The cherry tomato of Lingmenju in Guangpo Town, Lingshui County. Courtesy of respondents
Beijing News (reporter Yang Yijing) "We have 50,000 catties of cherry tomatoes ripening here every day, which can last until May without a major disaster, but this year's sales are really not good, and we are trying to find a way." "The villagers of Lingmenju in Guangpo Town, Lingshui County, Hainan Province, have recently been worried, and the cherry tomatoes that are popular every winter and spring cannot be sold this year, and due to the impact of the new pneumonia epidemic, many large supermarkets and vegetable markets have stopped buying cherry tomatoes. At present, Lingmenju's agricultural company is selling cherry tomatoes online, hoping to sell as many unsalable cherry tomatoes as possible to reduce farmers' losses.
National geographical indications agricultural products are not marketable
Lingshui Li Autonomous County is located in the southeast of Hainan Island, bordering Sanya City to the southwest. Every year in winter and spring, walking into the villages of Guangpo Town, Lingshui County, you can see a large area of cherry fruit fields. Looking out into the fields on the side of the road, green tomato vines bear small red fruits.
Large fields of cherry tomatoes. Courtesy of respondents
Cherry tomato is the dominant industry in Lingshui, and the main variety is millennium. According to Liu Jun, head of Yifengyuan Agricultural Company in Lingmenju, Guangpo Town, Lingshui County, more than 60,000 mu of cherry tomatoes have been planted in Lingshui County, and a total of 3,500 mu have been planted in Lingmenju, Guangpo Town. Due to the good soil quality, the climate is between tropical and subtropical, and the town also has a natural water source from Mount Diaoluo, the cherry tomatoes produced here are refreshing and sweet, bright in color, and are popular in many parts of the country. In July last year, "Lingshui Cherry Tomato" also obtained the national agricultural product geographical indication certification.
"Our cherry tomatoes here ripen at the end of November every year, and January and February coincide with the season of mass marketing." Liu Jun said that in previous years, the cherry tomatoes in the village were mainly packaged centrally, sold to large agricultural supermarkets and wholesale markets throughout the country, and were also quite popular in large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, "In previous years, the land price in this season could be sold for 4 yuan a catty, but this year it was only 2.5 yuan." ”
Liu Jun said that among the cherry tomato growers in Lingmenju, the average household has 3 acres of land, and thousands of people in the village participate in planting. Because many wholesale markets and supermarkets across the country have closed their doors this year, cherry tomatoes are not cared for in the field, "Before they wanted to pull away a whole truck, this year no one bought, everyone looked at the cherry tomatoes in the field, picking is not, not picking is not." ”
Cherry tomatoes have led local villagers to get rid of poverty and become rich
More than a decade ago, Guangpo Town had not yet developed the cherry tomato industry on a large scale, and most of the villagers were relatively poor, and their families lived in tile houses. According to Liu Jun, Lingshui County has been planting cherry tomatoes for more than 20 years, but in recent years it has only begun to be large-scale planting, "the cherry tomato industry has not only driven growers, but also formed a whole industrial chain." ”
It is understood that in recent years, Guangpo Town has been a leisure agricultural town with cherry tomatoes as the leading industry. Guangpo town is the main distribution center of Lingshui cherry tomatoes, there are hundreds of cherry tomatoes in the town to buy points, in the annual up to half a year of cherry tomato planting and sales period, from planting, packaging, storage, sales, transportation and other links, need a lot of labor, "we also have cherry tomato seedlings, each link needs manpower, we here people are living a good life on cherry tomatoes." According to reports, every year, more than 80% of the cherry tomatoes in Lingshui are sold wholesale in Guangpo Town, and with the development of the industry, the villagers live in buildings.
Workers are sorting and packing cherry tomatoes. Courtesy of respondents
Since 2015, Lingshui County will also hold cherry tomato picking and rural leisure tours every year to extend the cherry tomato industry chain and increase added value, Liu Jun said, cherry tomato is the local "rich fruit", "but this year there is none, we only hope to sell more." ”
Try opening the pin
This morning, Liu Jun began to send out unsalable news on the Internet, and some people contacted him to buy, "There are individuals, there are also community group purchases, but the purchase volume is not large." ”
Liu Jun said that the cherry tomato industry in Lingmenju operates in the mode of cooperatives, and the current land price is 2.5 yuan a catty, "the planting and picking cost of cherry tomatoes is relatively high, especially picking, a person can pick about 200 pounds a day, to give more than 100 pieces of labor costs, the cost is almost a dollar a pound, so the price is not very low." ”
No one to buy, the local is also trying to sell through e-commerce channels, "we are on Taobao, Pinduoduo, Huinong network, a mu of land are hanging out, but this year Hainan vegetables and fruits are not selling a lot, it is not very good to sell." Liu Jun said that in the near future, it will continue to sell through online platforms, hoping to minimize losses.
Beijing News reporter Yang Yijing
Edited by Tang Zheng Proofreader Zhang Yanjun