Distributor Breaches Contract: 10,000 Jin of Rice Could Crush Xingjian Organic Village
This year has been an eventful one for Yilan. A few days ago, heavy rain flooded farmers' vegetable plots and green onions (scallions), and recently the organic agricultural cooperative in Xingjian Village, Sanxing Township, was hit by a major incident in which a distributor maliciously cancelled an order!
In July, the distributor ordered 15,000 kg of organic rice, but recently cancelled the order with a single email. In just a few lines, the transaction was brushed off completely, forcing the cooperative to bear the full sales pressure of 15,000 kg (market value about 1.5 million yuan). If a buyer cannot be found within a few days, they may not even be able to pay the farmers the purchase price for the rice, and next year's spring plowing plan will also be seriously affected.
"We farmers, we really believed he was going to buy, and in the end we were treated like this. What are we supposed to do?" said Zhang Mei, chairwoman of the Xingjian Organic Cooperative, helplessly.
Farmers Act in Good Faith, Yet the Distributor Maliciously Breaks the Contract
"Even now when I talk about it, I'm still furious!" said Wu Xinwei, project manager of the cooperative. Discussions with this distributor about cooperation had been going on for a long time, and it was not until September this year that the quantity of 15,000 kg of white rice was finalized. At first, the cooperative was also worried that the distributor's word alone would not be enough, so it asked the distributor to draft a formal contract. Unexpectedly, when the cooperative signed and stamped the contract and sent it to the other party for stamping and confirmation, the other party never sent the contract back to the cooperative. (For the contract contents, see the end of the article.)
"For the past two months, we kept urging them to confirm the contract, but they never gave us a definite reply. They only asked us to reserve 15,000 kg of rice for them first. In the end, they simply said that their business with Japan had fallen through, so they would not order our rice," Wu Xinwei explained angrily.
He said that since discussions with the distributor began, the distributor had already twice asked the cooperative to lower its price. While safeguarding farmers' income, the cooperative tried its best to cooperate. In the end, the reason the distributor gave for rejecting the order was actually: "Because the Japanese-side operator, while searching for product information, found that Xingjian Village had an online group-buying discounted rice plan, and considered the group-buying price 'too cheap,' disrupting the market, and therefore was unwilling to sell it." The cooperative hopes to buy and sell at a price that is reasonable to both consumers and farmers, and it finds such a response from the distributor truly hard to accept.
(Left 1, 2) Although the cooperative has suffered a blow, it still works hard. (Left 3) Wu Xinwei, project manager of the cooperative.
Pressure from Nearly 1.5 Million in Bad Debt May Crush Xingjian Village's Organic Path
"Xingjian Organic Village" was only officially formed and began operating last year, and its pace is still being adjusted. At present, annual output and sales are not yet stable. Wu Xinwei said that when Xingjian Village's organic rice first made a name for itself, the cooperative was very optimistic that this rice could be sold quickly and well. But later they found that there was much talk and little action, and that not many customers actually bought rice from the cooperative. As a result, by the end of last year, a large amount of rice remained unsold, and in the end it was only through assistance from Buybai that it was successfully sold out.
But the experience at the end of last year made the farmers, who were then new to organic farming, very uneasy. They not only had to bear the hardships of cultivation, but also the risk of sales. So they earnestly hoped to increase sales channels. Therefore, when this distributor came to discuss cooperation at the beginning of this year, they full-heartedly expected that this year's sales could gradually stabilize because of the distributor's participation. They never expected that this was the beginning of another nightmare.
Zhang Mei, chairwoman of the cooperative and an important figure in promoting the idea of "Xingjian Organic Village," was originally just one of the consumers buying organic agricultural products, but she had always wanted to promote organic agriculture in her own village. After years of effort, she finally gathered a few good friends willing to try change and switch together to growing organic rice. Several elderly men and women past fifty studied together, looked for information, and researched methods. After much difficulty, they obtained organic certification and formed the "Xingjian Organic Agricultural Production Cooperative." Although organic agriculture currently accounts for only one-tenth of Xingjian Village, they hope to gradually turn Xingjian Village into an "organic village" in the future. The area of farmland held by each farmer participating in the cooperative is not large, but they have always believed that unity is strength.
But now, facing the most practical sales problem, Zhang Mei worries that this breach of trust by the distributor will seriously affect the cooperative's operations. The farmers may lose not only their confidence in distributors, but also their confidence in the cooperative. The cooperative, which they thought was gradually getting on track, will still face a difficult road ahead.
"We farmers, we really believed he was going to buy, and in the end we were treated like this. What are we supposed to do?" Zhang Mei looked at the hundreds of bags of dried rice that had been piled up since July in the old activity center (the cooperative still has no warehouse, so it can only rent space from the township office), her face full of worry. She knew she bore not only the pressure of selling all 15,000 kg of rice, but also the trust and hope of all the farmers participating in the cooperative. She had to prove that the cooperative could sell organic rice through its own strength, and also prove that organic farming really can give farmers a better and more stable life.
"If they don't deal with distributors, they fear that marketing on their own will not be strong enough and the rice will not sell out; if they trust distributors, in the end they face the predicament of having the contract broken, and still the rice does not sell out." This is the common situation of Taiwan, China's small organic farmers. Small farmers do not rely on farmers' associations and depend only on themselves, and in negotiations and cooperation with distributors they have always been in the most disadvantaged position. Xingjian Village in Sanxing Township, Yilan, is absolutely not the only case, and this nearly 20,000 kg of rice, cultivated through hard work, remains their most difficult problem at present.
Postscript:
Although it has suffered a major blow, the Yilan Xingjian Organic Cooperative still upholds farmers' honesty and kindness, and is unwilling to disclose the distributor's information or the transaction price. Project manager Wu Xinwei said that perhaps the other party also has difficulties, but having difficulties is one thing, and whether one can communicate in good faith is another. He hopes that the disclosure of this matter can serve as a warning to all distributors who purchase from farmers, so they understand the suffering farmers endure, and also hopes to remind other farmers to act carefully so as to avoid suffering the same blow.
To support Xingjian Organic Village through this difficult time, below is the group-buying plan for "Xingjian Rice":
1. The varieties of Xingjian Rice are "Kaohsiung 145" and "Xian 10", priced at 220 yuan per pack (2 kg pack).
2. Consumers may freely specify white rice, brown rice or germ rice. Group buying is hoped to be by the full box, with one box holding 10 packs.
"Xingjian Organic Agricultural Production Cooperative" contact phone: 03-9899826 e-mail: [email protected]
To learn more about Xingjian organic rice, please click here Xingjian Organic Agricultural Production Cooperative. On Facebook, please search for "Xingjian Organic Journal."
Appendix: Contents of the contract signed between Xingjian Organic Village and the distributor --
