How can farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain be protected? Measures suggested
“Selling for less than 1.70 yuan per kg, and still hard to sell - what is to be done!” Speaking of corn yields and prices, farmer Yan Shanming of Shenwan Village, Lengji Town, Gucheng County, Hubei Province, said to this writer with knitted brows, higher output but hardly higher income makes one feel bitter.
Yan Shanming, now in his fifties, is a well-known skilled farmer near and far; though he is a little old, he keeps up with the “situation” very well in farming. From seed selection to cultivation to scientific management, he is not the least bit careless, so the people around him all take him as a model in farming. This year he planted more than 10 mu of corn, with an average yield of more than 700 kg per mu. But now that the corn is harvested, Yan Shanming cannot feel happy; the price of corn has fallen from 2.60 yuan per kg to 1.70 yuan, and compared with previous years, income per mu is more than 600 yuan less.
The speed of the corn price drop was beyond farmers' expectations. In the past five years, when new corn came on the market, the price per kg was mostly between 2.30 yuan and 2.50 yuan. The year before last, Yan Shanming's newly harvested corn was quickly snapped up at 2.50 yuan per kg; merchant Lan Guoyun, who buys corn, said: “Some even sold at 2.60 yuan per kg.” But this year the corn price quickly fell to around 1.80 yuan, and even at such a price it is still hard to sell.
A large grain-growing household surnamed Liu who transfers land for farming did the accounts: the more than 200 mu of corn he planted sold for 6 mao less per kg, which by his calculation brought income down by more than 70,000 yuan. It is still unknown whether the price will fall further; if it falls again, the loss from growing corn will be even greater.
Facing the market situation, farmers feel very helpless. “Where does the enthusiasm for growing grain come from?” said Chen Xiuguo, a large grain-growing household in Lengji Town, Gucheng County. “Only when the grain grown can be sold well and the price lets farmers make money will farmers actively grow grain.”
Some farmers are also actively responding to market changes, preparing to raise chickens and pigs to add value to corn, lower risks and increase income. But after all, those who do so are a minority.
Corn is not fruit or vegetables, of which one may appropriately have a little more or a little less; it is an indispensable staple grain in people's daily life. It is also the main source of livestock feed. This writer hopes the relevant departments can pay close attention and take effective measures to protect the interests of grain-growing farmers and protect farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain. Let the farmers who work the land receive truly tangible benefits.