Grain reserve procurement should make it easier for farmers to sell grain

Recently, reporters conducted a survey of grain procurement in Changsha, Changde and other places in Hunan, visiting local state-owned grain purchasing and storage enterprises, private grain processing enterprises, grain purchasing and sales brokers, and ordinary farmers. During the survey, reporters found that during the period of minimum purchase price procurement for grain, problems such as inconvenience for farmers selling grain still existed and needed attention.

Liu Lixin, a grain purchasing and sales broker in Dingcheng District, Changde City, said that farmers generally do not have storage sites now, and under normal circumstances they sell harvested, undried grain to grain purchasing and sales brokers. Because the minimum purchase price procurement period for early rice this year started relatively late, and brokers' storage capacity is also not large, losses in the purchased grain increased, and sometimes it could only be sold at low prices to small grain processing enterprises. In recent years, when minimum purchase price procurement began, there were relatively few purchasing outlets, causing inconvenience in selling grain; sometimes a cartload could not be sold for three to five days.

Hu Wenge, a grain purchasing and sales broker in Shitangpu Village, Chunhua Town, Changsha County, said that because Sinograin purchasing points are far from the production areas, transportation costs increased, and sometimes people queued for several days, increasing the cost of selling grain considerably. For example: this year farmers in the southern part of Changsha County had to travel more than 50 km to sell grain, greatly increasing costs.

Yuan Hu, chairman of the Longping High-Tech Xinkang Grain-Growing Professional Cooperative, reported that some outlets still charge tea fees, unloading fees and the like. In addition, there is confusion in grain sales. For example: the high-quality rice that the agriculture department encouraged planting this year (Xiangzaoxian No. 45) was not purchased by the grain depot because it is long-grain type. It is hoped that in the whole process of grain production, the policies issued by various government departments will not be disconnected.

Heads of grassroots grain bureaus believe that private enterprises engaged in grain purchasing and storage should receive the same treatment as state-owned enterprises. A relevant person in charge of the Hanshou County Grain Bureau gave an example, saying that Tianze Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. has 100,000 tons of warehouse capacity and handles 300 tons of grain processing per day, and is the largest private storage enterprise in Changde City, but when purchasing grain, Tianze Company can only serve as a warehouse rental point leased by Sinograin and cannot serve as an entrusted purchasing point, causing inconvenience for local farmers delivering grain for sale.

Local purchasing and storage enterprises also have their difficulties. The person in charge of the Hunan Provincial Grain Group believes that the current procurement fee of 40 yuan/ton is too little. At present, impurity removal fees, labor costs and electricity fees are all rising, and the storage fee standard should be raised. At present, on the one hand, high warehouse inventories are fully stored and sales are sluggish, while on the other hand, seasonal grain shortages often appear on the market. He hopes that the grain rotation policy will be closer to the market and adjusted in a timely manner.