Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Forum emphasizes BRI cooperation between China and Arab countries
Rights to lower sleeper berths should be softened by empathy for fellow passengers
Sunday
- Subscribe
Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Rising food prices turn regular city residents into farmers
Source: Xinhua |
November 23, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
VEGETABLE prices have risen so much and so quickly that some people across China are now growing their own.
Residents in Haikou, capital city of Hainan Province, have planted eggplant, spring onion, radish, Chinese cabbage and others.
"We have already had two eggplant harvests. Now we almost do not need to buy vegetables," said Lin Xiaofeng. Lin's family lives on a little more than 1,000 yuan per month. So when the prices of radishes, cucumbers and Chinese cabbage increased about 30 percent since last month, Lin's family feels the pinch.
Lin's not the only one who has decided to grow vegetables. A woman surnamed Zhang says she grows them for herself and to give as gifts to others.
"Now a bunch of greens cost 3.5 yuan in the supermarket. It's too expensive for some who earn barely 1,000 yuan a month," she said while watering her garden.
However, Hainan gardening authorities have reiterated that people can't grow vegetables in green belts, which would mean changing the use of public land. The authorities said this was "against regulations and people could be fined 10 yuan a day for each square meter" they plant on. Residents in Hainan countered that planting vegetables was the key to restoring green belts.
In places like Fujian, Henan and Shaanxi provinces, people grow vegetables in the streets, their courtyards or on their balconies. Some use discarded bath tubs to plant vegetable gardens.
The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, hit a 25-month high of 4.4 percent in October. Food prices, accounting for 74 percent of the index, rose 10.1 percent during the month. Vegetable prices climbed 31 percent while the cost of fruit increased 17.7 percent in the period.
Panic purchases
According to Yuan Gangming, an economics researcher with Tsinghua University, China has experienced five rounds of price surges in the past, with the largest in 1988. In that year, prices in some areas were out of control. People flood markets, making panic purchases of necessities like oil and salt. Some purchased enough to last a year.
While people haven't panicked to such an extent yet, there is no doubt rising prices have alarmed ordinary people. "In 2000, I invited a friend to dinner. We ate a lot with just 50 yuan," a woman surnamed Zhou wrote in a post on the Internet. "A bottle of peanut oil now costs 98 yuan. So you dare not go out with a friend for dinner with 100 yuan."
At that time, Zhou, who was in college, spent 200 yuan to 300 yuan per month on boarding expenses. Today a dinner for three at KFC costs nearly 100 yuan.
In the 1980s, when there was a lack of vegetables, many people in Beijingers started growing Chinese cabbage. High food costs have forced some to pick up this habit two decades later.
Others are trimming costs by purchasing cheaper foods. Zhang Jie, who works in a company in Beijing, said she now eats pears after the price of apples almost tripled in the nearby supermarket.
Today, shrewd supermarkets sees rising food prices as a chance for promotions. In Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, many supermarkets offer discounts on vegetables to attract more customers.
"Although we earn less from vegetables, we succeed in attracting customers who will buy other items. It is a good way to promote the store," said a supermarket manager who declined to be identified.
Rising food prices haven't really helped farmers, who said their costs have also gone up. "We can earn 50 yuan to 60 yuan a day, a little bit more," said Li Guiying from Xijiang Village of Jiyuan City in Henan Province. "But our expenses have risen as well," she said.
"The cost of pesticide and fertilizer has also gone up," said Liu Xueyou from Zhangzhuang village of Henan. "Despite the rise in grain prices, about 70 percent of us lost money," he said.
Residents in Haikou, capital city of Hainan Province, have planted eggplant, spring onion, radish, Chinese cabbage and others.
"We have already had two eggplant harvests. Now we almost do not need to buy vegetables," said Lin Xiaofeng. Lin's family lives on a little more than 1,000 yuan per month. So when the prices of radishes, cucumbers and Chinese cabbage increased about 30 percent since last month, Lin's family feels the pinch.
Lin's not the only one who has decided to grow vegetables. A woman surnamed Zhang says she grows them for herself and to give as gifts to others.
"Now a bunch of greens cost 3.5 yuan in the supermarket. It's too expensive for some who earn barely 1,000 yuan a month," she said while watering her garden.
However, Hainan gardening authorities have reiterated that people can't grow vegetables in green belts, which would mean changing the use of public land. The authorities said this was "against regulations and people could be fined 10 yuan a day for each square meter" they plant on. Residents in Hainan countered that planting vegetables was the key to restoring green belts.
In places like Fujian, Henan and Shaanxi provinces, people grow vegetables in the streets, their courtyards or on their balconies. Some use discarded bath tubs to plant vegetable gardens.
The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, hit a 25-month high of 4.4 percent in October. Food prices, accounting for 74 percent of the index, rose 10.1 percent during the month. Vegetable prices climbed 31 percent while the cost of fruit increased 17.7 percent in the period.
Panic purchases
According to Yuan Gangming, an economics researcher with Tsinghua University, China has experienced five rounds of price surges in the past, with the largest in 1988. In that year, prices in some areas were out of control. People flood markets, making panic purchases of necessities like oil and salt. Some purchased enough to last a year.
While people haven't panicked to such an extent yet, there is no doubt rising prices have alarmed ordinary people. "In 2000, I invited a friend to dinner. We ate a lot with just 50 yuan," a woman surnamed Zhou wrote in a post on the Internet. "A bottle of peanut oil now costs 98 yuan. So you dare not go out with a friend for dinner with 100 yuan."
At that time, Zhou, who was in college, spent 200 yuan to 300 yuan per month on boarding expenses. Today a dinner for three at KFC costs nearly 100 yuan.
In the 1980s, when there was a lack of vegetables, many people in Beijingers started growing Chinese cabbage. High food costs have forced some to pick up this habit two decades later.
Others are trimming costs by purchasing cheaper foods. Zhang Jie, who works in a company in Beijing, said she now eats pears after the price of apples almost tripled in the nearby supermarket.
Today, shrewd supermarkets sees rising food prices as a chance for promotions. In Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, many supermarkets offer discounts on vegetables to attract more customers.
"Although we earn less from vegetables, we succeed in attracting customers who will buy other items. It is a good way to promote the store," said a supermarket manager who declined to be identified.
Rising food prices haven't really helped farmers, who said their costs have also gone up. "We can earn 50 yuan to 60 yuan a day, a little bit more," said Li Guiying from Xijiang Village of Jiyuan City in Henan Province. "But our expenses have risen as well," she said.
"The cost of pesticide and fertilizer has also gone up," said Liu Xueyou from Zhangzhuang village of Henan. "Despite the rise in grain prices, about 70 percent of us lost money," he said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
