Crops are rotting and poultry is not being slaughtered because Chinese farmers can’t get their products to buyers because of travel restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Jiang Junsheng has already pulped over a ton of garlic, turning the unwanted crop into fertilizer, but he still has to figure out how to dispose of nearly 5.5 tons of sweet potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables at his organic farm in central China.Jiang has tried halving prices for his top-quality goods, but there has been almost no interest in the products in the last month because the coronavirus forced transportation networks to a grinding halt.
“In normal years, I would have sold $5,720 worth of vegetables in the three weeks after the Lunar New Year holiday. This year, it’s nearly zero,” the 39-year-old farmer said from his fields in the central province of Henan.
Jiang uses an organic solution from waste vegetables to grow his crops. He relies heavily on delivery services to get his products to market in distant, first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where buyers will pay a premium.
“In the past few weeks, links between most cities have been cut. People and vehicles can’t even get between villages here,” he said.Some of the roads have reopened and more delivery companies resumed business this week, but it’s far from a full recovery, he said.
Beijing-based consulting firm BRIC Agri-Info Group estimates that across mainland China, more than 3.3 million tons of farm produce, mostly perishable vegetables, has been left unsold due to disruptions in the transport chain.Other sectors of the agricultural industry are also hurting as farmers struggle to sell their goods or find enough workers.
Poultry breeders are among the worst hit by the crisis, according to authorities and industry observers.In the eastern province of Zhejiang, Xie Chuanzao said he had lost a significant amount of money because he could not sell his chickens.Xie has more than 20,000 birds on his farm and has to keep paying to feed the mature birds until he can find a buyer.
“During the past month, half of the flock reached slaughter weight but I have to keep feeding them on the farm. I couldn’t do anything because the roads were blocked,” he said.Xie said he only managed to sell some a few days ago as roads gradually reopened.
To recover part of his losses, Xie has increased his prices. Before the Lunar New Year, he sold the birds for about $6.30 per pound, but now it is $8 to $9.50 for a pound........MUCH MORE
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