Sichuan province has added 102 distinctive agricultural products, including "Nanjiang Jade Rice," to the latest national list of premium specialty produce. This brings the province's total number of such recognized products to 711, securing its position as the third-highest in the country and marking a rapid expansion of its brand portfolio.
Broadening the Scope of Cultivation: From Individual Successes to a Comprehensive Brand Portfolio
The newly listed products from Sichuan are diverse, covering categories such as grains, oils, fruits, vegetables, livestock, poultry, aquatic products, and edible fungi. The scope of application has expanded beyond singular items like fruit or tea to encompass products across the entire agricultural sector, including crop cultivation, animal husbandry, and fisheries. As a major agricultural province, Sichuan is rich in produce but historically struggled to command premium prices due to a lack of strong branding. In recent years, the province has prioritized the development of nationally recognized specialty products as a key strategy to support local characteristic industries, providing support in funding, standard setting, and business cultivation.
This focus is part of a strategic effort to strengthen agricultural brands and enhance the competitiveness of "Sichuan-made" products. Over the past three years, Sichuan has secured certification for 520 new premium specialty products, significantly improving its national ranking. The application process is rigorous, involving multi-level government support to help enterprises establish comprehensive quality control systems covering every stage from farm environment management to cold-chain logistics and deep processing, ensuring products meet high standards, including those of the EU and the US.
Gaining national certification provides a significant credibility boost, increasing the visibility and reputation of local products. However, relying solely on individual product certifications is not enough to fully polish the "golden brand" of Sichuan's specialty agriculture. To build a more robust brand system, Sichuan has implemented a provincial public brand cultivation plan called "Tianfu Granary" and launched supporting action plans. These initiatives include six major actions focused on standardizing production, strengthening the brand portfolio, and establishing supportive regulatory systems to systematically cultivate and expand the "Sichuan-made" agricultural brand matrix.
Precision Efforts Across the Value Chain: From Field to Market
Inclusion on the national list is just the starting point for industrial development. The more critical goal is to enhance the added value of the agricultural industry through brand building, transforming products from merely being grown to being sold far and wide at good prices. Sichuan's approach involves strengthening industrial clusters and value chains. The province has launched an initiative to cultivate 100-billion-yuan advantage characteristic agricultural industry clusters, promoting the transformation of agricultural products towards deep processing and higher added value.
This involves guiding upstream enterprises to focus on quality over sheer scale, helping midstream "raw" products integrate with deep processing to activate the entire chain, and encouraging downstream businesses to precisely target market demand, thereby reconstructing the industry from the bottom up. For example, some tea companies are establishing high-standard production bases, introducing advanced processing lines, and innovating with new product categories to capture emerging market segments. The competition is shifting beyond product creativity and taste to encompass capabilities in processing and supplying raw materials for new beverage trends.
Efforts to accelerate the distribution of "Sichuan-made" agricultural products to other provinces and overseas markets are also underway. A recent five-year action plan focuses on cultivating high-quality entities capable of expanding beyond Sichuan and enhancing the international competitiveness of its agricultural products. This year, Sichuan will continue to organize international promotion events under the "Tianfu Granary" banner to help its products access broader overseas markets. The ultimate goal of agricultural brand building is to benefit farmers and increase incomes. Sichuan will continue to cultivate premium specialty products and advance the "Tianfu Granary" brand upgrade action to enhance the self-sustaining capacity of local characteristic industries, making them a genuine source of prosperity for the people.
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