The reporter visited the situation of stable supply and price protection in many vegetable industry bases in Shandong——
Is the "vegetable basket" stable in extreme cold weather?
Our reporter Wang Jinhu
In the first month of 2021, there will be a lot of cold waves.
In particular, the extremely cold weather in the first ten days of January made most of the central and eastern parts of China "tremble with freezing." In many places, the minimum temperature dropped to minus 18 degrees Celsius to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
The weather is getting colder, but the price of vegetables in many cities is "heating up." Many people have questions. It is low temperature and strong wind and snow. Will our vegetable base be greatly affected?
Will extreme cold weather continue to affect vegetable prices?
With these questions, a reporter from the Economic Daily came to visit Shandong, an important vegetable production and sales province in China.
Shouguang City is located in the north-central part of Shandong Province and is known as the "Hometown of Vegetables in China".
"On January 7th, there was widespread snowfall and cooling in Shouguang City, but the crops in the shed basically did not suffer from freezing damage." Vegetable farmer Zhu Lieyu told reporters in the tomato greenhouse in Zhujiazhuangzi Village, Tianliu Town, Shouguang City.
The growth of tomatoes in the greenhouse is very gratifying. Under the shadow of the drenching green leaves, three clusters and two clusters are covered with branches.
Zhu Lieyu told reporters that before the snow fell and the temperature dropped, they had received a feasible operation plan issued by the Shouguang Agriculture and Rural Bureau. Agrotechnical experts went to the fields and vegetable sheds to give farmers professional guidance on crop protection from the cold.
In addition, the sunshine is sufficient after snow, and the temperature in the shed rises quickly, which has little effect on the growth of vegetables.
In terms of stable supply and price protection, the Shouguang Municipal Bureau of Commerce actively coordinated the Shouguang Dili Agricultural Products Logistics Park to increase the allocation of vegetable categories and supply through the advantages of customer resources and market agglomeration, and guide merchants to increase the quantity of goods to ensure the supply of "vegetable baskets".
At the same time, the logistics park is encouraged to use idle warehouses, cold storage, etc. to increase vegetable reserves to effectively ensure adequate supply of vegetables during inclement weather.
Shen County, Liaocheng City, located in the west of Shandong Province, is also the main producer of vegetables.
It is understood that in 2020, Xinxian implemented the storage and preservation cold chain logistics construction project of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the total storage capacity of mechanical cold storage of 27 large-scale farms in the county reached more than 16,000 tons.
"The vegetables stored in the cold storage are coriander and broccoli, which are mainly sold to large and medium cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Harbin, etc. Based on the current storage capacity, it is expected to be shipped out by the end of January." Xinhong Fruits and Vegetables, Hedian Town, Xin County Said Wang Shanguang, chairman of the professional cooperative.
“At present, the main vegetables supplied in Xin County are leeks, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants, bell peppers, sharp peppers, kidney beans, etc. The daily output is about 5,000 tons. In addition, the county’s constant temperature warehouses store yam, green onions, More than 100,000 tons of vegetables such as garlic and parsley are enough to ensure a year-round supply of vegetables." said Miao Jizhong, head of the diversified business unit of the Xin County Agriculture and Rural Bureau.
A total of 300,000 mu of high-efficiency intensive greenhouses have been built in Xin County to ensure the normal growth of vegetables in extremely cold weather.
"My truck has about 8 tons of cargo and it will be sent to Henan in the afternoon." Wang Chao, general manager of Xinsiyuan Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., Shibalipu Town, Xin County, introduced that the volume of purchases and sales in extremely cold weather were compared with the same period in previous years. None were reduced.
Lanling County, Linyi City, Shandong Province is known as the "Shandong Southeast Vegetable Garden". The main vegetables are directly supplied to cities in the Yangtze River Delta such as Shanghai and Hangzhou.
The sky is bright, and the Jiarui Vegetable Planting Cooperative in Xiangcheng Town, Lanling County is already a busy scene.
In winter and spring, cucumbers and peppers are on the market in large numbers. After five or six hours, these agricultural products will all go south.
"The cold weather does have some impact on cucumbers and other vegetables suitable for growing in a warm environment." According to Zhang Licun, head of the Jiarui Vegetable Planting Cooperative in Lanling County, the current low temperature has extended the growth period of cucumbers by 5 to 7 days. And compared with previous years, prices also tend to rise.
At present, the cooperative has an average daily order volume of more than 3,000 orders on the e-commerce platform, with a sales volume of more than 10,000 catties, which is a certain gap compared with the usual daily orders of tens of thousands and more than 50,000 catties.
In order to reduce the impact of severe cold weather, Lanling County actively organized agricultural technicians to strengthen technical guidance to ensure the normal growth of winter and spring vegetables, and to ensure the supply of vegetables in the Yangtze River Delta under cold weather.
At present, Lanling County has an area of 750,000 mu of field vegetables and 150,000 mu of market area. Vegetables that can be supplied to the market include cucumbers, eggplants, loofah, tomatoes, edible fungi, lettuce and other vegetables. The daily market volume exceeds 1 million catties.
On January 7, the lowest temperature in Zaozhuang, located in southern Shandong, reached minus 16 degrees Celsius. In the vegetable wholesale area of the Lunan Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market, the vegetable vendor Chen, who had just delivered a batch of goods, told reporters that the cold weather caused her to buy goods here. There are nearly two-thirds fewer people.
Regarding the question of whether the cooling will have an impact on the wholesale price of vegetables, several vegetable vendors at the scene said that little change has been made.
Wang Rongjun, head of the Xincheng Vegetable Cooperative in Shouguang City, has been engaged in vegetable purchases for many years. He introduced that due to the application of various technical measures and farmers' production methods, vegetable production has not been greatly affected.
Regarding the recent vegetable price situation, Wang Rongjun said that his cooperative mainly buys tomatoes. From the perspective of tomato prices, there is no major fluctuation before and after the cold wave.
During the cold wave, Shandong provincial and municipal agricultural technology departments conducted timely in-depth field guidance to investigate hidden production risks such as old greenhouse skeletons, heating charcoal fires, etc., and instruct farmers to multi-layer film and add heat preservation quilts to the front feet of the greenhouse. , The heating equipment regulates the temperature, humidity and light in the facilities, and at the same time guides farmers to scientifically fertilize and irrigate, do a good job in disease prevention, and spray amino acids and biological agents on the leaves of frozen vegetables in a timely manner to promote plant recovery and growth to the greatest extent possible Efforts to reduce disaster losses.
"At present, the sun is relatively sufficient, and there is no long-term lack of sunshine. Low temperature and strong wind and snow have a certain degree of impact on Shandong's facility vegetable production, but the overall production and supply are not affected to a large extent." Vegetable Expert Steering Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs The member Gaozhongqiang researcher said.
Regarding the price increase of some vegetables, Gao Zhongqiang believes that firstly, due to the cold wave weather, some vegetables in greenhouses suffered low-temperature damage, and the variety and output of vegetables on the market decreased, resulting in an increase in the price of some vegetables; second, transportation restrictions or increased transportation costs As a result, bad weather has caused inconvenience in transportation for a certain period of time, affecting long-distance transportation of vegetables, and some leafy vegetables are not easy to store, transportation loss is large, storage and transportation costs increase, and vegetable prices are boosted; third, due to the approaching Spring Festival, vegetables Prices show a festive rise.
"With favorable weather conditions, seasonal spring vegetables from the south flood the northern market, and vegetable prices will gradually fall after the Spring Festival." Gao Zhongqiang said.