There is also a big future for small miscellaneous cereals. Why are farmers unwilling to grow them?

When it comes to miscellaneous grains, people habitually call them the word "small". Compared with field crops, miscellaneous grains are mainly interplanted on the edge of trenches and on dry land in mountainous areas, with a small planting area and not a staple food, so they are called "small miscellaneous grains". In the past, small miscellaneous grains were widely planted in Gaoqing County, Shandong Province, especially in cotton fields. Today, the cotton fields in Gaoqing County have been greatly reduced, and the area of miscellaneous grains has also decreased sharply. in the past, the prosperity of every family growing cotton and the aroma of miscellaneous grains in every household is very difficult to reappear.

The grain incense that was once popular

Guo Xiaobao, 55, is in charge of the supply and marketing company of grain incense in the eastern village of Hailizhai town. He has been "engaged" in purchasing and selling small grains for more than 30 years.

"in the early years, I had two channels for the purchase of miscellaneous cereals, one was door-to-door sales by farmers, and the other was purchase in the market." Guo Xiaobao said that at that time, when it came to the harvest season, farmers who came to his company to sell miscellaneous grains were often overcrowded. At most, the daily purchase volume is as high as hundreds of tons.

"every family grows cotton and sets miscellaneous grains in cotton fields. Except for some of the miscellaneous grains laid down for their own consumption, most of them have been changed into banknotes. " He said that because of the large stock of miscellaneous grains, many miscellaneous grain traders were born in the local area. "Twenty years ago, there were seven or eight people doing this in our village alone, but now there are only two of us left." Guo Xiaobao said that in the past, there was a miscellaneous grain market in rural markets, big or small, with mung beans, adzuki beans, adzuki beans, climbing beans, sesame seeds and even dried sweet potatoes. "the miscellaneous grain market in Tian Zhen Daji has more than two miles from south to north, calling for buying and hawking, and the voices are noisy and very popular. Now if you look at it again, there are no grain sellers! Grain markets' collectively disappear'in rural bazaars. Although there are a small number of miscellaneous grain vendors in individual bazaars, they are not 'cities' at all. " Guo Xiaobao said that his marketing direction has also changed, from the village to the city earlier, to the city to the village-- from the large miscellaneous grain wholesale market to the wholesale local distributor, and the annual sales volume has also dropped from thousands of tons at the peak in the past to 200 to 300 tons at present.

Why don't farmers want to plant?

Why have small grains become so "small"? A considerable part of the reason lies in cotton. In the past, miscellaneous grains were mainly interplanted in cotton fields-cotton was sown in April, covered with plastic film, and mung beans were interplanted between the fields and ridges. The growing period of mung bean is more than 2 months. When the cotton grows to a person's knee height, the mung bean will mature, which basically does not affect the growth of cotton. "if cotton production is not reduced, there will be an extra quarter of income. Cotton farmers basically engage in interplanting. " Guo Xiaobao said that most of the interplanting fields are cotton fields and corn fields, mainly cotton fields. In the past, every household planted cotton, but now there are fewer, so small grains have lost the basis for interplanting. Even if some people plant cotton, they are unwilling to interplant because it takes too much trouble to interplant.

The author learned in the interview that the difficulty of mechanization also forced the small grains to become smaller. At present, some miscellaneous grain crops still use the most primitive mode of operation from management to harvest, such as hand pinch for mung bean harvest, beating for sesame harvest and grinding of soybeans with wheels. "at present, the rural economy is a working economy, which costs more than 200 yuan a day. It is convenient for ordinary people to grow. " Guo Xiaobao said.

Taking mung bean as an example, according to the current per mu yield and market price of Gaoqing County, the income per mu is about 1000 yuan, which is slightly higher than that of field crops. However, because growing miscellaneous grains is too "complicated", farmers still do not want to grow them. "the characteristic of legume crops is that the fruit does not ripen at the same time. In the case of the same crop, there is a difference of five or six days between early maturity and late maturity. If the early mature ones are not picked up in time, they will explode in the ground, causing losses. " Kuo Hsiao-bao says that the harvest of mung beans is ripe one by one, and the immature ones are early. Going home to dry will affect the color and reduce the quality. If the mature beans are not picked in time, they will explode in the ground. Moreover, they have to be picked at least twice, and as many as five or six times. "

In comparison, the life of field crops is much easier. Because of the large area and wide market of field crops, machinery manufacturers are willing to invest more in field crop machinery. The field crops are fully mechanized, and the mechanical operation has the mature technical services of the manufacturers.

Where is the bottleneck of development?

Field crops are related to national food security, small miscellaneous grains as a supplement to the staple grain, is its existence dispensable? Du Zuozhong, deputy director of the Gaoqing Bureau of Agriculture, held a negative attitude towards this statement. He said that as people's concept of dietary nutrition is gradually established, small grains with comprehensive nutrition and delicious taste will become more and more popular among the public. With regard to the skills of eating miscellaneous grains, Guo Xiaobao suggested that hard grains can be soaked in water for a period of time before cooking, and then boiled gently. "in a short time, the porridge was made with all kinds of color, smell and taste."

Compared with the yield of wheat, corn and rice, the yield of miscellaneous grain crops is obviously on the low side. "Field crops have achieved full coverage of improved varieties, improved quality and increased yield, while the yield of miscellaneous grains is still maintained at a low level. In a normal year, the yield of mung bean is more than 200 jin / mu, and 400 jin / mu of soybean is considered as high yield. " Guo Xiaobao called on seed companies to make a fuss on the breeding of improved varieties and cultivate small miscellaneous grain crops with high yield and high quality as soon as possible.

Compared with field crops with mature mechanized services, miscellaneous grain crops are currently maintained at a low level of mechanization. "there are few agricultural machinery specifically for a certain miscellaneous grain crop in the market, and the area of miscellaneous grain is too small, which restricts the research and development and promotion of machinery. The development of mechanization lags behind and in turn restricts the development of miscellaneous grains.

Miscellaneous grains also need to be "turned into fields". Scattered land on the edge is not a place for miscellaneous grains to live, says du Zuozhong. Miscellaneous grains are also suitable for field cultivation. The Fengrao Grain Cooperative in Tai Li Village, Changjia Town in the county succeeded in planting Zhangzagu No. 8 millet last year. This year, they expanded the area to 200 mu and signed a purchase agreement of 6 yuan per jin with large supermarkets. According to the calculation of the millet yield of 700jin per mu, the millet mu income of the fertile cooperative will reach 3500 yuan, and after deducting the input cost, the net income can reach 2500 yuan, which is much higher than that of field crops.