Vegetable price plummets, farmer hangs himself in desperation
April 28th, 2011 by Olivia | Posted in News | 32 Comments »
Han hanged himself, leaving behind his wife and young daughters
In the time when the prices of everything are sky-rocketing up in China, the recent plummeting price of vegetable seems rather abnormal and it is destructive to many vegetable farmers, most of whom are the low income population. A farmer from Shan Dong province hanged himself in desperation, leaving behind his wife and two young daughters.
Han Jin, the 39 year-old farmer, was an introvert and an honest, hard working person. Last year, he was told poultry farming was a lucrative business. So he built a shed and bought some sheep with the 10 thousand yuan he borrowed. Han was anticipating earning the money for his children’s tuition. Unfortunately, the sheep were infected with epidemic disease. Instead of earning any money, the poor farmer family lost the 10,000 yuan overnight. Yet it never rains but it pours. This year, he planted cabbage in his 6 mou (around 1/3 hectares) farm land (the main source of the family’s income). But when the cabbage is ready to enter the market, its price drops to less than 0.1 yuan per 500g.
"Though the price goes up a little today, but the day he killed himself, the cabbage is sold at less than 0.1 yuan per 500g. When he was back from the vegetable market, he was crying while drinking. He said, he didn’t see any hope…" Said Han’s wife,"We lost more than 10 thousand yuan this time. He said he was so worried that he didn’t want to live any longer. I tried to comfort him. He then stopped crying and asked me and the children to go to sleep. But when I woke up, I couldn’t find him. When I went to the washroom, he was hanging in there, dead. When I cut the rope around his neck, my little daughter was there too. Now she can’t fall asleep, always cries, asking for her father… I’m going to sell the rest of the cabbage, then go to the cities to find a job. I have to raise my children and pay off the debt…"
Farmers in Ji Nan show the unsaleable cabbages
The retail price of cabbage drop by more than 40% from last year’s same period. Last April, cabbage was sold at around 2~3 yuan per kg in Qingdao, Shang Dong province, this year is around 1.2 per kg.
The nose dive in the vegetable price has left many farmers no choice but to destroy or just leave them rot in the land. There are many reasons for this abnormal nose dive in the vegetable price. For one, farmer’s expanded production of certain vegetable. Last two year’s high price has caused many farmers to expand their production and thus result in an oversupply; And another reason was the prolonged winter and delayed spring has affected the ripening times of the vegetable. Consequently, vegetables from north China and south China enter the city at the same time and again oversupply is resulted.
While the farmers selling their vegetables dirt cheap, according to the ministry of commerce, vegetable price on the market rises by 32.9%
While the farmers selling their vegetables dirt cheap, according to the ministry of commerce, vegetable price on the market rises by 32.9%. This is not hard to understand when one considers the complicated circulation links in the farm product trade process. For a head of cabbage that grows in the farmland to finally reach retailers, it has to go through a flow of 6 circulation links, which is "production (farmland) – buyers – regional markets – wholesale markets – secondary wholesale markets – retailer (supermarket)". For each circulation link, there will be around 10%-20% of price mark up. During this flow, the vegetable that’s sold at 1 yuan/kg, will ends up being sold at around 3 yuan/ kg in the supermarket.
Tags: Countryside, Death, farmer, Market, peasant, Poverty, rural area, Sad, vegetable
Part of me feels for him, part of me wants to call him a coward for leaving his family behind.
Lol just leave the guy alone
jc.yin
“Lol just leave the guy alone”
I felt sorry for this poor peasant until he hung himself taking the easy route. Suicide is the most cowardly thing you can do. Because he couldn’t man-up and killed himself like a little bitch his wife and kids are pretty much f**cked up mentally for the rest of their lives…and they also inherited the debt he so foolishly created.
TAP SUM BONG!
What? No racist generalization? Are you ok Korean_guy?
Epitope
China plays the victim card too frequently. Just because you are poor doesn’t mean it’s OK to be crude and uncouth. I hate China because they can’t rise above their poverty and act classy: their behavior is not justified even by their circumstances.
This peasant was just plain coward.
TAP SUM BONG!
It’s hard to rise above the poverty when everything is against you, especially when you can’t even trust that any form of justice will be done.
At least this guy didn’t take his family with him. That seems to be a huge problem with Americans nowadays.
BTW. South Korean has a HUGE suicide problem. The reasons for suicide in South Korea are typically nowhere near the level of “hopelessness” that this guy was dealing with (ie ex-president). Which makes the suicides in South Korea far more pathetic than this one. Even worse, many in South Korea tend to run from their debts/mistakes(vs suicide), and leave family to deal with the repercussions.
keius
“South Korean has a HUGE suicide problem.”
I agree.
“The reasons for suicide in South Korea are typically nowhere near the level of “hopelessness” that this guy was dealing with ”
depends on what you mean by hopelessness. I’d say “meaninglessness” is just as hopeless as this debt ridden peasant. Killing yourself because not seeing any way out and killing yourself because you have nothing to live for or for shame is all tragic. I predict China will over take Korea soon if not already in suicide as they get wealthier and realize wealth does not bring happiness, just like their brothers in Japan and Korea has attested. But suicide remains a cowardly act.
TAP SUM BONG!
sad. this is why i will never get married unless i have a stable income.
mike
“this is why i will never get married unless i have a stable income.”
people like you with this kind of logic should NOT MARRY and stay single. relying on stable income for security in marriage is THE reason for the 50% divorce rate. even if you attain stable income your marriage is bound to fail and you will have a kid or two growing up in single parent environment being shuffled between the two parent. last thing the world needs is two more jacked up kids growing up to be dysfunctional people.
TAP SUM BONG!
How does that explain why a stable income is the reason why marriages fail? Of course you teach your kids good values, manners, respect and give them love but the fact is money has a direct influence on quality of life.
You want to give them the best education possible, feed them healthy foods, buy them nice things and generally live nicely – all of that costs money and the cost of living goes up year by year. Its just foolish to start a family without thinking whether you can afford it.
Joe
“How does that explain why a stable income is the reason why marriages fail?”
Monetary security is SOLE reason & foundation for many in marriage. It’s a shaky foundation pho sure.
“Of course you teach your kids good values, manners, respect and give them love…”
List of virtues horribly lacking in China.
“…but the fact is money has a direct influence on quality of life.”
Sure but then it depends of the definition of “quality of life”.
“Its just foolish to start a family without thinking whether you can afford it.”
So poor folks shouldn’t marry? There are many many things one should ponder before marriage far prior to whether you can AFFORD marriage. Sure finance is important, don’t get me wrong. But solely thinking one needs to make at least $xxx amount and have a house before I can have a stable marriage is immature and bound to fail.
TAP SUM BONG!
Actually, the statistics state that NOT having a stable income is THE reason for the high divorce rate. Which is a very good reason for Mike to wait until he has a stable income. It’s bad for population growth but w/o stable finances, there’s a good chance he’ll end up divorced.
This is the exact OPPOSITE of your postulation. (which made no sense btw
)
It shouldn’t be the sole reason FOR getting married but it should be, and is, a very real factor that can not be disregarded when considering marriage. That doesn’t mean you would need a house or be rich, but you would need to be able to provide for a family. That’s what Mike is stating.
keius
To say stable income is real factor in marriage goes without saying but it does paint the whole picture.
“but it should be, and is, a very real factor that can not be disregarded when considering marriage.”
What the Chinese should learn from Americans is that living within one’s means is more important than stable income. But try explaining that to money worshiping Chinese. Chinese are hopeless…you can’t change DNA…Chinese LOVE MONEY!
TAP SUM BONG!
oops typo
“To say stable income is real factor in marriage goes without saying but it does NOT paint the whole picture.”
TAP SUM BONG!
Tragic on 2 counts. First the plight of the family.
Second, the most interesting use of English:
“…he was told poultry farming was a lucrative business. So he built a shed and bought some sheep…”
Last I checked, “sheep” were not “poultry”. Or am I missing something here?
I thought he was really quite a genius. Upon hearing everyone else was going to raise chickens, he got sheep instead to avoid the glut in the poultry market. Too bad they were sick. Everyone, repeat after me: diversify! Instead of all sheep or all chickens or all cabbages, have a little of each.
Haha…hilarious. Indeed a stroke of genius.
I’ll chalk that up to a translation error. I can’t see any farmer actually stupid enough to make a mistake like that
That’d be one helluva mistake though…..
The sheep were literally and probably fed fake ass mantou. Made with lead and uranium. No joke. This is what savage Chinese people do.
If he was told poultry farming was profitable, why would he buy sheep? Sheep are not poultry!
I believe that suicide is ok if you don’t have a family like this guy had. But to leave your wife and daughters all alone, it’s an extreme sign of cowardliness. Now the wide will probably go work at a factory for 16 hours a day, and the girls will most likely turn to prostitution when they’ll turn 13-14 years old.
I think that there must be some kind of protection for farmers exactly for such cases.
Maybe the minimum purchase price can be guaranteed in some way.
Not in China…should know this by now
But this is exactly the sort of situation that is not easy to solve through direct intervention due to all the possible unintended consequences.
1) Government dictates a minimum price. Result: Middlemen pass on the price increase to consumers, possibly decreasing demand further. Consumers become angry at this price inflation making staples unaffordable and possibly riot; middlemen buy fewer supplies of the price-controlled commodity whenever supply/demand dictates that these goods are worth less than what they can reasonably be sold for. Farmers would still be left with unsellable vegetables rotting in the fields.
2) Government subsidizes a minimum price. Result: Massive costs to be borne by tax-payers. If the money is coming out of government leaders’ pockets, or out of the money being wasted on infrastructure boondoggles, perhaps not such a bad thing. Something tells me it wouldn’t, however.
There are social supports that a government can and should provide to such people, but altering the pricing mechanism strikes me as reckless.
Either way, there are consequences. The lesson of this article, as far as I can see, is that business (as with life) is not without risks. This farmer made a gamble on two particular trends and–due to bad luck as well as the fact that other farmers were making the same bet on cabbage–lost. His family lost more, however, when he deprived them of all future time and effort he could have contributed to their well-being.
Well said. Farmer’s must choose what to grow/produce based on market demand just like everyone else. Unless it’s a market where entities purchase “futures” of the product with a guaranteed price/payout.
Either way, inflation is high in China right now and cost of living is booming.
This guy’s family isn’t the only one having a hard time of it. He really did choose the cowards way out. I don’t think his family has any kind of future to look forward to.
There definitely should be a better and more efficient way to distribute agricultural commodities, the middle men should be completely cut out, so end consumers and farmers can enjoy better pricing. This probably should be a World Bank or MBA school project…but without access to information and direct links to retailers, the farmers are screwed as always…
Yeah, sure. Hang yourself. That’ll make everything better.
the guy is a coward man!
that’s your family for crying out loud! You took the cowards way and leave your family to further suffer!
i mean, if he had waited he would have sold some vegs at the higher price.
I just feel sorry for the wife and daughter now because things will be difficult without the guy man:/
China will over take Korea not only for plastic surgery capital but for highest suicide rated country in the world.
TAP SUM BONG!
Come on. Be realistic at least.
Highest suicide rate per 100,000 people. I seriously doubt it. China doesn’t even come close to SKorea right now. SKorea is either #1 or #2 right now.
SKorea will remain the plastic surgery capital. It’s nothing to be ashamed of actually. When people are flying in to get surgery done, it means that you’ve got the best plastic surgeons. I recall reading that many, many Chinese (those who can afford it at least) have opted to cross into Korea for plastic surgery vs using Chinese surgeons. IF i wanted plastic surgery, i’d definitely choose getting it in SKorea vs China.
China might end up as the country with the most people having had plastic surgery, but considering the population numbers, that’s neither particularly surprising nor difficult. It’s practically a given.
keius
“Highest suicide rate per 100,000 people.”
True, per capital number will put SK in the lead, but the alarming amount of Chinese that will commit suicide will be alarming to say the least. The same can be said of Plastic surgery as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/world/asia/24beijing.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of actually.”
Yup, SK is not bashful about it.
“I recall reading that many, many Chinese (those who can afford it at least) have opted to cross into Korea for plastic surgery vs using Chinese surgeons.”
Yup, they have special medical tour packages catering to Chinese only.
“IF i wanted plastic surgery, i’d definitely choose getting it in SKorea vs China.”
You’re smart man.
TAP SUM BONG!