Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    China
    Home / China / Society

    Fall in exports hits lotus root producers

    By YANG ZEKUN | China Daily | Updated: 2020-04-20 08:34
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Farmers arrange harvested lotus roots in Jiangling county, Hubei province, in March. [Photo/China Daily]

    Lotus root farming, a pillar industry in Jiangling county, Hubei province, has resumed now that the novel coronavirus outbreak has been brought under control in China, but exports have been depressed by its spread overseas.

    The Baihu branch of Liuheyuan farm, one of the first farms in the county to resume production, has been promoting lotus root sales domestically for over 20 days, branch director Wang Jianchang said.

    The farm arranged for dozens of workers to return to work on March 6 after they passed medical tests. In the following week, 40 more workers from Hunan province, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Anhui province arrived at the farm on chartered buses.

    Tang Zezhong, manager of a Jingzhou Baihu Ecological Agricultural lotus root processing plant, said the resumption of work after the Spring Festival holiday had been delayed by 46 days this year.

    Lotus root can be harvested for about 10 months, from mid-July to the end of the following May, but Tang said the start of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Hubei in December had led to strict exit-entry restrictions in January that banned travel and gatherings, and "the whole process had been postponed".

    "The epidemic has shortened the harvest time," he said. "Now there's still a lot of unharvested lotus roots."

    Farmers rinse and cut harvested lotus roots in Jiangling county, Hubei province, in March. [Photo/China Daily] 

    The company, founded in 2015, planted over 173 hectares of lotus root at the Baihu branch, in Jiangling, last year. Each hectare can produce about 26 metric tons of lotus root a year, and the company harvested about 4,550 tons last year.

    Over 133 hectares planted with lotus root had been harvested before Spring Festival in late January.

    Although the workers are back and the remainder of the lotus root awaits collection, processing and shipment to buyers, the overseas market has become sluggish, with many countries imposing import restrictions as a result of the novel coronavirus pneumonia pandemic.

    Spring used to be the peak time for overseas orders, with the company exporting at least 5 tons a day, said Dai Sanhao, Jingzhou Baihu Ecological Agricultural's manager.

    But the company's lotus root processing factory had suspended most production since March 29 because imports had been banned by the United States, Canada and Southeast Asian countries.

    "It has been a week since we stopped shipping to customers in the US," Dai said. "The rest of the lotus root, planted on over 20 hectares, will be wasted."

    The company mainly counts on the overseas market, but overseas orders had fallen by 50 percent since mid-March, when the company resumed production, and then weakened further, Dai said.

    "The local government is quite supportive and has introduced some merchants to us, but their demand is limited, compared with the 500 to 600 tons of produce waiting to be harvested," he said.

    "This year is the hardest year since 2015. The lotus root to be harvested will cost me over 1.5 million yuan ($212,000) in losses, not to mention the cost of workers' salaries and management fees."

    Dai said about 60 percent of the harvested lotus root was fit for export, with the rest sold cheaply to factories in Hubei and Hunan province as a raw materials to make lotus root powder or snack slices. However, domestic sales were just enough to pay the workers' salaries.

    "I considered cooperating with e-commerce platforms but have given up the idea because the lotus root cannot wait for the long time it would take for us to get enough customers via online retailers," he said, adding that lotus root becomes too mature to eat if it is not harvested in time.

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
     
    亚洲日韩VA无码中文字幕| 国产亚洲中文日本不卡二区| 亚洲欧美中文字幕高清在线| 国产v亚洲v天堂无码网站| 50岁人妻丰满熟妇αv无码区| 一区二区中文字幕| 久久无码国产专区精品| 亚洲欧美日韩中文久久| 国产精品免费无遮挡无码永久视频| 久久中文字幕无码专区| 无码人妻久久久一区二区三区| 久久久久成人精品无码| 一区二区三区观看免费中文视频在线播放| 成人无码视频97免费| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线播放| 草草久久久无码国产专区| 亚洲精品乱码久久久久久中文字幕| 在线天堂资源www在线中文| 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦在线观看| 最好看的电影2019中文字幕 | 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线咪咕| 亚洲一区日韩高清中文字幕亚洲 | 最好的中文字幕视频2019| 亚洲精品人成无码中文毛片 | а√在线中文网新版地址在线| 亚洲人成网亚洲欧洲无码久久| 日韩免费码中文在线观看| 国产成人三级经典中文| 久久精品中文闷骚内射| 免费在线中文日本| 日本精品久久久久中文字幕8| 中文字幕乱码人妻无码久久| 香蕉伊蕉伊中文视频在线| 暖暖日本中文视频| 亚洲不卡无码av中文字幕| 久久伊人中文无码| 亚洲av无码成人精品国产| A最近中文在线| 久久精品无码一区二区无码| 最近最新中文字幕| 特级小箩利无码毛片|