LANZHOU, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- As most people in rural China prepare to relax over the slack farming season, Meng Zezhi is hard at work shoring up two multimillion dollar deals.
In 2015, an agricultural association led by Meng in Wuwei, northwestern Gansu Province, signed two contracts to sell local produce to Kazakhstan after a government program encouraged farmers to form collectives and sell to foreign countries.
By the end of the year, they had sold more than 100 tonnes of onions, sunflower seeds and a variety of Chinese medicinal plants to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan via international freight trains opened in 2014.
"Their offers are much better," Meng said. "For each tonne of onion, for example, we can get 1,500 yuan (228 U.S. dollars) more than from domestic buyers."
The "pool-and-sell" model is part of a government campaign to open foreign markets for farmers in Gansu. After the success of Meng and his colleagues in Wuwei, it is now being implemented across the province.
PILOT PROJECT
With favorable geological conditions, Wuwei boasts abundant farms that grow onions, cucumbers, potatoes, apples and grapes. In the past, small-scale production and a lack of transportation facilities have limited local farmers to domestic purchasers, where prices are low.
The opening of a freight train connecting cities throughout Gansu province to Kazakhstan in 2014 solved many of the logistics woes for farmers and was one of the first steps China took in its plans to revive the ancient Silk Road.
In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative to boost interconnectivity and common development along the ancient land and maritime Silk Roads.
The same year, a government survey found large demands from Central Asia for produce grown in Gansu, one of the main thoroughfares for the ancient route.
In response, the collective sales model was piloted in Wuwei in 2015, introducing policies such as technical assistance, infrastructure construction and business tours led by the government.
In December, Meng joined a group of local farmers in a tour to Kazakhstan. In Almaty, one of the biggest trading centers in Central Asia, he learned about the specific needs of the region.
While on the trip, Meng signed two contracts with a local agricultural company. One was an order for 3,000 mu (200 hectares) of carrots, while the other was to provide technicians from Meng''s association to help with a large plantation in Kazakhstan.
"Our onions, potatoes and cucumbers are in great demand there," Meng said. "But our growing techniques are badly needed."
Meng is already helping prepare for the plantation, even though the growing season is months away.
His association has solicited advice from provincial agriculture research centers in order to provide guidance to the Kazakhstan plantation in advance. They have already selected the technicians that will be sent.
"In the past we grew produce at random and sold it blindly," Meng said. "After opening to the foreign market we grow the plants according to foreign demands and standards."
Abiding by international standards has improved the quality of their products, increasing the price they can get domestically by an average 50 percent, Meng said.
To further attract foreign clients, farmers in Wuwei have even printed brochures in Russian, with dozens of farmers expected to go on promotional tours in Russia and Central Asia. They are also learning international trade to facilitate transactions.
With the success of Wuwei, Gansu officials are implementing the scheme in other parts of the province, leading to a surge in agricultural exports.
The province exported about 2.01 billion yuan worth of agricultural products in the first ten months of 2015, up 18.9 percent year on year, according to the latest statistics from the Gansu government. Average export prices also increased significantly.
"My new year resolution is to bring more of our specialties to the international market," Meng said.