Revitalising local industries is the top priority of rural revitalisation and the starting point for practical work. Rural areas without industries struggle to attract people, let alone retain talent; pathways for increasing farmers’ income remain narrow, and cultural activities are hard to organise. As localities promote industrial revitalisation, they must thoroughly understand the three words “local specialities”… keeping the added-value returns from agricultural products within rural areas and for farmers.
—— Xi Jinping, “Accelerate the Building of an Agrarian Powerhouse and Advance the Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Areas”, *Qiushi*, March 2023
Banning farmers from selling dried chillies, in the name of food safety
Prohibiting farmers from building cooking stoves, in the name of new countryside development
Forbidding farmers from raising chickens and ducks, in the name of civilised villages
Outlawing farmers from raising silkworms, in the name of high-tech drone spraying
All these measures
appear to have forgotten that China rests on a foundation of smallholder farming
instead dreaming only of stars and oceans
—— A young professional born in the 1980s who returned to their rural hometown, commenting on the *Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality and Safety in the Market Sale of Edible Agricultural Products (Revised Draft for Public Comment)*
I. Consumers: A Puzzling New Regulation
On Monday, an article by Foodthink on a new regulation that may ban farmers from making and selling dried goods sparked considerable discussion. In the *Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality and Safety in the Market Sale of Edible Agricultural Products (Revised Draft for Public Comment)*, the State Administration for Market Regulation removed “dried” from the definition of “edible agricultural products”. This likely means that farmers who produce and sell their own dried vegetables, fruits, or fish will face penalties for breaking the law.
Originally designed to safeguard food safety, this regulation has instead left even the most food-safety-conscious consumers puzzled.
Reader Wanica asks: Does that mean we can’t even let jujubes dry naturally on the branches anymore?Reader Lihua wonders: Is this legislation meant to stimulate spending? To buy dried jujubes, I’d have to fly to Xinjiang to purchase them fresh. To get walnuts, I’d have to travel thousands of miles to Yunnan just to knock them down from the trees. For goji berries, a special trip to Gansu. Or perhaps I should just buy a house with a large courtyard and occasionally pick up fresh produce to dry myself… A serious boost to consumption, indeed!Reader Qiuqiu writes: It is perfectly normal for farmers to sell their own sun-dried produce or cut fresh fruit at local markets. We should not try to shoehorn everything into that rigid food safety framework. Instead, regulation ought to focus on factory-processed foods, where issues are most likely to arise, such as edible oils, grains, milk powder, and spicy gluten strips… In 2019, I bought some home-dried goji berries from a local chap in Qinghai. My mother still asks me to this day whether I can source more, because the quality was simply outstanding. Consumers are discerning, too. When it comes to dried or fresh goods, they know exactly what they like, and can be quite particular. It is absolutely laughable to imagine the auntie outside the school gates calling out, “Young lady, fancy a mango?”, suddenly needing to invest in machinery and adopt a whole set of standards just to slice fruit. Ordinary working people simply cannot afford that. They are not rolling in cash; they are just smallholder farmers and street vendors. Let us not be ridiculous.
● Apricot jam, apricot kernels, and dried apricots: do you know which of these farmers are permitted to process and sell legally? Image: Ayue
II. Farmers: How Did I Break the Law?
For many farmers, however, their concerns are more straightforward: Does what I produce count as a dried product? Will I still be able to sell it?
Which of these—dried vegetables, dried fruit, dried fish, or dried meat—require a food production licence?
To be more specific: Do Sichuan peppercorns and star anise count as dried products? What about dried beans?
Dried chillies can no longer be sold, but “grinding” has been retained within the definition of edible agricultural products. So, is selling chilli powder legal?
Although the market regulation authorities have not yet issued more detailed explanations, judging by the current policy and regulatory texts, once “dried products” are excluded from the “edible agricultural products” category, all processed agricultural goods involving drying could be affected.
Moreover, dried products vary enormously. The food safety risks associated with dried meat are likely very different from those of dried fruits and vegetables. Could regulators please avoid a “one-size-fits-all” approach in enforcement?
In fact, these issues have been troubling farmers for many years. Following Monday’s article, many fellow farmers also shared their observations and confusion.
A young returnee from the hometown of Hangbaiju chrysanthemums: I’ve never understood why simply drying Hangbaiju chrysanthemums requires the licence of a food processing plant in order to sell them.A Beijing farmer: All sorts of grains are dried products, as are various dried mushrooms. This regulation is a classic case of bureaucracy. It’s such an absurd rule that even the sun might want to take a holiday.A public welfare advocate focusing on pastoral regions: In Inner Mongolia, home-dried meat made by herders has long been banned from direct sale.A young rural development worker from the Central Plains: I first heard in 2018 that selling dried wild mushrooms required specific credentials, and I was baffled. Why should drying wild mushrooms necessitate the licence of a food processing plant? Products like dried mushrooms, dried chillies, and wood ear mushrooms all follow the same basic principle: simply removing moisture. It’s not that complicated, and farmers can easily do it themselves. But now, to sell legally, farmers have to dry them themselves, then take them to a licensed processing plant, pay for packing or drying, and sell them under the plant’s licence.
A young returnee from Sichuan: It just seems incredibly bizarre. Farmers aren’t even allowed to do simple drying themselves; it must be handed over to factories, supposedly in the name of improving quality and safety. Farming has never been easy, and their scope for operation is being squeezed from all sides. Now they’re being forced to grow only basic grains and vegetables, with not even simple processing permitted.In fact, the *Classification Catalog for Food Production Licences* published by the State Administration for Market Regulation sets out detailed categories for dried vegetables, fruits, edible fungi and aquatic products. With “drying” now excluded from the permitted processing methods for edible agricultural produce, any dried vegetables, fruits, edible mushrooms, seafood, meat or similar goods must obtain a production licence before they can be brought to market. This effectively locks out small-scale farmers who perform basic processing at home.
● The detailed breakdown of vegetable and fruit products in the *Classification Catalog for Food Production Licences*. As can be seen, apart from dried goods, various pickled, canned and jam products also require a production licence.
III. Smallholder processing is the foundation of industrial revitalisation
This March, President Xi Jinping published an article in *Qiushi* magazine, once again underscoring the relationship between farmers and rural revitalisation, with particular emphasis on “local specialities”:
Industrial revitalisation is the top priority of rural revitalisation and the practical starting point for our work. Without industry, rural areas struggle to attract people, let alone retain talent. Farmers’ income avenues remain narrow, and cultural activities are difficult to organise. As local authorities promote industrial revitalisation, they must fully grasp the concept of “local specialities”… Ensure that the value-added returns from agricultural products remain in rural areas and benefit farmers.
In reality, for thousands of years, farmers have relied on home-processing to boost income, extend the shelf life of ingredients, and hedge against risks caused by market fluctuations. The “local specialities” found across the country are precisely a reflection of farmers’ wisdom and experience. Readers of Foodthink have also noticed this trend, leaving comments to share their observations.
Reader Mei Hong: Banning “drying” is completely unreasonable. When farmers have no local market for their produce, drying is the only way to ship goods farther and command better prices.Reader Rabbit Is Very Cute: Fresh produce sometimes fails to fetch a good price due to market conditions. To avoid selling at a loss, many farmers choose to process fresh vegetables into dried goods before selling. This not only opens up new sales channels but also generates some income. A blanket ban would be devastating for farmers, particularly smallholders. From a market perspective, consumers actually prefer products made by farmers themselves. Based on my observations, small-scale household production is less prone to fraud due to its limited volume, which actually helps guarantee quality and safety. Moreover, every region has its own dietary customs; everyone has a clear idea of what to buy and eat. It’s those small processing facilities with a larger scale that actually need more regulation.
A young returnee in Yunnan: Our local agricultural markets used to have designated areas where small vendors could sell their own produce on the streets. But from last year to now, enforcement has become extremely strict. Street selling is outright prohibited, with officials citing non-compliance with urban hygiene standards. Deprived of opportunities to sell their own goods, farmers are left with little choice but to endure hard work growing crops and then sell to middlemen. Whatever price the middlemen offer is what farmers must accept, leaving them with absolutely no autonomy.
IV. Farmers Building Their Own Factories
Is contract manufacturing a viable option?Once the new administrative regulations take effect, the processing of various “dried goods” will be restricted to enterprises holding a food production licence. Can farmers obtain a production licence themselves, or find a suitable contract manufacturer? Among the farming contacts we know, many operate family farms or cooperatives, representing a relatively well-resourced and capable segment of Chinese farmers. Even they report that building their own factories is unfeasible under current requirements, while partnering with contract manufacturers presents numerous difficulties: prohibitive costs, long distances, and order volumes too small to attract processors.
A young returnee running a family farm in Guangxi: There aren’t many factories in our area anyway, making them hard to come by. To begin with, you likely won’t know anyone there! Factories already have their own products to manufacture, and many rely on high volume to make a profit, meaning their margins are quite thin. Consequently, they simply don’t have the time to deal with you.
Alternatively, there are factories that specialise in contract manufacturing, but their fees are genuinely steep. For instance, last year I sent six jin (3 kg) of dried roses to a factory to be processed into rose essence paste. From six jin of dried roses, they produced less than 30 grams of paste, and charged me 600 yuan.
A leading figure in a Yunnan farmer cooperative:If we were to build our own processing facility, the costs would be prohibitively high. If we seek contract manufacturing, some products simply cannot be processed locally. Transporting them to other regions for processing incurs exorbitant round-trip logistics costs. Moreover, contract manufacturers are unlikely to take on orders unless we meet minimum production volumes. But if we do reach those volumes, we have no guarantee of moving the stock. Take walnuts, for instance: while our region produces them in massive quantities, there are almost no nearby facilities holding an SC (Food Production) licence. The one or two that exist have no obligation to work with us.
For wild mushrooms, we can outsource some locally, but certain varieties, such as dried yellow bolete slices, require a trip to Kunming. The transport alone costs around 1,000 yuan per trip, excluding processing fees, which we have not yet negotiated.
For most dried goods, the standard practice is for farmers to sun-dry them themselves before local traders come to buy them. Take beans, for example: farmers can easily dry them at home. Forcing them into a dedicated processing facility would drastically drive up costs.
It is only in the past decade or so that there has been a push to centralise and process items like mushrooms, primarily to improve their market appearance. In recent years, we have started bringing members’ fresh mushrooms back to the cooperative for unified management and drying. From a labour-saving perspective, farmers are keen to reduce their workload. Ultimately, they care most about which approach will actually increase their income.
A reader from Northeast China:My parents at home wanted to sell some surplus homegrown agricultural produce, so we consulted the local market regulation bureau. We were told we need to secure several permits. Yesterday, we registered a business licence, but we also need a Small-scale Workshop Production Licence, a Food Production Licence, and a Food Business Operation Licence. For many farmers, navigating this bureaucratic maze is extremely difficult. The dried goods farmers typically make are just surplus seasonal vegetables and fruits that they cannot consume themselves. They are not running dried goods as their primary business. Forcing them to jump through all these regulatory hoops just to sell a small batch of surplus produce places an utterly unreasonable burden on them.
Farmers from Sichuan and the hometown of Hangbai chrysanthemum bantering:“Dried chillies and Hangbai chrysanthemums finally have the same status.”
“Are they trying to price dried chillies in the same league as Hangbai chrysanthemums?”
V. What’s next?
Faced with these regulatory changes, what should we actually do? Before the final rules are set in stone, there is still time to act. Foodthink continues to gather perspectives from all sides and plans to submit a formal request for amendments to the State Administration for Market Regulation before the consultation period closes this Sunday. If you have any views on the proposed revisions, we welcome your comments below. If you wish to submit your own feedback but need support, or want to join us in making our voices heard, feel free to add Foodthink’s personal WeChat: foodthinkcn, or scan the QR code below. Please include “Edible Agricultural Products” in your friend request, along with a brief introduction. We will then invite you to our group for discussion.
For detailed explanations of the amendments to the *Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality and Safety in the Market Sale of Edible Agricultural Products*, and guidance on how to submit feedback, please refer to our previous article. Alternatively, you can click here, to view the information directly on the Ministry of Justice website.
