When agricultural products repeatedly suffer from unsellable surpluses, how can this be brought to an end?

In June this year, nectarines from Zhuyu Town, Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province, became unsellable, and the fruit farmers, left with no other option, dumped some of the damaged nectarines into the river at the entrance to the village. Coincidentally, in April, open-field scallions grown in the Moxi Community of Qianxian County, Xianyang City, suffered unsellable surpluses to varying degrees, and the villagers, though watching over a bumper harvest of scallions, could not sell them.

These two unsellable-surplus incidents drew the attention and help of many warm-hearted people, and this reporter personally experienced both. Through the reporter's investigation, these two unsellable-surplus incidents had many common features. First, both were affected by climate to varying degrees. Both regions encountered consecutive rainy days during the peak sales season for agricultural products, which on the one hand delayed sales and on the other reduced the number of buyers. Second, the agricultural products that became unsellable were both non-government-advocated planting projects in their regions. Qianxian County and Zhouzhi County are respectively important apple and kiwifruit production areas in Shaanxi Province, and to a certain extent there was a lack of effective guidance for the categories of agricultural products that became unsellable. Third, they were greatly affected by market conditions. The purchase prices of the agricultural products that became unsellable in these two incidents fell sharply compared with before, and farmers generally had a reluctance to sell, leading to delayed sales, declines in product quality to varying degrees, and even lower prices. Fourth, they were mainly single-family operations. The scallions of the Moxi Community and the nectarines of Zhuyu Town have a local planting history of nearly 20 years, but they still remain at the level of single-family operations, with a low degree of organization in agricultural production and operation and a lack of effective market connections.

In recent years, seasonal unsellable surpluses of agricultural products have occurred repeatedly in some areas of our country, seriously affecting farmers' enthusiasm for planting. This reporter believes that the government should carry out overall planning for the planting industry in such regions. For those planting projects not advocated by the government, the government should also increase communication with farmers and, through methods such as providing technical support, information communication and connecting with markets, help these farmers establish a clear-headed production philosophy.

Because unsellable surpluses of agricultural products are affected by many factors, the government may not be able to completely eliminate the problem just by conscientiously doing industrial planning. Governments at all levels must put sufficient effort into the marketing system. Doing a good job in building sales channels for agricultural products, strengthening the opening and management of sales channels, forming a smooth and efficient sales network, eliminating the separation between products and consumers, and providing consumers with a convenient and quick consumption platform are important tasks in promoting agricultural products. At the same time, local governments should also accelerate the pace of advancing agricultural informatization and, by borrowing the "broad reach" characteristic of e-commerce platforms, expand the coverage of agricultural product sales. From a long-term development perspective, it is necessary to cultivate and strengthen new types of business entities, cultivate agricultural product brands, and gain recognition from the market and consumers through agricultural product brand building.