Beinong Taipei fruit and vegetable market closed for too long, triggering dissatisfaction among farmers' associations; Council of Agriculture finds it hard to accept
The controversy over the closure of the Taipei fruit and vegetable auction market has only escalated. Many local farmers' associations are up in arms, saying that the surge in volume and price drops are not limited to the continuously harvested crops mentioned by the Meinong Farmers' Association.
Take Yilan white garlic as an example. Last year on February 27, the average auction price was 64 yuan per kilogram, but by the same day this year it had fallen to 21 yuan per kilogram. Farmers' association staff, facing farmers, found it hard to speak of their suffering, angrily saying, "It's more than a threefold difference. When farmers come to the farmers' association to ask, we simply don't know how to open our mouths and quote them vegetable prices." Some farmers' association staff also mentioned privately, "For Meinong, it was just that prices were bad. For our farmers' association, a whole pile of goods shipped that day was scrapped. Some farmers are already threatening to bring reporters to interview us at the farmers' association!"
Council of Agriculture: Cannot accept the Taipei City Government's two consecutive market closures
In order to quickly quell the controversy, the Council of Agriculture specially held a meeting on March 1 to discuss the matter, and issued a press release stating its position: "Regarding the Taipei fruit and vegetable wholesale market having two consecutive 3-day closures within a short 12-day period, we express that we cannot accept it." When reporters sought further confirmation, Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung also firmly stated: "The Council of Agriculture cannot accept the Taipei City Government's Market Management Office having two 3-day closures within 12 days. This is not directed at Beinong."
Zhong Qinghui, director-general of the Meinong District Farmers' Association and a former director of Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation (hereinafter "Beinong"), said, "A market closure means the market is shut, and everyone has absolutely no opportunity to buy or sell agricultural products. Therefore, the arrangement of market closures must be especially cautious." He repeatedly emphasized, "Once the market is closed, and especially if it is closed for three consecutive days, the ones who suffer most are of course the farmers who watch their crops grow every day but cannot ship them. Apart from worry and anger, farmers can do nothing!"
Beinong mini-glossary: Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation (hereinafter Beinong) operates the "First Wholesale Market" and the "Second Wholesale Market," collectively known as the "Taipei Fruit and Vegetable Auction Market." It is the largest auction market in all of Taiwan, supplying fruits and vegetables daily to more than seven million people in greater Taipei and surrounding counties and cities. Beinong has total capital of 200 million yuan and is a privately operated public utility with a board of directors that can operate independently. Private shares (farmers' associations at all levels) account for 54.48%, and public shares account for 45.52%. Among these, the Taipei City Government, the Council of Agriculture, and farmers' associations at all levels hold 22.76%, 22.76%, and 24.79% respectively, making it a situation of "three-way division of power."
Because the Council of Agriculture and the Taipei City Government hold the same proportion of official shares, the past convention has been that the chairman of Beinong is mostly appointed by the city government and the general manager by the Council of Agriculture. In addition, because Beinong is the distribution center with the largest fruit and vegetable throughput in Taiwan and has an enormous impact on people's daily lives, the operation of Beinong is always full of strong political flavor.
Farmers are helpless, market staff feel wronged; how should the process of deciding market closures be adjusted?
Faced with all this, including the bitterness and helplessness of farmers and the grievances of frontline market employees, is there really any way to avoid it? Can the mostly consensus-based process for deciding market closures be adjusted? Did Beinong do a good job of emergency response measures that day?
Section Chief Gao Zhenxiang of Taipei City said that Beinong should give play to its function of rapid distribution and provide the latest information to the central Council of Agriculture in a timely manner, so that relevant units can jointly promote early production-season adjustment and same-day cargo volume dispersal. In response, Manager Wu Tianming of Beinong said, "More than 120 employees and cadres in the auction team were on site desperately auctioning and desperately urging consignees to come in. No one dared leave their post."
Regarding the mostly consensus-based method of deciding market closure plans, Gao Zhenxiang believes that when consumers go to the market to buy things, they usually buy enough chicken, duck, fish, meat, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables in one trip. If the closure of the fruit, fishery, and livestock markets is not unified, it will affect buying sentiment in the end markets. He said, "Overall efficiency will differ. Unifying market closures as much as possible would be a more appropriate approach." But Manager Wu Tianming of Beinong strongly stated that if future decisions on market closures are still made by unified closure, then as long as the issue involves a closure of two days or more, Beinong will definitely insist on opposing it. "We must avoid such an impact happening again. Once is enough!"
Zhong Qinghui: Open the doors of the fruit and vegetable market, and the market will naturally balance
Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung of the Council of Agriculture emphasized that the characteristics of food and agricultural crops are very different from fishery and livestock products. "At yesterday's (the 1st) emergency meeting between the Taipei City Government, the Agriculture and Food Agency, and Beinong, I strongly stated that in the future it is absolutely not permissible to have three consecutive days or more of market closure again. This has too great an impact on farmers." In addition, because this year's Mid-Autumn Festival also has three consecutive days off from September 24 to September 26, Chen Chi-chung said he had specially instructed at the meeting that the number of days of market closure for the Mid-Autumn Festival must be adjusted earlier, and asked attending units to take it back for discussion.
Zhong Qinghui, director-general of the Meinong Farmers' Association, emphasized that the Taipei City Government's Market Office must take into account both consumers and production areas. It cannot say that a majority consensus decision is necessarily right; it must consider the "greatest public interest." He believes that except for the Spring Festival, market closures should as much as possible not exceed two days, because once the market is closed for three days or more, the freshness of the fruits and vegetables consumers buy will definitely not be very good, while producers will again face the dilemma of having goods but being unable to ship them. He further explained, "A market closure means the market is shut. Once the door is closed, no one has a chance. Think about it: if the auction market stays open, farmers can decide for themselves whether to ship, and consignees can also decide whether to enter. But once the market is closed, no one has any choice."
Zhong Qinghui repeatedly said, "Open the doors of the fruit and vegetable market, and both volume and prices will naturally return to the supply-and-demand market mechanism and find a balance point."