A farmer sorts harvested corn on his family farm in Anyang county, Central China’s Henan Province on October 19, 2022. Photo: VCG

China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MOA) organized a number of wholesale markets to purchase 4,677 tons of unsold vegetables in Central China’s Henan Province from November 22 to 28. Henan is one of the largest vegetable production provinces in the country.

The wholesale markets in Beijing purchased 330 tons of vegetables including cabbages and cauliflowers from Ruzhou and other regions in the province; two markets from East China’s Jiangsu Province bought a total of 1,151 tons of vegetables like eggplants and carrots from Zhengzhou, Kaifeng and other cities. Central China’s Hubei procured 329 tons of vegetables from Luoyang and other areas.

Due to COVID prevention and control as well as a drop in consumer spending, some places in Henan faces the risk of large quantities of unsold vegetables.

According to local media reports, 3.5 million kilograms of onions, 930,000 kilograms of spinach, 191.2 million kilograms of cabbage and many other vegetables were left to rot in Ruzhou, with the local market only able to absorb 10 percent of what was available.

In order to address the issue, the local government issued 10 measures on November 18, to protect normal vegetable production and business activities, including improve specific COVID control measures. 

Henan is one of China's largest vegetable producing provinces, with its sowing area totaling 25 million mu (1.67 million hectares), and its total output remains above 70 million tons. In 2021, Henan ranked second in the country with 76.124 million tons of vegetable supply, accounting for 10.2 percent of the total national vegetables supply.

The MOA noted that it will continue to actively promote the sales of unsold vegetables through large agricultural retail markets, while strengthening the monitoring of national agricultural markets.

The agricultural ministry will guide localities to ramp up marketing activities of agricultural produce, accelerating the storage of vegetables like cabbages and radishes by supporting cold storage and preservation facilities.

Global Times