Coronavirus: Chinese farmers watch vegetables rot as zero-Covid curbs disrupt transport
- Farmers across China are being forced to destroy fields of crops because regional virus controls are preventing transport to market
- Many farmers are fretting over whether to reduce production next year to cut losses, a possible blow to China’s food security ambitions
Gruelling coronavirus restrictions are forcing desperate Chinese farmers to destroy their crops because they are unable to sell their produce, highlighting the heavy economic toll of stringent restrictions and the potential threat to food security.
Local media have reported that farmers across China are struggling to sell their harvest because regional virus controls are preventing travel through many rural areas.
Farmers from provinces such as Henan, Gansu, Shandong and Hebei provinces have been forced to bulldoze fields of vegetables so they can sow seeds for the next crop, according to reports.
Ruzhou city in Henan province has produced 3.5 million kilograms of spring onions, nearly 1 million kilograms of spinach and 191 million kilograms of Chinese cabbage this harvest, but locals can consume only about a tenth, state media have reported. Most of the rest is stuck in nearby villages because trucks cannot enter to collect the vegetables.
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State media also reported a farmer in Shandong had to bulldoze tens of thousands of kilograms of vegetables because no one could pick them up and transport them to market.
The virus restrictions are starting to filter through to consumers in China. The consumer price index rose by 2.1 per cent in October from a year earlier, while food prices rose by 7 per cent in the same period, compared with 8.8 per cent growth in September.
While consumers have paid nearly 10 per cent more for vegetables since the end of October through early Novermber, farmers have seen wholesale prices drop to nearly nothing, according to a survey from Xinfadi Market Supermarket in Beijing cited by Farmers’ Daily.
The market provides more than 90 per cent of the capital’s fruits and vegetables.
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Beijing has urged local authorities to ease some virus curbs to stabilise economic growth, but in many rural areas roadblocks are common features, limiting the ability of trucks to travel through certain regions.
Mounds of dirt can be seen in the middle of some rural roads to stop cars passing by, according to social media and state media publications.
Many vegetable farmers are fretting over whether to reduce production next year to cut losses. If they do, China’s food security ambitions could be knocked back.
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This week, the Communist Party controlled People’s Daily called on local authorities to help farmers sell their crops. It also highlighted challenges faced by local governments in executing zero-Covid policies and the importance of keeping logistics unblocked.
While vegetables are rotting due to logistics problems, the problem is – in essence – one of governance efficiency, said Xiakedao, a publication affiliated with the overseas edition of People’s Daily.
“It reflects that there are still many obstacles in the assessment of pandemic control and the issuance of policies in some places,” Xiakedao said.
“To solve this problem, superiors should give the subordinates full control; the grass roots cadres should be properly empowered and reasonably exempted from responsibility. With the support of the superiors, the grass roots officers will be less burdened.”
