Peaches have been grown in Shenzhou City, Hebei Province, which is located in northern China, for thousands of years. Legend has it that Liu Xiu, emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 to 220) from 25 to 57, once designated Shenzhou-grown peaches a tribute to the imperial court. Wu Rulun, a Chinese scholar who lived towards the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1911), also recorded the superb flavour of the Shenzhou peach in a local chronicle.

Known as Shenzhou Mitao cultivars, or Shenzhou honey peaches, and emerging from these historical origins, the peaches that Shenzhou produces are renowned for their large size, pleasing shape, vibrant colour, thin skin, quality mesocarp, and sweet, juicy flavour both in China and internationally in recent decades and benefit from a national geographical indication.

Shenzhou peach farmer and entrepreneur Li Zongquan was born in 1974 in one of the city's villages. Several generations of his family have grown peaches, which instilled a profound love for the fruit in him that began during his childhood. Li started growing peaches in 1996 and has accumulated extensive experience over the years.

Around this period, Shenzhou’s peaches were not managed well, commanded low prices, and experienced declining demand due to worsening quality and limited sales and marketing efforts, which caused local farmers to begin to lose interest in growing them, however; but Li eventually began implementing organic farming methods in order to address the situation. He replaced pesticide with insecticidal boards and lamps and chemical fertiliser with sesame cake and soybean meal, which effectively improved crop ecology. Li's efforts resulted in his peaches gaining recognition and customers coming to purchase them on an ongoing basis every year, breathing new life into Shenzhou's peaches.

In 2009, Li established a cooperative in order to consolidate peach farming resources. One hundred thirty households became members, and more than 1,000 mu of land was devoted to the organisation's peach farming endeavours. He also hired technical personnel to enhance peach cultivation management and established a robust fruit quality and monitoring system in order to ensure high levels of quality. Li registered a trademark known as Yutao Xuan that utilises traceability, which has led to high levels of customer satisfaction, and has made other important contributions to Shenzhou peach branding and marketing as well.

Prioritising quality and branding, the entrepreneur has consistently modified sales models. In 2016, he recognised the potential of internet development and established an online sales platform using websites, social media and instant messaging platforms such as Weibo and WeChat, and other channels, effectively integrating Shenzhou peaches with e-commerce. Li spearheaded the adoption of a unified, order-based sales model and started using carefully designed packaging in order to minimise losses during transportation. Shenzhou peaches eventually began to stand out among other peach brands in China and became popular with distributors in various areas. The cooperative's yearly sales increased, and peaches were sold to buyers in provinces such as Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Henan in central and eastern China. In late 2021, Li noted that more than RMB20,000 of sales were currently being achieved per mu and that this would have been unimaginable in the past. Prospects have become much more promising for Shenzhou's peach growers, which has greatly boosted their enthusiasm for the endeavour.

In recent years, Li has been promoting Shenzhou's peach culture on the internet, which has proven to be an effective way to expand the influence of his products. He also established a comprehensive tourist destination that takes advantage of local peach resources known as the Shenzhou Peach Culture Sightseeing and Picking Garden after leasing over 100 mu of land near his cooperative. Various facilities have been constructed and improved, pastoral sightseeing tours have been planned, and fruit picking, tourism, dining, and other services and opportunities have been made available. The Shenzhou Peach Culture Sightseeing and Picking Garden and the surrounding area also host the Shenzhou Peach Blossom Festival every April and the Shenzhou Peach Harvest Festival every August. Featuring a plethora of merchants, performances, and activities, the events have gradually transformed into highly anticipated cultural festivals that attract both locals and out-of-towners. Li has also developed various peach products, such as peach vinegar, peach wine, peach cakes, and carvings made out of peach wood, in order to strengthen the peach economy and has successfully promoted them to consumers throughout China via a combination of live commerce, offline promotions, and festival- and holiday-oriented marketing.

E-commerce can reduce five costs for agricultural business entities, including Li's cooperative. Firstly, consumers' food safety and quality requirements tend to be higher than they were in the past. Inspection and quarantine information covering the agricultural product production process can be provided and food safety reports can be generated online, achieving information transparency between producers and consumers and seamlessly connecting sales and procurement activities.

Secondly, e-commerce platforms can facilitate rapid communication between consumers and sellers, which can increase consumer trust levels and address the problem of low consumer stickiness and loyalty towards agricultural products.

Thirdly, farmers are sometimes issued IOUs from merchants, which can affect their production and livelihoods. With features such as real-time payment and third-party platform guarantees, mobile payment functionality can effectively reduce verification costs for farmers when selling to buyers and greatly reduce the risk of payment issues.

Fourthly, enabling efficient storage of transaction information, e-commerce makes it possible for manufacturers to gain comprehensive access to information. After reducing tracking costs, e-commerce can facilitate customisation and one-on-one marketing.

Fifthly, verification costs, which are related to tracking costs, are decreased since digital technology makes identity verification easier and enables reputations to be built online.

Social platforms and other systems facilitate credibility monitoring and assessment for Li's cooperative and other organisations that engage in agriculture. Quality and safety information associated with new business entities’ products is also more traceable online, which can improve trust. The internet is also an efficient and effective way to disseminate cultural stories associated with agricultural products and thus captivate consumers and encourage them to make purchases. The success that Li has had has involved putting these ideas into action, along with an organic approach to farming and other efforts, and is a good example of doing so.

Source:

AliResearch

Administration and Management Institute (AMI) of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA)