From the development of specialty agriculture and livestock industries, Qinghai's value-added development path has proven successful. During a recent interview as part of the 2025 "Vibrant China Research Tour," it was learned that in 2024, Qinghai Province's five advantageous specialty industrial clusters - yak, Tibetan sheep, rapeseed, highland barley, and wolfberry - covering livestock, grain and oil, and fruit and vegetable categories across primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, achieved a total output value exceeding 60 billion yuan. For comparison, Qinghai Province's regional GDP in 2024 was 395.08 billion yuan. This means that these five specialty industrial clusters alone accounted for over 15% of Qinghai's 2024 GDP. When viewed from an industrial cluster perspective and considering the entire specialty agriculture and livestock sector, this proportion would increase further.
Why do signals of "value-added growth" continue to emerge from Qinghai? Currently, Menyuan Hui Autonomous County in Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai has shed its golden hue and is approaching the rapeseed harvest season. As the homeland of northern small rapeseed, an important oil crop, Menyuan County's rapeseed cultivation history dates back to the mid-14th century. Over a decade ago, rapeseed planting area in Menyuan already accounted for more than 50% of total cultivated land. However, challenges such as lodging susceptibility, low seed yield, and low oil content had long hindered the development of the local rapeseed industry.
"Back then, many farmers grew rapeseed to extract oil for their own consumption, but the yield wasn't even sufficient for household use, let alone selling for profit," said Yao Dongdong, Deputy General Manager of Qinghai Xiangman Jinmenyuan Grain and Oil Food Co., Ltd.
Quality seeds are key to improving rapeseed yield. In recent years, with support from institutions like the Qinghai Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences and Haibei Prefecture Agricultural Research Institute, Menyuan has leveraged technology to drive seed industry innovation, overcoming breeding challenges such as cold-resistance gene introduction and dwarf trait selection. They have successfully introduced, bred, and promoted new rapeseed varieties including Haoyou No. 11 and Qingyou No. 21, with Haoyou No. 11 achieving a quality seed utilization rate of over 98%.
"Our company planted Haoyou No. 11 this year, which can increase yield by about 10% compared to the previous Haoyou No. 10," Yao Dongdong told reporters. They have also established over 20,000 mu of scientific and large-scale green organic highland barley and rapeseed cultivation bases through a "company + cooperative + base + farmer" operational model, effectively integrating local specialty industry resources.
Today, Menyuan's rapeseed planting area has stabilized at one million mu, making it an important high-quality rapeseed production base in China. This continuously strengthened production foundation represents a microcosm of Qinghai's thriving specialty agriculture and livestock industries.
Data released at Qinghai Province's agricultural and rural work conference in February showed that in 2024, the province's grain planting area reached 4.588 million mu with an output of 1.183 million tons, representing a 1.7% increase from the previous year and reaching a 26-year high. Cattle and sheep slaughter reached 9.3659 million head, while cold-water fish production reached 19,000 tons with exports of 5,529 tons - twelve times the previous year's export volume.
Beyond "stable production" and "increased production," Qinghai continues to focus on deep processing of highland agricultural and livestock specialty products. Inside the raw meat processing workshop of Haibei Gangcha Gongluo Agricultural and Livestock Products Development Co., Ltd. (Gongluo Company), workers are busy cutting, weighing, and packaging freshly slaughtered and quarantine-approved Tibetan plateau yaks. From a complete yak to categorized and packaged raw meat products, the yaks achieve value addition in this modest-sized workshop.
Qinghai is known as the "homeland of yaks," with a stable yak population of approximately 6 million head, accounting for about 40% of the national total and ranking first nationally. "Previously, we sold cattle by the whole animal per pound. Now different parts have different prices. Categorized processing not only facilitates sales but also generates more revenue," said E Zangjia, head of Gongluo Company. Currently, this company has sold over 60,000 pounds of meat, with products distributed to Shandong, Hebei, and other regions.
In 2024, Guoluo Zanggongma Village in Gangcha County, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, invested to establish Gongluo Company, specializing in livestock deep processing and external sales. Under the leadership of this village-run enterprise, the village's yak industry has developed rapidly.
In fact, throughout Qinghai, many localities are focusing on deep processing around specialty agriculture and livestock such as yaks and Tibetan sheep. For example, Qilian County in Haibei Prefecture established Qinghai Province's first "Tibetan Sheep Industry Development Research Institute," formulating product standards and promoting scientific breeding techniques, resulting in significant improvements in local Tibetan sheep quality and yield. Similarly, in Xining Nanchuan Industrial Park, Qinghai Kekexili Food Co., Ltd. conducts deep processing based on yaks, highland barley, and wolfberries. Here, a yak undergoes pre-cooking, cutting, and stir-frying processes to transform into 13 major categories and over 400 varieties of yak meat products, including hand-torn yak meat and yak meat sauce.
"Through our 'farmer + cooperative + enterprise' model, we sign breeding and purchasing agreements with 20,000 herding households at prices 1 to 1.5 yuan per pound above market rates," introduced Ma Wei, Administrative Manager of Kekexili Food Co., Ltd. The company has distributed over 8 million yuan in dividends to herders.
Connecting farmers on one end and markets on the other, deep processing has earned reputation for Qinghai's specialty agricultural and livestock products. According to the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, as of the end of June this year, Qinghai Province has 1,298 certified green food, organic agricultural products, and geographical indication agricultural products, with organic grassland monitoring covering 335 million mu. Ten local standards have been published and implemented, and 48 agricultural products have been included in the national famous, special, high-quality, and new agricultural products directory.
Recognizing that "even fine wine fears deep alleys," Qinghai has devised numerous methods to better market local specialty agricultural and livestock products. Qinghai has integrated agricultural and livestock resources to launch the "Pure Land Qinghai·Highland Premium Products" regional agricultural and livestock brand. Through unified brand image, promotional campaigns, and quality standards, the recognition and reputation of Qinghai's specialty agricultural and livestock products have significantly improved. Today, the "Pure Land Qinghai·Highland Premium Products" brand encompasses products from multiple specialty industries including yaks, Tibetan sheep, and highland barley, becoming a "golden business card" for Qinghai.
Currently, online sales represent a major trend in market expansion. In May 2020, the Qinghai Agricultural, Forestry, and Livestock Commodity Trading Center located in Haidong, Qinghai, officially commenced operations. Over the past five years, the trading center has launched the "Western Selection" digital trading platform, providing free e-commerce platform operations, agricultural product market promotion, and sales channel connections for resident enterprises, helping over 2,600 agricultural and livestock enterprises board the e-commerce development "express train." Data shows that the "Western Selection" platform has currently listed over 20,000 specialty agricultural products with sales exceeding 1.3 billion yuan.
"We use big data and Internet of Things technology to build platforms, conduct over 200 e-commerce training sessions covering more than 20,000 people, and have established supply and marketing relationships with 14 provinces," introduced Jin Bangyun, Deputy General Manager of Qinghai Agricultural, Forestry, and Livestock Commodity Trading Center. Currently, the trading center is collaborating with agricultural product trading centers in East China, Sichuan-Tibet, and other regions to promote "Eastern production to the West, Western production to the East" cooperation.