The Status, Problems And Countermeasures Of Agricultural Sci-tech Publishing In Hebei Province

This paper studies the status, problems and countermeasures with regard to agricultural and sci-tech publishing in Hebei province. The finding of this study has important implications in developing the publishing industry that can better serve the agricultural extension and development in Hebei Province. Agricultural science and technology publishing has made great progress in Hebei province since the reform started in early 1980's. It has contributed a great deal to the education of farmers with modern agricultural science and technology knowledge in Hebei province, but it still faces many problems. The major problems include: 1) the types of publications that don't match with the market demand, which ultimately hurts the sales. 2) There is lack of communication between the publishers and the agricultural extension circle, the books are often unfocused. 3) Short of marketing and promotion efforts in the end of retail chain, farmers can't find what they really need. 4) Lack of overall planning, little sense of branding resulting in non-competitiveness in the market place. 5) Wrong pricing strategy with prices higher than the market expects. The leading causes of these problems are pointed. The old planned economy system has left this industry with the feeling of being no competition. There is lack of communication between the publishers and the customers, which are the extension people and farmers in this case. The unwanted books can not be sold resulting poor income of the publishers with a lot of stock. Farmer who really need books for their farming practices have nowhere to find them. To solve the problems, the publishers must strengthen the communication with the customers, understand the real needs of fanners and agricultural extensionists. Finally, the publishers must do their own homework, find the real interests of farmers and choose the right topic to write, publish and sell.