Shanxi red dates unsold, farmers feed them to pigs to prevent mold
Original headline: Large quantities of red dates unsold, jujube farmers in Yonghe, Shanxi, struggle to sell their crop
On January 13, Ren Chengxiang, a villager in Huangjialing Village, Yonghe County, Shanxi Province, sorts red dates. Ren Chengxiang said that in previous years she could earn more than 10,000 yuan from red dates, but now not a single jin of the 3,000 jin of red dates at home has been sold.
With Spring Festival approaching, it is peak season for red date sales, but the jujube farmers of Yonghe County, Shanxi Province, cannot feel happy at all. In previous years, red dates were snapped up by buyers long before this time, but now they sit at home with no way to sell them. Known as "China's Hometown of Jujubes," Yonghe County in Shanxi Province has 200,000 mu of red date planting area, and total output in 2015 reached more than 20 million jin. However, affected by multiple factors including outdated sales models, falling market demand, and red dates from other regions dominating the market, Yonghe County's red dates face the problem of being unsold, with current sales amounting to less than 30 percent, only one-third of the sales volume at the same time in previous years.
According to local jujube farmers and the Yonghe Forestry Bureau, last autumn had relatively high rainfall and high humidity, causing some harvested red dates to become moldy and rot. If they cannot be sold within a short period, the farmers' losses will be even greater.
At present, faced with the problem of unsold red dates, the Yonghe County government is actively contacting red date enterprises to purchase the dates, and participating in various New Year goods fairs to promote them. At the same time, it is using e-commerce to put red dates on online trading platforms, helping local red dates "go out" as quickly as possible.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhan Yan
In Huangjialing Village, Yonghe County, Shanxi Province, villager Ren Fenglian feeds red dates to pigs. Ren Fenglian's family harvested 5,000 jin of red dates, and not a single jin has been sold so far. Seeing more and more of the red dates becoming moldy and rotten, Ren Fenglian used some of them to feed the pigs (combined photo, taken January 13).
On January 13, in Hehuili Village, Yonghe County, Shanxi Province, villager Jia Changchun puts the moldy red dates he picked out into baskets to throw away. Jia Changchun said that not a single jin of the 5,000 jin of red dates his family harvested has been sold so far.
On January 13, Jia Changchun, a villager in Hehuili Village, Yonghe County, Shanxi Province, throws away the moldy red dates he picked out. Jia Changchun said that not a single jin of the 5,000 jin of red dates his family harvested has been sold so far.