Why are jujube farmers cutting down their jujube trees? Market development needs to be accelerated
A snowfall not long ago brought waves of chill to the Lüliang Mountains. Living on the mountain, jujube farmers gazed at patch after patch of jujube groves and could not help shaking their heads in helplessness: these jujube trees that had given them hope of prosperity more than a decade ago now left them deeply disappointed.
⟦NL> No one buying jujube, some cutting down trees
Wang Dezhong, a villager of Yujiaoyao Village, Qianshan Township, Shilou County, planted 20 mu of jujube in 2015, harvesting 400 jin per mu, better than the harvests of previous years, yet he could not feel happy at all. “I thought the jujube could fetch a good price, but by mid-to-late December not a single buyer had come. Not one jin of the jujube I grew was sold.” he said helplessly.
Aunt Zhang, who was sorting jujube in her own courtyard, said that a couple of days earlier someone had come into the village to buy rotten jujube at 1 mao per jin, so she had no choice but to sell the jujube already rotting in the courtyard together with some good jujube as rotten jujube, more than 3,000 jin in all. “If I don't sell now there will be no way at all. With the jujube piled here, a batch rots every day, and now more than half has rotted.”
Shilou currently has 271,700 mu of jujube groves, with a normal-year red jujube output of 60 million jin and an output value of 90 million yuan. It is a major red jujube county in Shanxi Province, and red jujube was once the hope for farmers to escape poverty and prosper. A grassroots cadre of the county said: “In recent years, whenever the jujube turns red it rains, and when it rains the fruit splits. It is already good if the county's jujube harvest reaches 30 to 40 percent.” In 2014, Shilou's red jujube suffered disaster and reduced output by as much as 90 percent. Years of severe fruit splitting made some jujube farmers lose confidence in tending their jujube trees, and this year's bumper harvest without a bumper income further dampened jujube farmers' enthusiasm.
Li Huaiyi, who lives in Liu Village, Yidie Township, Shilou County, was swinging an axe to cut down trees in a jujube grove. “The jujube I harvest cannot be sold, and the money from selling jujube is not even enough to hire people to beat the jujube down. What use is there in growing it? Next year I will not grow jujube no matter what.” he said dejectedly.
Technology extension still needs to be deeply grounded in local realities
In a jujube grove in Hehe Township, Shilou County, several jujube farmers were whitewashing the jujube trees. What puzzled the experts was that the jujube farmers only whitewashed the trunk, while paying no attention to some key branch forks that needed pest elimination. “Many jujube farmers do not understand that the purpose of winter whitewashing is to prevent freezing, kill insects and sterilize.” said Li Dengke, a researcher at the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He had asked local jujube farmers, and the vast majority mistakenly thought whitewashing was only for appearance.
Some jujube farmers also knew nothing about common diseases such as jujube witches' broom. When asked whether technicians had provided them with professional tending training, one jujube farmer said with a bitter smile: “They come to the village to give lectures, sometimes they come and sometimes they don't, and the actual effect is so-so. I am 53 years old, and learning techniques now feels very difficult.”
Grassroots cadres and jujube farmers said that at present technology going to the countryside lacks continuity and systematicness, so jujube farmers cannot truly and effectively master tending techniques in a comprehensive way. Some technicians, when training in the countryside, found that some jujube farmers did not even understand some of the most basic tending knowledge, and each time could only start teaching from the most elementary things. Dr. He Runping of the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who has been involved in technology going to the countryside, said that he wanted to be more grounded in local realities, but when facing jujube farmers with zero technical foundation, he always felt at a loss.
Li Jie, director of the Pomology Research Institute of the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that to deal with technical problems such as fruit splitting and market fluctuations, and to guide jujube farmers to rebuild confidence, efforts need to be made in two areas: precisely positioning distinctive varieties and building regional distinctive brands. The Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences has already bred varieties with strong comprehensive traits and strong resistance to fruit splitting in the Lüliang area, and promotion efforts should be increased. Jujube farmers should also optimize planting models, master comprehensive agricultural compound management models, develop under-forest economies, enhance the jujube's resistance to fruit splitting, and achieve simultaneous bumper harvests of jujube trees and grain crops.
Market development needs to be accelerated
In 2015, the Shilou County government took measures and made every effort to explore the jujube industry “three-three system”, namely picking and distributing in three stages during different ripening periods. At the same time, it proposed that for every jin of green jujube or fresh jujube that enterprises buy back from jujube farmers, the government subsidizes 2 mao. “Pursuing these two approaches together is a useful attempt to reduce the sales risk of traditional dried jujube and the risk of traditional fruit splitting.” said Chen Jianlin, deputy county magistrate of Shilou County. However, the effects of these explorations still need further observation, and the main role of enterprises and the market should be further stimulated and brought into play.
Shude Jujube Industry is a large specialized leading enterprise for red jujube in Shilou County. During the 2015 “Double Eleven” period, the enterprise's branded red jujube achieved excellent e-commerce sales results. Nevertheless, enterprise head Xue Jinrong still frowned. He said that the enterprise's product “jujube stuffed with walnut” is too easy to imitate, and the profit margin will become smaller and smaller in the future.
Li Jie said: “Leading enterprises should adapt to local conditions, use Shilou jujube as a high-quality processing raw material, and focus on distinctive deep processing. Only by truly opening up the entire industrial chain of technology and market, and achieving connection between upstream planting and downstream marketing, can jujube trees truly become jujube farmers' ‘trees of prosperity’.” Only with the dual-driven approach of agricultural technology support and market resource integration can jujube farmers' confidence be revived.