Autumn Grain Bumper Harvest Leaves Farmers Worried, Urging All Sectors of Society to Lend a Hand

According to a survey, the per-unit yield increase of autumn grain in Anqing City, Anhui Province this year is around 3.5%, with total output expected to reach 2.04 million tons, an increase of 130,000 tons over last year.

However, the bumper harvest has brought farmers not joy but worry. Although the grain increase reached around 3.5%, judging from the current situation, the price drop of autumn grain is greater than this figure, with some autumn grain varieties dropping by more than 20%. According to farmers in various areas, this year's soybean price is 1.8-1.9 yuan per jin, 0.4-0.5 yuan lower than last year's 2.2-2.3 yuan per jin, an average decrease of 18.18%; the corn purchase price is 0.8-0.9 yuan per jin, 0.2-0.3 yuan less than last year's 1.1 yuan per jin, a decrease of 18.18-27.27%; the machine-gate paddy purchase price is 1.05-1.10 yuan per jin, 0.1-0.2 yuan lower than last year, a decrease of around 10%. At the same time, deductions for impurities and moisture points are noticeably more than in previous years. Generally, this year's moisture point deductions are 2-3 points higher than last year, and impurities are also 1-2 points higher. In this way, deductions for moisture and impurities are 3-5 points more than last year, and each point is 0.5 yuan higher than last year's 1.5 yuan. Looking only at the three aspects of moisture point deductions, impurities and price reductions, every 100 jin of paddy is 15-20 yuan lower than last year. The loss per mu is more than 150 yuan, while this year's material input and labor costs have increased by around 40 yuan compared with last year, which is equivalent to this year's income per mu being 190 yuan less than last year. Calculating based on some farmers with high planting yields increasing by 100 jin of paddy per mu, the increase in income is only around 110 yuan. Comparing the increase in income with the loss, it can be seen that this year's increase in farmers' income has almost been lost to "price" and "cost." If this phenomenon is not stopped, farmers will face the predicament of increasing production while reducing income.

What is even more worrying is that state-owned grain collection and storage enterprises cannot purchase because their warehouses are full, causing private enterprises to turn to a wait-and-see approach or even stop purchasing, and the current situation in rural areas is that no one is purchasing. Currently, it is the season when rice matures. If indica rice is not harvested in time, grain shattering will occur, leading to yield loss and waste. If it rains, it may cause grain mildew and spoilage losses.

Here, we hope that leaders of governments at all levels, relevant enterprises and departments will be anxious about what farmers are anxious about and think about what farmers are thinking about, solve the problems of "low prices" and "difficulty in selling," and never let farmer brothers "sweat" and "shed tears" at the same time, effectively protecting farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain and national food security.