"Mr. Huang, are you here to assign us tasks again? What difficulties have you encountered this time?" Upon meeting, Liu Guangxiang, the secretary of the Funi County Party Committee, greeted this "frequent visitor" with a smile.
"Frequent visitor" refers to Huang Qingbo, the chairman of Yunnan Zhongmu Agricultural and Forestry Development Co., Ltd. He often visits the county committee and county government due to the challenges faced in developing the star anise industry, and his requests are always met. Many times, the leaders of the county committee and county government even go to the company to work on-site, helping to coordinate and solve problems.
Funi County, known as the "Hometown of Star Anise in China," has been planting star anise since 1722, with a history of 300 years. In recent years, the county has fully relied on the unique resource endowment of star anise, which has the "largest planting area in the country, the highest yield in the province, and the best quality in the country." The star anise tree has been designated as the "county tree," and star anise has been established as the leading industry for "one county, one industry." A leadership group for the development of the star anise industry has been formed, co-chaired by the county party secretary and the county mayor, to plan and build the Funi County Star Anise Characteristic Industrial Park, and a series of support policies and investment promotion incentives have been introduced to promote the growth and strengthening of the star anise industry.
In the Naxie Agricultural Special Products Processing Zone of the Funi County Star Anise Characteristic Industrial Park, the integrated project for star anise planting, processing, and trading operated by Huang Qingbo is running at high speed. Trucks loaded with star anise fruits are being automatically sorted and blanched before being sent to greenhouses for drying.
This private enterprise investment project started construction in July 2022 and was completed and put into production in March 2023. It took only 240 days from the start of construction to production operation. The efficient advancement of the project is attributed to the precise and meticulous promotion and high-quality, efficient service from the main leaders of the Funi County Party Committee and County Government.
In November 2022, the agricultural special products processing zone was still an empty lot. To quickly attract enterprises to settle in, the county committee and county government held special research and deployment meetings, formed a working leadership group, and established a task force to lead enterprises to inspect star anise planting management in star anise producing areas such as Nanning and Yulin in Guangxi, and to investigate the star anise consumption market in major consumption provinces like Anhui.
"When I initially chose to establish a company in the park, I was deeply attracted by Funi County's development goals, positioning, and preferential policies for the star anise industry, which made me see the development prospects and bright future of the star anise industry," said Huang Qingbo. After the company settled in the park, the county committee and county government assigned a department-level cadre and a resident service staff member to provide "one-on-one" efficient and precise connections with the company, helping it operate smoothly and healthily.
In January 2023, as the star anise processing plant was about to be completed and put into production, sales became a major challenge. The county committee proactively coordinated and organized the company to inspect the overseas sales situation of star anise in Chongqing, thinking of ways to solve the sales difficulties for the enterprise and alleviating its concerns.
In March 2023, during the initial production phase of the star anise processing plant, domestic sales channels had not yet been opened, and products could not enter the consumer market as scheduled. Bags of star anise filled the large warehouse. The company sent a marketing team to participate in various production and sales meetings in Shanghai, Shandong, and Henan, actively promoting products in an effort to open up the consumer market, but with little effect. Just when they were in a difficult situation, Zhang Kunhua, the deputy secretary of the county party committee and county mayor, took the initiative to visit the company for research, and after understanding the situation, he assigned the task of helping with the sales of star anise agricultural special products to the county's investment promotion leadership group.
In April 2023, Zhang Kunhua led Huang Qingbo and others to Hainan to negotiate with the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, discussing deep processing of star anise and exploring points of cooperation. In June 2023, Zhang Kunhua again led Huang Qingbo to Shanghai to connect with Hema Fresh and discuss cooperation matters. After establishing a cooperation intention, Hema Fresh introduced the company to Yihai Food, the largest raw material supplier for Haidilao. The company passed the factory inspection by Yihai Food and reached a cooperation agreement. After being recognized by these two well-known enterprises, many spice companies came to seek cooperation with the company. Currently, the company has reached cooperation agreements with several large spice production enterprises, and the products are in short supply.
During a communication exchange, Liu Guangxiang asked Huang Qingbo, "The company has started production and operation, and the consumer market has opened up. What are your next plans?" Busy with producing star anise to fulfill orders, Huang Qingbo couldn't answer immediately. Liu Guangxiang continued, "I have thought about this question for a long time. Now that the first phase of the project focusing on the initial processing of star anise has taken shape, I suggest that the second phase project could develop towards deep processing of star anise." Inspired by this, Huang Qingbo and the company, after in-depth discussions, decided to focus on developing "a bottle of oil, a jar of wine, a table of dishes, a bar of soap, and a set of cosmetics" as the company's development direction.
In July 2023, the county committee organized the company to go to Hainan to negotiate with the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences regarding new star anise products and signed a cooperation agreement.
In September 2023, two large spice companies, Chengdu Rushi Spice and Sichuan Weijue Food, came to the company for cooperation inspections. At that time, the company had made sufficient preparations, but Huang Qingbo was still worried about potential oversights. Unable to rest easy, he sought advice from Liu Guangxiang again. Finally, with the facilitation of the county committee and county government, the company reached a long-term cooperation intention with the two enterprises, providing a "reassurance" for the company to expand its production scale.
As orders from various spice companies flooded in, it coincided with the rainy season, and the temperature dropped, causing the drying time for star anise to increase to 7-10 days, 4-6 days longer than usual. Production capacity could not keep up, and key production technologies for star anise encountered bottlenecks, making order fulfillment a significant challenge. To break through the production technology bottleneck and increase star anise production capacity, in mid-October 2023, the county committee and county government connected with various research institutes, inviting experts and professors from China Agricultural University to the company for research, exchanging ideas on star anise processing and drying technologies, and optimizing the processing workflow.
From attracting investment to construction, from production processing to market marketing, the full-process proactive service of the county party secretary and county mayor has led to the healthy growth of the enterprise and the development of the industry. Currently, the company has established a spike collection and seedling base of 143 acres, an organic star anise food base of 1,200 acres, a high-standard star anise planting demonstration base of 6,500 acres, and six standardized processing plants, capable of drying 40,000 tons of star anise fruits annually. It has obtained a series of certifications, including a food production license compliant with CS certification and ISO22000 quality system certification.
In the entire county, the Funi County Party Committee and County Government are focused on strengthening the entire star anise industry chain, following the development idea of "large industry + new entities + new platforms," fully promoting green development, creating brands, nurturing leading enterprises, capturing markets, building platforms, and solving problems to drive high-quality development of the star anise industry. Currently, the county has a star anise planting area of 692,000 acres, producing 180,000 tons of fruit in 2022, with an annual output value of 2.7 billion yuan, benefiting 301,000 rural residents. It is expected that by 2025, the county's star anise planting area will increase to 750,000 acres, achieving an agricultural output value of 3.7 billion yuan and a processing output value of 4.6 billion yuan.
