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chinanews yinchuan, september 15th, title: ningxia: the whole industry chain protects the development of wolfberry and makes the small red fruit a "big industry" that enriches the people

author: li peishan and ma yaping

wolfberry is ningxia's "red business card" for the world, and the wolfberry industry is also one of ningxia's industries that enrich the people and have unique advantages. in recent years, ningxia has built a quality monitoring platform for the entire industry chain, "coded" wolfberries, and gradually established a high-quality development standard system for the entire wolfberry industry chain and the entire life cycle on the road to diversified development.

as the seasons change, from the fields to the tip of your tongue, every wolfberry from ningxia embarks on a journey full of miracles and value in a green, organic and safe environment.

a journey of growth with green

in september, the wolfberry harvest, which lasts for more than three months, has come to an end. walking into the xizan ecological wolfberry farm in zhongning county, zhongwei city, the "hometown of chinese wolfberries", the wolfberries are bathed in the autumn sun and their branches are bent into an arc. farmers are busy picking the last batch of wolfberries this year in the fields. looking around, this wolfberry planting base far away from the city and factories is full of greenery.

although wolfberry is rich in nutrition and has extremely high edible and medicinal value, during its growth process, it is affected by climate change, changes in the agricultural ecological environment, and other factors, and pests and diseases are frequent and high-incidence. pest and disease monitoring and prevention have always been an important factor in ensuring the quality and safety of wolfberry products.

according to zhang rong, a researcher at the institute of plant protection of the ningxia academy of agricultural and forestry sciences, in order to break the safety bottleneck during the growth stage of wolfberry, her team has developed an information-based monitoring and forecasting technology system for wolfberry pests and diseases, breaking through key prevention and control problems such as natural control by natural enemies, research and development of biological pesticides, reducing pesticides and increasing efficiency, and safe application of pesticides. it has promoted the application and promotion of the "five-step method" (early spring bud break, early fruit picking, summer fruit period, autumn fruit period, and before wintering) green control technology for wolfberry pests and diseases in various parts of ningxia, which has become an important guarantee for improving the green control capabilities of wolfberry pests and diseases and the quality and safety of wolfberry products.

at present, the regional wolfberry pest and disease information monitoring network and reporting system led by the ningxia academy of agricultural sciences covers 16 counties (districts), 62 townships (towns), and 174 villages in ningxia where wolfberry is grown. the 1,286 monitoring and reporting sample points have realized the normalization and real-time dynamic monitoring and forecasting of wolfberry pests and diseases. it only takes 48 hours from the start of real-time monitoring to the release of prevention and control plans.

after baskets of freshly picked wolfberries enter the processing workshop, workers pour them into the sink, wash them with tap water, send them to the conveyor belt to be sprayed with soda water, and then wash them twice before entering the drying stage. after going through layers of processes, not only are the dirt and other attachments on the surface of the wolfberries washed away, but the bacteria and tiny dust attached to the surface of the wolfberries are also absorbed. afterwards, the clean wolfberries will be dried by electric hot air using clean energy, which ensures the quality of the wolfberries throughout the process.

a technical testing journey

in ningxia, before wolfberries that have undergone green control complete their transformation and reach consumers' tables, they must undergo quality control and monitoring by four levels of testing agencies: national, autonomous region, municipal and county, and production and operation entity.

in april this year, the national lycium barbarum product quality inspection and testing center (ningxia) was officially established with the approval of the state administration for market regulation, marking the establishment of the "lycium barbarum national inspection center" in ningxia and its commissioning. "ningxia local lycium barbarum must undergo sampling and testing before entering the market, and we are also responsible for the sample delivery and testing work of various lycium barbarum producing areas across the country." ma ling, deputy director of the lycium barbarum national inspection center, said that safety indicators such as sulfur dioxide, pesticide residues, heavy metals, pathogenic bacteria, food additives, and physical and chemical indicators such as polysaccharides and soluble solids are the focus of lycium barbarum quality and safety testing.

at present, the ningxia laboratory of the hong kong standards and testing centre (stc) has been built in the chinese wolfberry national inspection center, and has completed the mutual recognition of the first batch of 30 parameters of laboratory data with the hong kong standards and testing centre (stc). in addition, four products of three chinese wolfberry companies in ningxia have obtained the "hong kong stc'quality seal'".

a journey full of wisdom

"careful consumers will find that there is a qr code on the packaging of each box of wolfberry. by opening your mobile phone and scanning the qr code, you can see key information such as the production date, batch number, processing company, and inspection report of this box of wolfberry, forming a complete traceability chain." hao xiangfeng, president of the ningxia wolfberry association and chairman of bairuiyuan wolfberry co., ltd., said that the attribute of ningxia wolfberry as both medicine and food determines that it is inseparable from the concept of health. "wolfberry also has the attributes of a tourism product. only by letting consumers see the real wolfberry can they build trust in ningxia wolfberry, and our wolfberry will be sold farther and farther."

at the same time, more and more online traceability live broadcasts are entering wolfberry planting bases and production workshops. when watching the live broadcast, consumers can get a close look at the "past and present" of wolfberry, and intuitively understand a series of processes from germination and fruiting to picking, storage, packaging, and transportation of wolfberry, allowing everyone to buy comfortably and eat with confidence.

nowadays, digitalization and information technology are developing rapidly. wolfberry big data, internet of things, cloud computing and other technologies are widely used in all aspects of ningxia wolfberry production. in zhongning county alone, the wolfberry traceability big data supervision platform has more than 130 traceable enterprises, more than 360 traceable products, and a total of 22 million quality traceability labels have been issued. in ningxia, the intelligent quality and safety supervision system of wolfberry products with "recordable production, traceable flow, storable information, and queriable identity" has become a reality.

by the end of 2023, ningxia has two regional public brands, "ningxia wolfberry" and "zhongning wolfberry", with a wolfberry planting area of ​​more than 325,000 mu, a fresh fruit output of 320,000 tons, a comprehensive output value of 29 billion yuan for the entire industry chain, and more than 120 kinds of deep-processed products in 10 categories, which are exported to more than 50 countries and regions. after inheritance and development, adhering to the right path and innovating, ningxia wolfberry is taking on a new look, and is achieving high-quality development towards large-scale planting, standardized management, standardized quality, market branding and integration on the road of integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism. (end)