1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 413 Day Arrives
Exports are now one of the important market channels for Jiangxin Vegetable Market and Fanrong Vegetable Market.

With high export prices and increasing order volumes, and with the appreciation of Southeast Asian currencies, the vegetable export volume from the market will continue to increase.

However, Chen Jiazhi instinctively felt that this couldn't continue, but he couldn't figure out why for the time being.

But this was enough to make him realize that while exports are necessary, they cannot be overly reliant on them.

After clearing his mind, Chen Jiazhi felt his brain relax, and then took a lychee from the plastic bag on the table, peeled it, and ate it.

The lychees were the Baitangying lychees that Ao Deliang brought back from Maoming a few days ago. They were juicy and had a sweet taste.

He has also eaten several early-maturing varieties such as Fei Zi Xiao these days, but he feels that none of them taste as good as Bai Tang Ying.

However, what he is most looking forward to is the highly regarded Guiwei and Nuomizi, both of which are late-maturing varieties and will be available in a few days.

With the preliminary planning work for the Zengcheng base largely completed, Yi Dinggan began to study the agricultural and sideline products of the three townships of Xiaolou, Paitan, and Zhengguo.

This was one of the original plans: to sell local agricultural products and consolidate poverty alleviation achievements, which attracted Chen Guanye's continued attention.

However, it's impossible to make no money at all, and fruit is a promising category, with lychee being the key product. Zengcheng lychee has been famous since ancient times.

However, Kaopu Fresh lacks experience in operating a fruit business and can only explore the market first.

One way is to taste it yourself.

After eating three white sugar lychees, Tong Gang knocked on the door and came in, holding a document in his hand.

"Boss, the gift list for the Dragon Boat Festival is ready."

"Okay, I'll take a look."

Holiday gifts are mainly divided into three categories: those for employees, customers and partners, and those for administrative relationships.

The gifts were similar, mainly agricultural products such as zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), salted duck eggs, and lychees, which were also planned to be purchased from Zengcheng, as a small promotional activity.

After reviewing them one by one, Chen Jiazhi said, "No problem, prepare according to this."

The festive atmosphere is gradually getting stronger both inside and outside the city, but for the vegetable market, it's just getting busier.

As Chen Jiazhi stepped out of the office, a wave of heat hit him; it was already very hot in Huacheng in mid-June.

However, it was precisely this intense heat that made the vegetable garden quite vibrant after just one week.

Chen Jiazhi gazed at the vegetable field. The water spinach swayed in the breeze, which to the farmers seemed like it was striking poses and calling out, "Come and chop me, sir!"

Such a request was hard for the vegetable farmers to refuse. Around noon, Qi Yongfeng came to the office, his smile barely concealed by the remaining sweat on his cheeks.

"Boss, the water spinach will be harvested tomorrow."

"Yes, it's ready to be harvested. This batch of water spinach is growing well; Li has been urging us to harvest it for the past two or three days."

"Mr. Cai also called me."

Qi Yongfeng laughed and said, "Recently, water spinach can sell for two yuan per kilogram. The two hundred mu of cuttings should be able to sell for a little over one million yuan. The one hundred mu of sown seeds will be a little later, but they should still be able to catch up."

Chen Jiazhi said, "This might be a blessing in disguise."

"We really have to thank the company's cold storage."

Propagating water spinach by cuttings and sowing also incurs costs. The price is high this time, and the profit may be relatively high, but water spinach alone is not enough to make up for the losses caused by flooding.

The main reason for the disaster was that the 300 tons of vegetables that were harvested and stored in advance and pre-cooled survived, and those 300 tons were sold for 160 million yuan.

Without cold storage, even if you chase the market price of water spinach, you can't recover all the losses.

Qi Yongfeng was well aware of the situation.

To make the most of cold storage facilities during the typhoon season, we really need to plant seeds steadily and proceed gradually; we can always seize another opportunity.

Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu both ate lunch in the cafeteria. The food in the cafeteria wasn't particularly delicious, but it was free, plentiful, and oily.

It's a great deal for the vegetable workers. The canteen is packed with people at lunchtime. Although their work clothes are old, they are no longer tattered.

Some of the vegetable workers even carry portable radios with them so they can listen to music while they work.

As their incomes increased, the vegetable workers became more willing to spend.

Li Xiu was carrying a camera, her face was covered in sweat, and she was fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, not forgetting to fan Chen Jiazhi a couple of times.

Chen Jiazhi took a palm-leaf fan and fanned her a few times, saying, "We can concentrate the photo shoot time in the morning and evening."

Li Xiu took another big gulp of cool boiled water and said, "It's almost a holiday, and many people want to take photos to send home. We can't possibly take them all just in the morning and evening. We'll have to go take more photos after lunch."

There were fans in the canteen, but it was still hot while eating. The food workers weren't too particular about their food; regardless of gender, they all ate heartily.

Some people bring their own bowls and take their food back to their rented rooms to eat. These people usually cook their own meals at home.

After a quick meal, Li Xiu went to take photos again. She enjoyed taking pictures of the workers and listening to them chat about their family matters.

These workers are all couples with children or elderly relatives back in their hometowns. When they earn money, they want to send money and things home, or send more photos back home.

Couples make up more than 90% of the workers in the vegetable market. They are the main force in the market, work the hardest and most diligently, and their family conditions are gradually improving.

Chen Jiazhi also watched Li Xiu take photos for a while, and even gave some misguided instructions. He was chased away before returning to his office.

I enjoyed the air conditioning, ate lychees, and then tinkered with the computer for a while.

The internet made great progress in 1996, and in May, China's first internet cafe appeared in Shanghai.

However, Chen Jiazhi is still not used to the complex operation of computers. He finds it easier to watch short videos and listen to audiobooks. Right now, he only uses the computer as a tool. As of now, it is not of much help to him.

After playing on the computer for a while, Chen Jiazhi received another call from Huang Jianyuan.

"Boss Chen, it's almost Dragon Boat Festival. Huang Chuan is going back to the market today, so I asked him to bring you some things back."

"Mr. Huang, you're very kind."

Huang Jianyuan laughed and said, "It's what I should do. To be honest, I was just wondering how to thank Boss Chen for making the Lianzhou cooperation base so successful."

Chen Jiazhi said, "There's no need for that. The cooperative base itself is a win-win situation. Farmers increase their income, and the company also makes money."

Huang Jianyuan said, "But if you choose a location closer to Yangshan, you can make more money."

Chen Jiazhi added, "But without General Manager Huang's strong support, the base might not have been so successful if Yangshan had been chosen as the location."

"Mr. Chen, you're quite an interesting person. Sometimes you're confident and arrogant, and other times you're exceptionally humble. In any case, I owe you a favor this time."

The vegetable output from the Lianzhou cooperative base has been steadily increasing recently, with output exceeding 50 tons for more than ten consecutive days, and the prices are also very reasonable.

The farmers in the cooperative base have all had a good start and are earning a considerable income.

This Dragon Boat Festival was also filled with joy, and Huang Jianyuan, who took the lead in organizing it, felt very proud in front of his hometown folks.

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Mr. Huang, I'll have to use this favor now!"

Huang Jianyuan paused for a moment, then said, "President Chen, please just tell me what you need."

Chen Jiazhi said, "In the last month or two, orders from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been increasing. I want to consult someone about the economic situation in Southeast Asia."

Huang Jianyuan frowned and asked, "Is Mr. Chen considering investing in Southeast Asia?"

"No."

Chen Jiazhi elaborated on his concerns about the risks of exporting vegetables to Southeast Asia, and also mentioned the issue of currency appreciation.

Huang Jianyuan, being located in Hong Kong, a financial center, found it relatively easy to inquire about these matters and immediately agreed.

As evening approached and it was almost time to leave work, Huang Chuan returned from Lianzhou, bringing a large amount of stuff with him.

"Boss, these are all for you. Some were given to you by my uncle, and some were brought from home."

Chen Jiazhi counted the items; there were local specialties from Lianzhou, such as zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), preserved meats, and Huangjing wine, as well as skincare products and toys from Hong Kong, all of which were quite suitable.

After accepting the gifts, Chen Jiazhi inquired about the situation in Lianzhou.

Huang Chuan smiled and said, "Boss, if you go to Lianzhou, you will definitely receive a warm welcome. Recently, some city leaders visited the cooperative base for research and it was even featured in the newspaper. They praised it highly."

In the evening, after Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu finished taking photos of the workers, they took out the skincare products.

"Here you go, skincare products."

Li Xiu's eyes crinkled into a smile. "When did you go to buy it?"

Seeing how happy she was, Chen Jiazhi hesitated for a moment, but still said, "It was a gift from Huang Jianyuan. I'll take you to Hong Kong to buy it later."

Li Xiu said, "Anyway, I'll just consider it a gift from you."

Only the last rays of dusk remained on the horizon, and night was gradually approaching.

Chen Jiazhi drove the things home, and Peng Guozhen and Chen Jiafang were busy in the kitchen.

"Mom, look what I brought back."

Chen Jiazhi showed Peng Guozhen everything.

Peng Guozhen said, "This was a gift from someone else, not something you bought yourself."

Chen Jiazhi took out the Polygonatum wine and said, "This is a specialty of Lianzhou. It's good for replenishing qi and nourishing the body. Let's have a cup together later."

Peng Guozhen smiled and said, "This is good."

Chen Jiazhi then asked, "Second Sister, where are Xiaolong and Xiaohu? We also brought them some things."

Chen Jiafang laughed and said, "They're upstairs playing on the computer, saying they're learning some technology. Why don't you call them down for dinner?"

Chen Jiazhi went upstairs and saw that Yi Long and Yi Hu were indeed reading a book and fiddling with the computer at the same time.

"Little Dragon and Little Tiger, go downstairs to eat first. I brought you some things back."

"Okay, come right away."

The two studied very hard, and Chen Jiazhi also hoped that his two nephews could make a name for themselves in computer science.

It would be difficult for him to learn these things from scratch, but he had experienced the convenience of future life and knew that information technology was the future.

The next day, as soon as the setting sun shone on the vegetable plots, the farmers were already bent over harvesting water spinach, harvesting dozens of acres in a single day.

In the afternoon, Yi Dinggan returned from Zengcheng with a light truckload of agricultural products. The vegetable workers, who had been busy all day, received another Dragon Boat Festival gift when they got off work, and felt even more connected to the vegetable market.

Meanwhile, truckloads of water spinach were also heading to the Jiangnan market.

The market was incredibly hot before the holiday, with wholesalers and buyers going all out, and the already busy stall number 63 was even busier.

(End of this chapter)