Apples fed to chickens, fruit growers cut down trees: agricultural products in many places sell at low prices and are hard to sell

Agricultural products in many places are mired in the “low prices, hard to sell” predicament

“This year, Chinese cabbage is only two or three mao per jin, not only three or four tenths cheaper than the same period last year, but also not selling at all well. I have been here for a long time, and surprisingly I have not sold a single head of cabbage.” Li Chundong said. The Shouguang Agricultural Products Logistics Park in Shandong is one of the larger vegetable wholesale markets in the country, and Li Chundong, a vegetable dealer here, is worried about cabbage he cannot sell.

In Shandong, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Guangxi and other places, some vegetables and fruits have experienced “low prices, hard to sell.” Prices for varieties such as cabbage, apples, bananas and pears fell by three or four tenths year on year. Farmers' incomes in the relevant areas dropped sharply, enthusiasm for production was dampened, and there even appeared phenomena such as feeding apples to chickens and pigs, farmers cutting down fruit trees, and agricultural products rotting in the fields. Industry insiders believe that the scope and degree of “low prices, hard to sell” for agricultural products this year have expanded compared with the same period in previous years, and it is urgent to make joint efforts at both the consumption and production “ends” to solve this problem.

Multiple varieties of agricultural products suffer “low prices, hard to sell”

In addition to Shandong, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Guangxi and other places have recently seen the phenomenon of “low prices, hard to sell” for multiple agricultural products.

Cheling Village, Dawangmiao Town, Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, is a specialized apple-growing village, where almost every household has an orchard.

“This year the fruit harvest was abundant, but for some reason no one is willing to take it.” Wu Shubao, a 52-year-old fruit grower, told the Economic Information Daily reporter that he has now sold 30,000 jin of pears at a low price, and still has more than 30,000 jin of apples unsold, “the price is too low, I am a bit reluctant to part with them.”

Wang Zhibin, Party branch secretary of Cheling Village, said that this year apple prices fell by nearly 40% compared with last year, few vendors came to buy, and farmers had large quantities of apples they could not sell.

Yang Jinrong, a fruit grower in Xiaheimu Village, Fengqi Town, Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province, also reported that compared with previous years, this year's field purchase price for apples was only about 2.5 yuan/jin, a full 1 yuan lower than last year. At this time last year, his family had only one third of its apples left, while this year only one third had been sold. “Looking at the falling prices and the unsold apples, I am very anxious.”

Since late September, banana prices in Guangxi have remained depressed, with purchase prices falling sharply compared with last year, even once dropping as low as two or three mao per jin. In addition, bananas in many places have experienced “difficulty selling.”

In addition to the above varieties of agricultural products, this year many places have seen varying degrees of “low prices, hard to sell” for persimmons, pears, sugarcane, celery, jujubes, corn and many other agricultural products, with the scope and degree expanded compared with the same period in previous years.

Some farmers' incomes fell sharply

Affected by “low prices, hard to sell” for agricultural products, farmers' incomes in relevant areas of our country have fallen sharply compared with previous years.

Tanluo Town is one of Guangxi's important banana-producing areas and is known as the “hometown of Chinese bananas.” Deng Huiming, deputy Party secretary of Tanluo Town, said that this year Tanluo Town's banana planting area was nearly 200,000 mu, and banana sales revenue accounted for more than 60% of the town's farmers' annual income. This year, however, the average banana purchase price was only about 0.5 yuan/jin, a rare low in recent years. Many farmers not only failed to make money, but actually lost money.

“If the banana purchase price is below 0.9 yuan/jin, there will be a loss, and this year the purchase price was only 0.5 yuan/jin. Farmers lose an average of more than 1,000 yuan per mu of bananas planted. I have worked in the banana industry for nearly 20 years, and the market has never been as sluggish as this year. Nearly 80% of banana growers and enterprises are facing losses.” Deng Yongzhi, vice president of the Guangxi Banana Association, said.

Many pear growers in Qian County, Shaanxi Province, told the Economic Information Daily reporter that this year's pear-growing returns were too poor. After working hard for a whole year, the returns were meager.

“My family planted 18 mu of pear trees, with a total output of more than 70,000 jin. Last year the purchase price was 1.6 yuan/jin, while this year it was only 1 yuan/jin, for a total income reduction of more than 40,000 yuan compared with last year. If labor costs are included, after a year of hard work growing pears, there was almost no profit.” Liang Zhanming, a villager of Shanglumo Village, Yanghong Town, Qian County, Shaanxi Province, said.

Because of “low prices, hard to sell,” some farmers fed apples to chickens and pigs, cut down fruit trees, or simply let already ripe fruit rot in the fields. In Dalian, Liaoning Province, because apples attracted no buyers, they could only be used to feed chickens or pigs, which aroused widespread public attention, and many netizens bought local apples online. But for apples counted in millions of jin, these sales were only “a drop in the bucket.”

Lu Dianfeng, a villager of Cheling Village, Dawangmiao Town, Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, cut down dozens of century-old pear trees left by his ancestors. “Growing pears does not make money. If I cut down the pear trees and sell them to others for furniture, one tree can still sell for more than 60 yuan, and freeing up the land makes it easier to plant something else.” In Zhangling Street Village, Xiashan District, Weifang City, Shandong Province, more than 70,000 jin of persimmons attracted no buyers, and some persimmons had already rotted in the fields.

Output increased while consumption was sluggish

Experts said that this year's “low prices, hard to sell” for some agricultural products was jointly affected by the “supply side” and the “consumption side”: due to relatively good climatic conditions, the output of many agricultural products increased somewhat; at the same time, affected by unfavorable factors such as increased downward pressure on the domestic economy and reduced exports, consumption of some agricultural products was relatively sluggish.

First, from the “supply side,” some agricultural products had a bumper harvest this year, with output increasing considerably compared with previous years.

Taking apples as an example, Li Junbiao, head of the Agricultural and Workers Department of Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, introduced that this year local fruit output increased by nearly 30%; Wang Jianfeng, director of the Apple Industry Management Bureau of Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province, said that this year the apple output of the whole of Luochuan reached 850,000 tons, an increase of 50,000 tons over last year.

“As far as I know, the national apple planting area currently exceeds 40 million mu, and output exceeds 30 million tons, the highest year in the recorded history of our country's apple production. The rise in apple output will inevitably lead to a fall in prices.” Wang Jianfeng said.

Factors such as outdated planting models for some agricultural products and a not-yet-high degree of industrialization and branding have also intensified “low prices, hard to sell.”

Industry insiders believe that many farmers' planting models are still “old traditions”: sowing, fertilizing, harvesting, and selling on their own after the crops mature. Due to the lack of refined management and standardized production, fruits and other agricultural products grown by farmers find it difficult to guarantee high quality, there are also relatively few brands, and market competitiveness is weak. Added to the damage to agricultural products in links such as picking and transportation, the space for raising their prices is relatively limited.

Second, from the “consumption side,” affected by unfavorable factors such as increased downward pressure on the domestic economy and reduced exports, consumption of some agricultural products was relatively sluggish. This year, downward pressure on the economy was relatively great, the overall economic situation was relatively sluggish, and the incomes of some social groups declined. To save expenses, consumers will inevitably cut back on consumption of “non-essential” agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits.

Some people also believe that “low prices, hard to sell” for some agricultural products is also related to the current import and export situation. Ye Chunxiang, deputy director of the Fruit Residual Bureau of Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, said that Suizhong white pears were originally exported to Russia and other neighboring countries, but in recent years these export orders have become fewer and fewer.

Data released by the Yantai Apple Association of Shandong Province show that in 2014, Yantai exported 860,000 tons of apples, down 13% year on year (Shandong Province was down 18%). According to other statistics, from January to May this year, our country's apple exports fell 31% year on year, while in the same period apple imports increased 366% year on year, with value increasing 387%.

In addition, limited sales channels for some agricultural products can also cause “low prices, hard to sell.” Yang Yafei, director of the Rural Development Institute of the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, believes that infrastructure in rural areas is relatively weak, and sales of many agricultural products are still mainly based on traditional models such as retail selling and enterprise purchasing, while online sales channels such as e-commerce still need to be further opened up.

“Joint efforts at both ends” to solve the problem

Industry insiders believe that from the consumption link, efforts should be further increased in “farmer-supermarket linkage” and “farmer-e-commerce linkage.”

Dong Juntao, a member of the Party Committee of the Shouguang City Commerce Bureau in Shandong Province, believes that the “low prices, hard to sell” of some agricultural products does not mean that cities lack sufficient consumption capacity, but rather that production and sales have not been well connected. To solve this problem, in addition to continuing the effective “farmer-supermarket linkage” of previous years, this year the state should also issue policies to encourage the sale of agricultural products through e-commerce, for example encouraging major well-known e-commerce companies to carry out “exhibitions and sales of famous, special and high-quality agricultural products from various places” in prominent positions on their website home pages, so that citizens can see them, buy them and eat well.

Yang Yafei said that when facing the problem of “low prices, hard to sell” for agricultural products, emergency response mechanisms should be improved. Government departments can strengthen caring assistance, actively organize local wholesale markets, supermarkets and enterprises to go to villages to purchase, or set up temporary sales points in some urban streets and residential communities, and release information through online information platforms, media and other channels to guide more buyers and consumers to come and purchase, so as to handle emergencies well. At the same time, farmers should be guided to stagger sales as much as possible to avoid excessive concentration of sales of existing agricultural products.

In addition, the implementation of agriculture-related policies should be strengthened and more service platforms should be built. Recently, the General Office of the State Council has successively issued agriculture-related policies such as the Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Deepening Rural Reform and the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Accelerated Development of Rural E-commerce, providing policy support and guidance for rural development. Experts said that follow-up work should take the introduction of policies as an opportunity, and in the process of strengthening the implementation of agriculture-related policies, build various service platforms such as market information release, price monitoring and e-commerce, avoid the phenomenon of “rushing in all at once” in the production of a certain agricultural product, and expand traditional sales channels.

From the production link, first, through policy guidance, demonstration-driven methods and other means, change the development concept of one-sided pursuit of high yield and improve the quality of agricultural products. Yang Xiaoli, associate professor at Shenyang Agricultural University, said that taking fruit as an example, in recent years all places have vigorously expanded fruit planting areas and pursued higher per-unit yields, leading to increased fruit output and declined quality. This development concept should be changed; otherwise, the prospects for the fruit-growing industry are not optimistic.

Second, change the old model of traditional scattered planting by individual households, vigorously promote the construction of agricultural planting cooperatives, and realize “collective” development. Wang Jianfeng, director of the Apple Industry Management Bureau of Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province, suggested establishing and improving a complete marketing system and cultivating large farmers' professional cooperatives so that farmers can “huddle together for warmth.” It is understood that the proportion of fruit growers participating in cooperatives in Luochuan County is nearly 40%, and fruit sales are relatively smooth; while in Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, where “difficulty selling” occurred, this proportion is only about 10%.

Third, build well-known agricultural product brands and enhance overall competitiveness. Yang Xiaoli believes that at present, the brand awareness of most agricultural products in our country is still very limited. In the future, the development of the agricultural product industry will inevitably move toward refinement and branding. Relevant departments should further strengthen support and guidance for leading agricultural enterprises, and rely on leading agricultural enterprises to build agricultural product brands with national and even international influence, so as to better develop both domestic and international markets.