Banyuetan reporter Mao Zhenhua Song Rui

How to be well-known and popular with specialty agricultural products is a major problem that has troubled many places. Now, Xinkou Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin has found a solution: the local area is working hard to create Shawo radish fist agricultural products, and continues to make efforts in brand building, intensive production, and technological empowerment. Shawo radish has been sold all over the country, becoming a "weapon" for farmers to increase their income.

Radishes are abundant and farmers increase their income

Taking a bus to drive west from the central urban area of ​​Tianjin, the science and technology demonstration base of Shawo radish core production area, covering an area of ​​more than 50 acres, is caught in your eye. I bent down and walked into the glass greenhouse. The radish leaves were large and green, and they were growing happily.

Shawo radish is named after it is produced in Xiaoshawo Village and Dashawo Village in Xinkou Town on the southern canal of Tianjin on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It has a history of more than 300 years of cultivation, but for a long time, it has not become a "weapon" for local farmers to increase their income.

In the greenhouse, Shi Zhongwei, an expert from the Agriculture Committee of Xiqing District, told the reporter of Banyuetan that in the past, due to insufficient land transfer, Shawo radish was mainly planted by farmers independently and operated by family members, and the planting area was "flower arrangement" distributed, and field management was difficult, which hindered standardized and large-scale planting. "Laboring technological support, the family workshop style relies on its own experience to plant, and the product quality and taste are very different."

In 2024, Shawo radish was listed as one of the city's key cultivation brands by the Tianjin Municipal Government. Xiqing District immediately launched the Shawo Radish brand boutique cultivation plan. By determining that Guli Cooperative is one of the key leading enterprises, it breaks the original production and operation model of one household and gives wings to the industrial revitalization of Shawo Radish.

Ripe carrots are waiting to be packaged and put into the market Photo by Song Rui

"You can never miss development opportunities again." Hao Lihong, general manager of Guli Fruit and Vegetable Planting Farmers Professional Cooperative in Xiaoshawo Village, Tianjin sighed. She took the reporter from Banyuetan to the office and operated the computer to demonstrate how technology empowers radish planting. "Through the Internet of Things system and sensors installed in the shed, intelligent management is achieved. From seed selection, planting, maintenance to shedding, the 'growth trajectory' of Shawo radish is recorded in the entire process, and the quality of the Shawo radish planted in this way is better."

This technology has been promoted in more and more farmers' greenhouses, and many villagers have experienced the convenience of "growing radish on mobile phones", and the Shawo radish industry has also ushered in new development opportunities. Guli and Dashawo Village have carried out order-based cooperation and fully launched the order agriculture development model. The greenhouses of more than 300 signed farmers have been labeled. Farmers can receive technical training and guidance from experts from Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences during the planting process, and the radishes grown are packaged and sold to the cooperative according to the acquisition standards to achieve unified quality.

Under this cooperation model, villagers eventually become beneficiaries. Xinkou Town planted about 7,000 mu of Shawo radish. From October 2024 to February 2025, the output of Shawo radish planting and sales cycle is expected to be about 65 million jin, with sales of 250 million yuan, which significantly drives villagers to become rich and the village collectively grows.

Small radish gain popularity

Increasing income from growing radish is only the first step. In order to gain fame through solid foundation, the whole town attaches importance to breeding varieties and improves the quality of radish from the source. The science and technology demonstration base purifies and rebuilds the traditional "old flavor" Shawo radish seeds, and cooperates with the Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences to give priority to ensuring the supply of seeds with high market recognition and guide farmers to plant high-quality varieties with high added value according to their needs.

Zhao Jun, Party Secretary of Xinkou Town, said that the town has obtained special funds for district-level brand cultivation to build a 260-acre demonstration planting base in Dashawo Village. Nowadays, in accordance with the model of base demonstration, leading driving, technology empowerment, and brand improvement, we create replicable and popularizable demonstration models to form a radiation and driving effect.

The "golden signboard" must be protected. Xinkou Town formulated the "Regulations on the Use of Regional Public Brands of "Shawo Radish"" and stipulated the sales behavior of 50 authorized enterprises. Especially in promoting digital anti-counterfeiting traceability management, we will uniformly produce anti-counterfeiting identification codes. At the same time, we jointly with the market supervision department, hired a professional lawyer team to increase the crackdown on Shawo radish infringement.

The brand image of Shawo Radish is gradually gaining popularity. The team led by Hao Lihong was so busy that he rushed to Beijing to hold a special promotion meeting for Shawo radish, and rushed to Changsha, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and other places to participate in the exhibition... "We went 'north and south' all the way to open up the sales chain of Shawo radish." Hao Lihong said that this year, we will also cooperate with Greater Bay Area companies to sell Shawo radish to Hong Kong and Macao.