Regional brand adds value to agricultural products in Chongqing

Youyang 800, a regional public brand created by the local government in Youyang county, Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, has helped increase the value of agricultural products and farmers' income at the same time.

The brand was established last year, with its name paying homage to the county's average altitude of 800 meters.

Youyang has rich land and water resources, which can produce quality products. However, due to its geographical conditions of numerous mountains, there are no large scale agricultural operations. The added value of its agricultural produce was low, and quality products could not demand high prices.

To address this problem, the local government decided to launch the brand to integrate resources and expand the influence of local products. At present, the brand has 137 member enterprises, and developed 49 categories of quality products, and it even helped form 22 production technology standards, covering the oil tea, rice and tea leaf industries.

Farm produce carrying the brand name must be grown by members of the brand, follow the strict standards set by the brand, which should be green and organic, or contain the acceptable amount of agricultural pesticides and fertilizers.

Data showed that in the first quarter, 13 organic and eight green food products were added to the brand. Cumulative sales revenue of Youyang 800 products totaled 460 million yuan ($63.56 million) in the quarter, achieving a year-on-year increase of 38.1 percent.

To expand sales channels, the brand also set up an online store on e-commerce platform JD.com in March.

Youyang will continue to develop its own regional brands, bring quality products to consumers and drive the local economy, according to local officials.