Strengthening Brand Construction and Im proving the Com petitiveness of Tropical Distinctive Agricultural Products in Hainan

Meihuan QIU，Xiaodong ZHANG，Minxia LIN，Hongyi ZHANG，Zhunian WANG

Institute of Tropical Crop Germplasm Resources，CATAS，Danzhou 571737，China

As the only island province and the first ecological demonstration province as well as the＂non-epidemic area＂in China，Hainan owns the most a bund ant tropical resource，land resource as well as light and temperature，which are unique and incomparable，and is a＂natural great greenhouse＂.The distinctive geological location and resources have created an advantaged agricultural product market in Hainan.Tropical agricultural crops，economic crops，flower seedling，southern medicinal plants and livestock are generally pollution-free，green and organic through natural growth.President Xi Jinping pointed out that traditional agriculture should be promoted to be standardized，brand-oriented and industrialized，making tropical distinctive agriculture to be the superior industry and the＂trump card＂of the economy in Hainan during his inspection tour in April，2013.Developing brand agriculture has been inevitable for Hainan to change small，scattered and weak agriculture and quicken the transformation from traditional agriculture to tropical distinctive modern agriculture.

1 The status quo of brand construction of tropical distinctive agricultural products in Hainan

1.1 Increasing and strengthened brands The strategy of trademark enriching agriculture has been carried out in Hainan and tropical distinctive agro-product brands have increased and been strengthened.Altogether 778 agro-product trademarks were registered in 2012.Total registered agro-product trademarks reached 2 867 and agriculture-related trademarks amounted to 3 308，accounting for 24.5%in total registered trademarks in Hainan province.Registered agro-product and agriculture-related trademarks achieved 431 in Chengmai county and Chengmai was honored as the only＂demonstration county of national trademark strategy implementation＂［1］.

According to statistics，Hainan province owns 589 pollution free agro-products，green food，organic food and national geography signs agro-products，including 8 China well-known marks，9 national geography certification marks and 8 national geographical indication protection products.There are leading agricultural enterprises of national level like Coco and Chunguang and some listed leading enterprises like Luoniushan，Shennongdafeng and Hainai rubber［2］.

1.2 Improved agricultural standardizationThere are 196 agricultural regional standards in Hainan and agricultural standardized demonstration areas have amounted to 83，involving 67 national demonstration areas and 16 provincial demonstration areas.There are 703 standardized poultry and livestock plots，143 tropical crop parks which involve 45 national standard parks and 98 provincial standard parks.The area of production bases of certificated pollution-free agro-products，green food and organic food has reached 600 000mu，120 000mu and 9 092mu respectively.Ledong county is among the first modern agriculture demonstration areas of national level and Tunchang county has become the national standardized production area of maple and balsam pear.Chengmai county has established agro-product traceability smart card system，covering over 60%of total fruits and vegetables［1］.

1.3 Deep brand publicityBrand is a name card and the intensive reflection of image，comprehensive quality and competence.Governments at all levels in Hainan actively encourage and guide enterprises to go out in order to improve the brand image and public cognition of tropical distinctive agricultural products.The Ministry of Agriculture，together with Hainan govern men th as successfully held 15 times of China（Hainan）tropical agro-product winter fair（hereinafter referred to as＂winter fair＂），aiming to publicize tropical distinctive agriculture，demonstrate the achievement of modern agriculture aswell as communicate and cooperate with the outside.During the fourth Hainan（Tunchang）agricultural fair，brand agricultural products in Hainan were exhibited and identification and bidding of brand fruits in Hainan were held.Enterprises were organized to go to Beijing.Brand recommendation activities like＂Hainan Agro-product Commend Conference＂and＂Publicity and Promotion of Hainan Melons and Fruits in Beijing＂have been held and the popularity of tropical distinctive agro-products has been promoted.

1.4 Perfect brand marketingBrand marketing of agricultural products in Hainan has been constantly perfected.Apart from the traditional purchasing mode of producers—wholesale market in producing area—wholesale market in marketing area—agricultural trade market—consumers，network marketing has already created huge economic profits.On the first day of the winter fair in 2013，＂Special China·Hainan Guan＂was opened and network promotion of distinctive agricultural products in Hainan was sparked.The three-day turnover surpassed 30million yuan.Besides，direct distribution centers of brand agricultural products of Hainan have been established in Beijing，Shenyang and Shanghai.Marketing alliance of brand fruits and vegetables（agricultural products）to these three place sh as been built.Currently，23 offices of agricultural product circulation have been established in main marketing provinces，together with 8 distribution centers of agricultural product trade，22 chains of business process and 12 supply hubs in the producing area.Agricultural products in Hainan are sold to over 170 major and middle-sized cities in China as well as more than 20 developed countries in the world.

2 Main problems in brand construction of tropical distinctive agricultural products in Hainan

2.1 Low brand ization and less famous brand products Agricultural brandization in Hainan is low.Hainan only possesses 8 famous brands in total 500 famous brands of agricultural products in China and lacks famous bands with relatively large market share，high competitiveness and accreditation.Hainan has small amount of registered agro-product brands and low percentage of＂agro-products，green food，organic food＂.Agricultural product brands in Hainan are generally＂random，weak and scattered＂，hence no mark et advantage as well as brand effect.A case in point is that mango output in Hainan has accounted for over 40%in China，ranking the first，but there is no famous brand.Several brands of Wenchang chicken in Hainan，like Longquan，Tanniu and Rongzi，have no strong effect in domestic market［3］.

2.2 Small-scaled companies and weak core competence

There are many enterprises running tropical distinctive agricultural products in Hainan，most of which are small-sized with weak capital funds，inadequate experience about brand development as well as low standardization.Most of these brand products are primary products or semi-products，lacking business-running ability，technological content and core competence.There are only 236 agricultural leading enterprises at provincial level and above throughout Hainan and the number of agricultural leading enterprises at national level in Hainan accounts for just1.9%in China.Among these leading enterprises，only 10 enterprisesown the asset of over 50million yuan and 2 enterprises possess the asset of over 100 million yuan，therefore there is still a long way to go in developing brand agriculture in Hainan.

2.3 Strengthening declaration and ignoring managementAlthough the significance of brand has been recognized by both the government and those related to agricultural production and management，the follow-upmanagement has been ignored.Governments at all levels in Hainan have generally formulated their own strategies for brand development and issued a series of supportive and incentive measures for brand construction of distinctive agro-products，which encourages some managers to deliberately construct brands for short-term profits.Some agricultural products are identified to be unqualified by the quality selective examination after the quality certification of pollution-free agricultural products，which means those managers of agricultural production have not recognized the brand content and cannot make brands famous and strong.Besides，trademarks have been registered blindly.Registered trademarks have not been utilized and invested.Those registering trademarks only want to be protective，avoiding＂rush registration＂on this sort of products.

2.4 Imperfect marketing systemMost of these agricultural production operators in Hainan lack advanced concept of brand marketing.Funds for market dissemination cannot reach 10%of sales income.There are only a few large-scale chain enterprises and high-level marketing talents are in demand，therefore brand marketing lack long-term and systematic planing，publicity and management，resulting in low brand utility and value added effect of brand has not been fully exerted.Moreover，two main＂green channels＂from Haikou to Beijing and Shanghaihave been opened successively，but producing area of tropical distinctive agro-products covers a wide range with scattered household management.So，a perfect network marketing system has not been established and there is no convenient and fast marketing channel between producers and consumers［4］.

3 Development countermeasures of brand construction of tropical distinctive agricultural products in Hainan

3.1 Strengthening resource integration and constructing famous productsBrand resource integration should be strengthened to build the famous brand image in Hainan and promote brand influence.Some cities and counties in Hainan hold the same advantages in climate，soil and environment and produce similar high-quality agricultural products.Therefore，enterprises with similar geographical features and technological means can be organized and integrated to promote unified brand，labeling，standards，packaging，prices and sales，form regional famous brands，promote brand effect and improve the industrial level.

3.2 Stressing technological innovation and improving core competence of the enterprises Increasing technological content of agro-products is essential for brand construction of tropical agriculture.Promoting fine varieties，advanced agronomic techniques，scientific field management and strengthening market management are the precondition of producinghigh-quality agricultural products and providing excellent service［5］.High-quality products and service can survive the competition in the future agricultural market.Agricultural leading enterprises and farmer cooperatives should actively explore and establish the high-efficiency mechanism of integrating production，teaching and research.Based on the scientific achievements and technologies of agricultural research institutes，agricultural technology in enterprises should be promoted in order to improve the core competence.

3.3 Emphasizing quality guarantee and management of tropical distinctive agricultural products Firstly，production bases of green agro-products should be built and high-efficiency agricultural technology should be actively promoted，like ecological prevention and environment-friendly agro-products.Only first class agricultural ecological environment can produce first-class agricultural products. Secondly， agricultural standardization should be promoted to establish agro-product quality standard system，standard production demonstration system，quality security monitoring system and quality certification system.Lastly，quality safety of agricultural products should be guaranteed and quality safety tracing system should be perfected to form the favorable mechanism of market forcing production.

3.4 Establishing marketing channel of green agro-products

Agro-product marketing subjects should be cultivated.Farmers and enterprises should be guided to manage scale production.Organizational system，service facilities and system functions of agricultural product wholesale market should be perfected to increase its service and marketability.Agro-product information channel should be smoothened and logistics distribution system of agricultural products should be gradually established［6］.Besides，electronic commerce is to be developed to build sales network platform，perfect information service network system and promote the construction of modern agricultural product wholesale market.Leading enterprises，farmer cooperatives and scaled production farmers should be actively guided to cooperate with large and middle-sized business trading companies to establish long-term production and sales alliance.Furthermore，exhibition economy should be developed to promote the connection of production and sales as well as increase the market share and popularity of agricultural products at home and abroad.

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