Technical visits show the size of the Chinese economy

Technical visits are a very important part of the trips carried out by AgroBravo. It is mainly at these times that groups have closer contact with the reality of each country and are able to understand what day-to-day life is like for companies, producers, cooperatives and agricultural fairs. Of the 32 people participating in the China Expedition, none of the members had been to Chinese territory before, which explains everyone's great curiosity for information on the most varied subjects, from the country's ancient culture to food production methods.

According to the director of AgroBravo, Julio Bravo, the itineraries are always designed so that the producer knows as much as possible about the reality of the countries visited, especially the issues that are linked to their clients' businesses. “We try to develop an itinerary based on our clients' businesses, thus enabling them to better understand the reality of the country they are visiting", he explains. This is the case of the expedition that is traveling the soybean paths on Chinese soil and visiting companies that import the grains produced by producers in Brazil.

In the first four days of the expedition, six technical visits were carried out, including two soybean processing companies, a cooperative of Chinese producers, the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the only CNH group factory on Chinese soil.

LARGEST WAREHOUSE IN THE WORLD

On the first day of visits, the group visited one of the units of the company Hopefull Group, with the capacity to process seven thousand tons of grains per day and 600 thousand tons per year. Counting its other units, Hopefull Group is able to process three million tons per year. The plant located on the outskirts of Beijing has the largest grain warehouse in the world, with a capacity of 800 thousand tons, and is next to a public railway and 175km away from the port terminal where most of the soybeans processed by the company enter.

PROCESSING MACHINES

On the second visit of the day, the group met Beijing Zhongchuang Huifeng Technology Development, a company specialized in the production of small and medium-sized machines for the production of products such as soy milk pasta and cheese, as well as derivatives from other crops. This factory produces, for example, a machine that makes it possible to grind a small amount of soy, extract the milk and produce soy cheese in less than an hour, traditionally known as tofu, one of the main sources of protein during the period when the Chinese went through difficulties. economical and which today continues to be present in several dishes of its cuisine.

PRODUCERS COOPERATIVE

A latent curiosity among the Brazilians who are part of the expedition concerns the Chinese way of agricultural production, cultivated crops, productivity and other characteristics of rural life. And that was exactly what the group discovered on the second day of visits. In China, producers do not own their land; They live and work in state-owned areas and have the right to explore the plot allocated to each person in the way they best understand, and can even lease it. This practice was instituted in 1980 by the Chinese government, which offers a piece of land between 0,5 and 5 hectares distributed according to the size of the family and the region where they live.

Some producers explore their piece of land alone, but a typical example of how Chinese peasants work is the Man Cun He peasant cooperative visited by the group of Brazilian producers. It is made up of 18 families who pool their land and work as a way to increase their income. Led by Mr. Yang, an 80-year-old farmer, the farmers cultivate a total area of ​​approximately 90 hectares where they produce organic soybeans on 27 hectares and corn on 55 hectares. According to Yang, soybean production reaches 50 bags/ha.

It was possible to see on this visit that small producers do not have many resources to produce and are trying to make the most of the limited space available. One of the cooperative's soybean crops was intercropped with a species of plant that Mr. Yang himself could not identify but which he cultivates and, every four years, after reaching a certain size, sells for the equivalent of US$11,00 each.

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

To learn a little more about the cultivation of the main crops in China, the producers also visited the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, where the researcher responsible for the Soybean Technology Office, Huang Heng Liu, presented the particularities of cultivation in Hei Long Jiang province, responsible for 45% of all soy produced in China.

Soybean sowing begins as soon as the temperature rises to 7 or 8 degrees, which generally happens between May 25th and 10th in the south of the province, where it is warmer. As there are five areas with different average temperatures, different cultivars are needed in each of them.

The main soybean diseases in this region are nematodes, phytophthora, downy mildew and anthracnose, followed by other less common diseases. The insects that most disturb producers are the aphid and leguminivore glycinivorella, a caterpillar that does not exist in Brazil and appears every year from August 6th, causing damage mainly to pods and grains.

But the planting method is perhaps the characteristic that attracts the most attention in soybean cultivation in this region. Due to the moisture retained in the soil during the winter and the high temperatures that occur in the summer, the Chinese found a way to keep the soil's temperature and humidity more stable, building chameleons that can vary from 60cm to 70cm in width. Two rows of plants are planted on each chameleon, 10cm apart, providing an average spacing of approximately 56cm. Currently, researchers from the Soy Technology Office are developing experiments with chameleons measuring 97cm to 140cm wide and four lines above them, achieving greater population density. Chameleons 50cm wide with two rows are also researched, in addition to planting as we know it in Brazil, without chameleons. By looking for better cultivation methods, researchers want to increase productivity, which currently in the southern regions, where they are more productive, averages no more than 50 bags/ha.

The Chinese government prohibits the planting of any genetically modified crop and specifically in Hei Long Jiang province, transgenic soybeans can only be used to produce animal feed and soybean oil, which must contain the identification of the product with GMOs.

A FACTORY FOUNDED BY SOLDIERS

Jiusan Group is a state-owned business group with 12 units in China, half of them in Hei Long Jiang province and the other half in different regions of the country, in addition to three business branches located in São Paulo, Chicago and Hong Kong.

Part of the agenda for the fourth day of the trip was reserved for visiting the Harbin unit of this company, which has a very peculiar origin. The name Jiusan means "nine three" in Chinese, a reference to September 3, the date that marks the end of the Second World War in 1945, and which here became commemorative for the victory over the Japanese. With the end of the war, one hundred thousand Chinese soldiers stayed in this region and founded a farm that later gave rise to Jiusan Group.

Today, the company's 12 units are responsible for grinding 12 million tons of soybeans per year, being the processor with the largest production capacity and third in oil processing in China. The Harbin unit, which is responsible for fine oil processing, only uses conventional soybeans because of provincial rules that prohibit the processing of transgenic soybeans.

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

The last visit on the fourth day in China was the CNH Group's agricultural machinery factory. Founded in June 2014, the Harbin unit is the group's only factory on Chinese soil. Even with a production capacity of 5.450 machines, in 2015 it produced just over 2 thousand machines including tractors, harvesters and balers.

Although Chinese agriculture is mostly small and medium-sized, CNH also produces larger machines to serve farms that are managed by private companies. The line of tractors produces models from Case IH and New Holland with powers between 150hp and 250hp. In 2015, 250 harvesters, 700 tractors and 1.200 balers were manufactured. This factory is also different from those in Brazil. Due to low demand compared to the plant's capacity, machine production is seasonal, which means that in some periods of the year the production line is inactive, without assembly and also without employees, who receive time off and continue to receive their salaries.

The China Expedition continues until September 28th, heading from Harbin to the city of Shanghai and finally to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.