables that really meet the organic standards in the market. "The certificate agency has been commercialized, and it can be done with money." A person in charge of the company said.
The reporter learned that there are many certification bodies of organic certificates, such as Zhonglv Huaxia and Wuzhou. Some online agencies say that they can handle the certificates of these institutions, and the processing period ranges from two months to six months.
The reporter contacted an agency. The salesman said that it costs 26,000 yuan for the organic certification of Zhonglv Huaxia, and the other 18,000 yuan. When asked if "the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides will fail the audit", the business person said, "Don’t have these things on site during the inspection, and the products can’t be detected."
The reporter’s investigation found that there are also gaps in product testing. According to the accreditation process, after the on-site audit, the inspector will issue on-site inspection of pesticide residues, heavy metals and other items. Then the inspected person sends the sample to a laboratory in Beijing for testing and pays the testing fee.
The salesman reminded me that because it is self-inspection, we should try our best to select products that have no problems and mail them to the testing center, which will generally pass smoothly. The certification of Zhonglv Huaxia is difficult to pass. If the vegetables produced use pesticides and fertilizers frequently, other units can be certified.
According to the relevant regulations, there should be no pollution sources such as garbage dumps and chemical plants around the planting base of organic vegetables. However, the business person said that the plants planted in the village can generally be used, and there is no clear requirement on the distance. The minimum requirement is "invisible" and everything else can be operated.
Many vegetable producers said that even with organic certificates, it is difficult for products to truly achieve organic quality. According to the standard, using chemical fertilizers and pesticides once cannot be called organic. However, it is impossible for technicians to stare at cooperatives and farmers every day, and it is impossible for inspectors to stay in greenhouses 24 hours a day. "Quality mainly depends on the self-discipline of production enterprises and farmers." A manufacturer said.
Enhance the credibility of green certification and establish a traceability system for enterprises.
In 2017, the No.1 Document of the Central Committee emphasized that the authority and influence of domestic green and organic agricultural products certification should be accelerated, and the credibility of green food brands should be enhanced in a more prominent position.
How to solve the phenomenon that ordinary vegetables pretend to be green, organic and other high-end vegetables for sale? Agricultural experts said that some certification bodies are unprofessional and irresponsible because of the low threshold for certification bodies and the lack of supervision over certification activities. After the approval of certification, due to personnel and energy, post-certification supervision is not in place.
Zhou Qingjie, a professor at the School of Economics of Beijing Technology and Business University, said that at present, all kinds of food certification in China are mainly base certification rather than product certification, and the certification industry is developing abnormally. The number and frequency of vegetable trading are large, but the production subject is not organized and the scale is small, so it is very difficult to supervise.
Experts put forward the following suggestions: open the information of certified enterprises and accept the supervision of the government and the public; Improve the qualification threshold of certified enterprises and establish a professional team; Introduce third-party supervision in the authentication process.
Ma Aiguo, the chief animal husbandry minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, has publicly stated that it is necessary to bring the quality sampling inspection of green food and organic agricultural products into the scope of routine monitoring, law enforcement sampling inspection and risk assessment monitoring. Resolutely crack down on signs infringement, counterfeiting and nonstandard use of marks and other phenomena and behaviors. It is reported that in 2016, China cancelled the right to use the logo of 110 green food products.
Zhu Zaijun said: "To produce high-quality agricultural products, enterprises must establish a closed system that can be traced back to the whole process of production, brand maintenance and sales."
Liu Tongli, deputy head of the Agricultural Economics Sub-committee of Shandong Agricultural Expert Advisory Group, suggested that the management department should strengthen online monitoring of production bases to reduce OEM counterfeiting. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the detection of vegetables and make the results public to consumers.
In fact, only from the appearance and taste, it is difficult for ordinary consumers to distinguish whether vegetables are ordinary or green and organic. Li Aihong reminded that when buying vegetables, don’t just look at the appearance packaging, but also carefully read the contents on the label. Some high-priced vegetables that don’t have a "green" or "organic" logo must be counterfeit high-end vegetables.
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