Don't let onions, ginger and garlic become "Internet celebrities"

Small agricultural products such as spring onions, ginger and garlic have become "Internet celebrities" in recent years, gaining eye-catching net names, such as "Chaoqian onion", "ginger your army", "garlic you ruthless" and so on. Every time the season changes or the price fluctuates, of course, it is mainly when it goes up, these playful net names will fill all kinds of media.

For such a popularity, most consumers are still more rational, even if they complain about the rising price of garlic, they just say, "just a few heads of garlic, where can they go, and eat less when they go up?" However, people who mainly make a living with onion, ginger and garlic think that this is a misinterpretation of onion, ginger and garlic. A ginger farmer in Weifang complained: "Jiang your army" is always said, but now the price drop is silent. Yang Guihua, president of the garlic Industry Information Association in Jinxiang County, said: as soon as the price of garlic changes, "garlic is ruthless" on the Internet. Why is there no one to calculate the rise in costs and see the decrease in output? this actually reflects a fixed mindset on the prices of agricultural products. I'm used to the cheapness of agricultural products.

President Yang's words hit some kind of social psychology. It is undeniable that after years of reform and opening up, the market has become accustomed to following the prices of agricultural products. However, because we are in the "scissors gap" that artificially lowers the price ratio of industrial and agricultural products, long-term low prices have made the market sensitive to the rise in agricultural prices. At the same time, agricultural products have neither brands nor packaging for many years, even if they go with the market, they have always maintained relatively low prices and good quality. In this way, high quality and low price has always been the main feature of domestic agricultural products, and even become the market positioning of domestic agricultural products.

However, great changes have taken place in the market in recent years, resulting in a rapid and skyrocketing rise in the cost of farming. For example, in the past, to hire people to farm the land, it was only necessary to provide two meals a day, plus a pack of cigarettes or a towel. Now it is not uncommon to hire a male worker for 300 yuan. Moreover, nowadays, most of the young workers in rural areas go out, and those who stay at home either cannot do it, or pursue a more relaxed and comfortable life, and are willing to hire people to work rather than do everything themselves. These are rigid and explicit costs, which need to be calculated in the prices of agricultural products. In the past, farmers have done much by themselves, and this kind of labor cost is often ignored and underestimated.

In addition to the rigid increase in the cost of farming, there is a more important social factor. Farmers' pursuit of a well-off life and a well-off life is more urgent. Farming, especially large-scale grain cultivation and planting small-scale and efficient agricultural products, is the realistic choice of most farmers. Jinxiang a garlic farmer, grandparents and grandchildren three generations of 6 people, six mu of land, 1500 jin of dried garlic per mu, about 4.1yuan per jin, plus garlic bolts per mu of 700yuan, gross income of 42000 yuan, cost of 3500 yuan per mu, actual income of 20,000 yuan, plus more than 10,000 yuan of chili or cotton in a season, land income of more than 30,000 yuan, male host and couple go out to work, more than 60,000 yuan a year. In this way, the annual income of the six members of the family is about 100000 yuan, which just exceeds the per capita net income of farmers across the country. This garlic farmer belongs to the middle class in the village, and even with this kind of income, regardless of the reduction in production and prices, it is an uphill battle for them to run to a well-off society.

Moreover, spring onions, ginger and garlic do not always have a good year, and there are ups and downs. This year's garlic purchase price is unprecedented for Jinxiang garlic farmers. Garlic skyrocketed in the winter of 2010, but by that time garlic farmers were out of stock. Garlic remained in a state of capital preservation for the next few years, and garlic farmers made real money this year. For them, the price of agricultural products is the core factor that directly determines their income. This is also the case in history. The rapid growth of farmers' income since the reform and opening up has been a time when the prices of agricultural products are relatively good. To build a well-off society in an all-round way in 2020, price is still one of the decisive conditions for farmers to achieve a well-off level.

This does not mean that the increase in the prices of agricultural products such as onions, ginger and garlic is reasonable, but rather to clarify a trend: judging from the situation and conditions of economic and social development, the prices of agricultural products have entered the upward channel. What we need to do is not to shout or even panic whenever there is a price increase, but to distinguish between the primary and the secondary, to distinguish the appearance from the essence, and not to be too nervous about a reasonable rise. price monopoly alliances and malicious price manipulation should be resolutely punished in accordance with the law. At the same time, to unremittingly clear the market threshold, circulation checkpoints and other fees that directly increase the cost of agricultural products, there are still too many links and procedures for charging.

With regard to source planting, various farmers' professional associations are becoming more and more elaborate in standardization and other aspects, and what the government needs to do is to release information timely and accurately, and at the same time speed up the exploration of agricultural product price insurance mechanism, so that farmers can rest assured to cultivate land. Of course, there are many things to be done, but as long as we stick to it and really do it, we will be able to achieve results without having to rise and fall year after year and have no countermeasures year after year. There is no need for the media to talk about onions, ginger and garlic.