Implementing agricultural product brand strategy is an inevitable choice for developing modern agriculture and participating in international competi tion. Hubei is a large agricultural province, but the overall strength of agricultural enterprises is weak ; brand awareness is weak ; and it lack of well-known agricultural product brands, and the development of agricultural products processing industry lags behind, which directly restricts brand creation. Hubei agricultural development must establish brand awareness, rely on local resources, highlight local characteristics to develop relevant brands, and vigorously promote standardized production of agricultural products, consolidate the quality foundation of branded agricultural products, improve brand technology content, and continuously enhance brand added value .
As China’s agriculture enters a new stage of development, the domestic agricultural product market environment has undergone a fundamental change—the supply of agricultural products has changed from a shortage to a relative surplus, and consumer demand for agricultural products has shifted from quantity to quality. With the opening of the domestic market after China’s accession to the WTO, China’s agriculture is facing increasingly fierce competition in the international market, and the competition in the agricultural product market is gradually transformed into the competition between agricultural product quality and brand. Strengthening agricultural brand building and implementing agricultural product brand strategy are inevitable choices for developing modern agriculture and participating in international competition. It will not only enhance the market competitiveness of agricultural products, but also increase the added value of agricultural products, increase farmers’ income, promote the adjustment of agricultural industrial structure, and also contribute to the construction of a new socialist countryside.
In 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture of China identified the key points of agricultural brand building in the new era, and participated in the research and preparation of the “China Brand Development Strategy” with the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and promoted the establishment of “China”. “Brand Day” laid the foundation for the next step of promoting the establishment of the Agricultural Brand Leading Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and coordinating the construction of national agricultural brands. The “Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Agriculture on Accelerating the Development of Agricultural Brands” was subsequently issued to further clarify the work priorities and implementation paths of China’s agricultural brands. On January 22, 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a notice on the 2017 Agricultural Brand Promotion Year, and the Ministry of Agriculture decided to define 2017 as the Agricultural Brand Promotion Year [
For exploring Hubei Province agricultural products brand development path, around the core content of agricultural products brand and basic theory, this paper surveys the present situation of the development of agricultural products brand in Hubei Province, the current brand of agricultural products in Hubei Province are analyzed, summarized the main problems in the process of brand development, according to the actual situation of Hubei Province, targeted put forward the suitable countermeasure and the suggestion for the construction of agricultural brand in Hubei Province. Based on the research of the agricultural product brand construction in Hubei Province, to solve the key problems existing in the construction of agricultural products brand in Hubei Province, seeking the effective methods and countermeasures to solve the problem of its, give full play to the agricultural products brand to promote the development of modern agriculture, promote agricultural supply side the advantage of structural reform, in order to realize the steady and rapid development of modern agriculture in Hubei Province.
The emergence of the brand concept can be traced back to the Roman era. But the development and research of brand theory has gone through a relatively long-term process. Burleigh B. Gardner and Sidney J. levy (1955) published the article “Products and Brands” in the Harvard Business Review, which marks the beginning of modern brand theory research. They believe that brands have a set of qualities that satisfy customers’ rational and emotional needs. The value of its creation should focus on developing a personality value [
As a branch of brand theory, agricultural product brand theory is based on the brand theory of different viewpoints and dimensions, combined with the characteristics and development laws of agriculture. Western countries’ research on agricultural product brands lags behind the research of industrial product brands. The research results of its brand are mainly reflected in the industrial and service industry brands. The research results of its brand are mainly reflected in the industrial and service industry brands. The theoretical results of the specificity of agricultural product brand are relatively small, mainly being discussed from the aspects of program management of agricultural products, certification of origin of brands, standardized production of agricultural products, and promotion of product marketing [
The attention of Chinese business and academic circles on brand issues began in the 1990s. The monographs on brand theory are comprehensively discussed: Lu Taihong and Yan Danni (1998)’s “Overall Brand Design”, based on the foreign brand design theory, discusses the overall brand design issues, including brand equity, brand identity system, brand Communication, brand packaging design, overall brand design operation, brand team management and other content [
Domestic research on agricultural product brand construction started late. Zhang Kecheng (2009) proposed that the construction of agricultural product brand is different from the construction of agricultural brand. The extension of agricultural brand is far greater than that of agricultural product brand. The connotation of agricultural product brand has broad and narrow meaning. The broad agricultural product refers to the attribute that can reflect the quality and mark of agricultural products. The narrowly defined agricultural product brand only refers to the registered trademark of the enterprise for its own agricultural products. He put forward the theory of brand management of agricultural products. He believed that brand management of agricultural products had a great driving effect on agricultural development and enhanced the sustainable development ability of farmers [
Through a lot of view literature periodicals, read relevant policy documents and books, collecting relevant information and data, according to the research content of numerous experts and scholars, combining with economics, brand marketing and other related theory, the theoretical building of agricultural products brand in Hubei Province are systematically described.
Psitive analysis refers to the description of the things that make a series of objective system analysis, is not the result of the things that make the corresponding judgment. Normative analysis is different from the positive analysis, it is mainly the process and results of things behavior and value judgment, answer the question of “how to do”. In this paper, positive analysis is mainly used in the description of the brand construction in Hubei Province analysis and normative analysis application in agricultural brand construction of the government in implementing measures and countermeasures.
In the process of writing, consult the Fuwa, ZhouHaYa, Qianjianglobster and other agricultural products brand, through the above examples, analyzes the problems of agricultural products brand in Hubei Province, put forward the countermeasures for the construction of agricultural products brand in Hubei Province.
Hubei has always been an important agricultural commodity base in the country. As the saying goes, when Huguang has a Bumper crop, the country will be free from hunger. After years of construction, the comprehensive agricultural production capacity has been steadily improved. The output of major agricultural products is in the forefront of the country, and the output of freshwater aquatic products is the first in the country. Grain, cotton, oil, pigs, poultry, eggs, vegetables, fruits, tea, Chinese herbal medicines, edible fungi, and konjac occupy a pivotal position in the country. At present, the total agricultural economic output of Hubei continues to increase, and the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, as well as the total output value of plantation, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery are increasing year by year. The total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery is growing at a rate of 16.7%. The total amount of major agricultural products has obvious advantages, and the internal structure of agriculture has been continuously optimized and adjusted. The comprehensive strength of leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization has gradually increased, and the level of mechanization of agricultural production has been continuously improved [
Since the end of the 1990s, Hubei Province has established the agricultural product brand with the development and certification of three products such as pollution-free agricultural products, green foods and organic foods and agricultural products geographical indications (namely “three types of products and oneindication”). By the end of 2016, there were 1670 “three products and one standard” enterprises in the province’s effective period, with a total of 4176 brands and a total output of 19.57 million tons. The number of brands ranks among the top in the country [
Hubei Province has a lot of agricultural product brand resources, but there are not many famous brand agricultural products in Hubei Province that are famous at home and abroad. There are fewer famous brand products such as Fuwa, ZhouHaYa and Qianjianglobster, which are famous in the country. The advantages of leading industrial products are not obvious, and they are not commensurate with the resource endowment of Hubei Agricultural Province. Among the 500 most valuable brands in China announced by the World Brand Lab, 75 agricultural products were selected, including 11 from Beijing, 9 from Sichuan, and 8 from Shandong, while Hubei Province only the three brands of Daohuaxiang Group, Zhijiang Wine and Jinpai were selected, which can only be regarded as medium level in the country, and the brand value is obviously insufficient [
Most agricultural enterprises in Hubei Province are small in scale, lacking of independent innovation ability, many primary products, few deep processing products, short industrial chain, low added value, weak competitiveness, and weak driving ability. Although some local strong agricultural products have local characteristics, they do not reflect their advantages in the market segment. Among the local agricultural product brands, there are not many products that have real scale and competitive advantages. The production of small-scale workshop-style agricultural products in Hubei Province is mostly based on “family” organizations. Their ability to sell abroad is very limited, and their main products cannot stand firm in the market. Most of the operators are retail investors. They have no cohesiveness, use their own methods to produce and develop, have fewer advanced varieties, have backward production technology, low human quality, weak innovation and service capabilities, lack of development potential, and extensive agricultural products. The following series of questions have yet to be resolved.
Although the agricultural product processing industry in Hubei Province has developed rapidly in recent years, it still lags behind. The outstanding problem is that the scale structure is irrational, the number of enterprises is large but the scale is small, the processing level is low, and more than 70% of the grain is still sold in the form of raw grain [
The understanding of the importance of agricultural product brand construction is not in place in some places in Hubei Province. It is not important to understand the importance and urgency of agricultural product brand building from the strategic height of promoting brand construction and promoting agricultural branding. Agricultural enterprises have a weak brand awareness and market awareness, and lack the initiative to cultivate brands and open up markets.
Hubei Province agricultural product brand construction is the primary solution to overcome the subjective psychological barriers of brand operators, to let them take the initiative to generate awareness of brand building and recognize the necessity of brand building, willing to actively learn the knowledge theory of brand building, and actively explore and explore a road to brand building for your own business. First of all, farmers and enterprises can be encouraged to visit agricultural products enterprises with better brand building status, let the facts explain the meaning of the brand and promote their awareness of brand building. Second, the government should also be more inclined to encourage, reward and support the development of good agricultural product brands and form a benign induction cycle. At the same time, the holding of learning sessions, training courses, corporate exchanges and industry associations to introduce and exchange the importance of brand building and the great changes brought to the enterprise are also good channels for brand operators to generate or enhance brand awareness.
Hubei agricultural production has a unique advantage. The Yangtze River runs through it, and the soil and light resources are abundant. It is suitable for agricultural production and has good conditions for developing agricultural products. Agricultural production has high requirements for the natural environment and production conditions. For a long time, Hubei Province has produced unique agricultural products with regional advantages due to different natural environments and production habits. Therefore, in the process of developing agricultural products construction, we must integrate our own superior resources, cultivate characteristic agricultural products and increase the scale, and transform them into the advantages of market competition; while making full use of natural resources, we must consider the resources of local history and culture. The characteristics of culture are embedded in the process of brand building and development.
According to international standards, national standards, industry standards and actual needs, we will revise, improve and upgrade the existing provincial technical standards for various agricultural product production technical specifications and operating procedures, establish an agricultural product standard system that is in line with international standards, and gradually realize the agricultural product standard system full coverage, focusing on the formulation and implementation of a number of agricultural product e-commerce product standards. Accelerate the formulation and improvement of agricultural product input management, product classification, product origin and quality traceability, storage and transportation, packaging and other standards. Strengthen the demonstration zones for agricultural products standardization, such as the establishment of aquatic aquaculture demonstration farms, standardized breeding farms for livestock products, and quality and Safety County of agricultural products, and give full play to its role as a model leader in standardized production.
Accelerate the integration process of agricultural science and technology “production, study and research”, guide enterprises to closely cooperate with scientific research institutions, and establish and improve the technical support system for the whole process of seed industry, breeding, processing and circulation. Give full play to the role of research and development platforms such as the strategic alliance of technology innovation in the freshwater product processing industry in Hubei Province, and strive to break through key technologies such as artificial breeding, standard production, processing and preservation, and environmental protection, and form a group of key technologies to promote the expansion of agricultural products and product value. Featured products comprehensively enhance the scientific and technological content of agricultural products brands.
This paper analyzes the status quo of agricultural products brands in Hubei Province, and puts forward some existing problems. The corresponding countermeasures are listed for how to cultivate agricultural products brands. We believe that as long as the government, agricultural product processing enterprises and farmers work together, Hubei Province’s agricultural product brand construction will be better and better, and the brand value will be higher and higher, which will eventually lead Hubei Province’s agricultural product brand to lead the country and the world.
The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Luo, M. (2019) Current Situation, Problems and Countermeasures of Brand Construction of Agricultural Products in Hubei Province. Open Journal of Business and Management, 7, 1162-1172. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojbm.2019.73081