"Chinese garlic plantings peak"

“The new garlic crop is planted from the beginning of October onward, until the next year. In 2016, planting volume was considerably larger than in the year before. Throughout 2016, since the start of the season, garlic prices have been strong. As a result, farmers in Henan, Shandong and Jiangsu province, China’s main garlic producing provinces, are switching to the production of garlic. In addition, in lesser known garlic producing regions including Xinjiang and Liaoning, farmers are also starting to grow more garlic, explains Kathy Ma of Jining Lemax Trading. The company was launched in the summer of 2015 and specialises in the export of garlic.

New garlic plantings in Shandong

Investments
“Local governments are investing in the garlic industry. They are responsible for the irrigation and drainage system, which is used by the growers that farm the land, and which has been improved in recent years. Agriculture is an important sector for the local economy in places like Henan, Shandong and Jiangsu. Additional investments are being made in cold storage facilities. This is usually not done by the farmer or the local government, but by internal investors. The design of the cold storage facilities is improving. Now, new ones boost flexible shelving. There are some villages where farmers pool money to collectively be able to invest and develop cold storage facilities. This would be beneficial to the position of the farmer, who now stands at the beginning of the value chain and only receives a small share.”

Garlic from Lemax

Garlic sorting and packing

Manual harvest
“Most of the harvest is done manually. There are some machines that are designed to harvest garlic, but most growers worry that the machines will damage the garlic. If the skin is blemished during harvest, then the crop will deteriorate quickly in cold storage. It might rot and affect other crops alongside it. Packing and re-packing are also typically done by hand. The government is helping farmers to improve the technologies they work with and their overall position on the market. They aim to make the entire business more established and professional. Currently, less workers want to be involved in packing. Garlic need to be stored at cool temperatures. Even though summer temperatures can rise to above 28℃, and in winter drop to under -10℃, they can only pack in the packing house, without any air-conditioning and purely by hand, this is hard work.

For more information:

Kathy Ma
Lemax Fresh
http://www.lemaxfresh.com/
info@lemaxfresh.com