Suixi sweet potatoes: contractors handle digging and sales, so farmers need not worry
Original title: The sweet potato industry gives rise to brokers; one call brings a hundred responses to harvest sweet potatoes
At noon, Luo Tumei eats a fast-food meal at the field edge just like the villagers.
Early in the morning on December 3, on the sweet potato planting land of Yangqingliao Village, Caotan Town, Suixi County, more than 40 villagers from nearby towns and villages were busy putting the sweet potatoes dug out by the potato-digging machine into boxes. Not far from the field edge, a large truck was parked, and five or six villagers were deftly carrying the packed boxes of sweet potatoes one by one onto the truck.
Luo Tumei packs together with the villagers.
The reporter saw at the field edge that these people collecting sweet potatoes and carrying boxes onto the truck were mobilized under the charge of Luo Tumei from Jialuozai Village, Caotan Town. Luo Tumei can mobilize more than 200 potato pickers at any time, and can gather over a hundred people in just over 10 minutes.
Villagers are busy putting the sweet potatoes dug out by the potato-digging machine into bags.
The sweet potato industry in the three towns of Gangmen, Beipo and Caotan in Suixi has given rise to many "sweet potato brokers." He Min from Nanduhe Village, Beipo Town, is both a sweet potato grower and a broker. He said: "In the peak harvest season for sweet potatoes, more than 110 tonnes of sweet potatoes can be sold in a day, and on average more than 50 tonnes can be sold per day throughout the year. Dealers all wait at the field edge for goods to be loaded onto trucks. If there were no labor contractors to gather hundreds of villagers in an instant, harvesting and loading the sweet potatoes simply could not keep up." Luo Tumei is the contractor he is most satisfied with. There are nearly 20 large and small labor contractors active in this area, but very few have the capability of Luo Tumei.
"Sweet potato contractor" Luo Tumei.
Because she supervises work in the fields year round, Luo Tumei's skin is much darker than other people's, and her loud voice is somewhat hoarse. Now in middle age, she also knows to go to the fields only "fully armed": wearing a hat, wrapping her head and face in a thin floral cloth, and wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. "For the 70 to 80 mu of land, harvesting has already been going on for more than ten days," Luo Tumei said. "At this speed, we will still be busy for more than another week before we finish harvesting the sweet potatoes on this patch of land."
At noon, Luo Tumei uses her fast-food meal time to report the sweet potato harvesting progress to sweet potato boss He Min.
Because the work site is close to home, women living in nearby villages, after finishing housework, come to the fields one after another to harvest sweet potatoes and help supplement the household income. They range in age from about 30 to 60, start work at around six o'clock every day, eat a fast-food meal at the field edge at noon, rest for about an hour, and then have to work until evening. Wages are calculated by the day, about 80 yuan a day. One cardboard box can hold about sixty jin of sweet potatoes, and they can generally pack thirty to forty boxes a day. The porters and loading workers are mostly middle-aged men, and their daily wage is about 150 yuan.
"Sweet potato contractor" Luo Tumei.
Luo Tumei works very efficiently and speaks frankly. She used to be a potato picker too. Now, as a labor contractor, she not only has to manage the workers' labor and keep the sweet potato harvesting progress on track, but also has to check the boxing and follow up on the loading situation; she also often has to ride a motorcycle back and forth to supervise and inspect several nearby sweet potato planting sites, and she is very responsible. (Author: Photography/Li Bo, Text/Correspondent Zhuo Ying)