1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 436 Tongxingtai, the Target

Chen Guanye is decisive and efficient. He gets up at 5 a.m., catches a 7 a.m. flight to Nanning, and goes straight to the poverty alleviation site after landing.

We keep some sweet potatoes and corn in the car so we can eat when we get hungry. We can travel all day long, and we still have to hold meetings to discuss work after 10 p.m.

When they arrived in Baise on November 28, they were followed by a large group of business owners. However, after only one day, the business owners who had made donations all left for various reasons.

It was far too difficult and too arduous.

The Party Secretary of Baise described the difficult situation in the area to Chen Guanye in two sentences.

Firstly, the house is said to be drafty from all sides, meaning that the thatched house leaks rain and drafts from all directions.
Secondly, there are three things that are not covered in life: not being able to go to school because there is no money to study, not being able to eat because there is no food to eat, and not being able to sleep by the fire pit because there is no blanket to cover oneself.

Chen Jiazhi followed Chen Guanye into a mountain farmer's house. When they lifted the lid of the pot, they saw a pot of corn porridge covered with flies and had already turned sour. It was a sight that would break the heart for most rural people.

Chen Guanye left in tears.

Although Chen Jiazhi was also feeling bad, he had witnessed a lot of human suffering, so his emotions remained relatively stable.

The survey started on Friday and ended on Sunday. In fact, we didn't visit many places, mainly focusing on the large rocky mountainous areas around Tianyang.

The Dashi Mountain area, which is part of the rocky desertification area of ​​Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, is a place where water cannot be retained on the surface and crops cannot be grown. This kind of terrain makes people feel hopeless.

Chen Jiazhi remained silent, watching and listening quietly.

Chen Guanye didn't give him any difficult questions; it was already quite good that he stayed and watched the whole thing.

On the last night of November, the research team returned to the guesthouse in Baise, where Chen Guanye organized the final meeting of the research trip.

The atmosphere was solemn.

Chen Guanye said, "Let's all share our thoughts. The problem is there. Since the central government has given us the task of poverty alleviation, we have to solve it."

One by one, others followed suit, proposing measures that Chen Jiazhi felt were very useful, such as intellectual poverty alleviation, labor export, and cadre training.

However, after much discussion, the poverty alleviation industry remains a hurdle, and it is not easy to mobilize Guangdong enterprises to invest and start businesses in Baise.

Chen Guanye turned his gaze to Chen Jiazhi, "Young Mr. Chen, you are the only remaining company representative. Tell us your thoughts."

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment before speaking, "I have some rough ideas, please give me your feedback."

"The first is immigration, moving impoverished people out of the rocky mountainous areas where there are no conditions for survival."

Chen Jiazhi looked around and, seeing that no one spoke, continued speaking.

"Secondly, we should stop growing grain in mountainous areas. I saw this during my survey a couple of days ago. Many people are planting corn in the rocky crevices of the mountains. Frequent tilling will only exacerbate soil erosion, reduce soil availability, and make it even harder to retain water, creating a vicious cycle where there will only be more and more rocks."

A local official asked, "If you don't grow grain, what do you grow?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "If we move most of the people out, the remaining people won't need to grow so much grain. They can grow more specialty fruit trees or pasture grass, etc., to gradually reduce desertification."

No one asked any more questions, so Chen Jiazhi continued, "Third, the migrants can be resettled in places with better transportation and other conditions, which will attract more labor-intensive enterprises from Guangdong to invest."

Chen Guanye nodded and said, "This suggestion is good; we can study it."

Immigration is indeed a feasible poverty alleviation measure, and what's rare is that it has follow-up benefits.

Chen Guanye then asked, "Is there anything else?"

Chen Jiazhi shook his head and said, "No more for now."

Chen Guanye: "Where are your tangerines?"

“It will be there,” Chen Jiazhi affirmed first, then added, “but we still need to look and search more for the exact location.”

A local official said, "Our mangoes from Baise are also quite good. Last year, we were awarded the title of 'Hometown of Mangoes in China,' and this year, Tianyang fragrant mangoes won the gold medal in the competition for similar mangoes at the China Agricultural Expo."

If Xiao Chen is interested in fruit, he could consider mangoes.

Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "I will consider it."

Chen Guanye was very busy, so his research trip was brief, and he was ready to return to Huacheng after the meeting.

Chen Jiazhi was also going back, but before leaving, he asked the local officials to compile a set of geographical information about Baise for him.

Once on the plane, he focused intently on the book, becoming more and more absorbed in it.

When Chen Guanye, who was sitting in the front, turned around, he noticed this scene. "What are you looking at, Mr. Chen?"

Chen Jiazhi handed the documents in his hand to Chen Guanye, who quickly began to read them.

BS City is located in the transition zone between the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Nanling Hills of Guangxi. Its topography is complex, including medium mountains, low mountains, hills, river valleys, and limestone mountains.

Chen Guanye looked at it for a while but couldn't figure it out, so he returned the document.

"What's so interesting about this?"

Chen Jiazhi said softly, "I think it's quite interesting. In some ways, Baise is also a unique agricultural treasure. There aren't many cities that can grow a variety of tropical, subtropical, and temperate crops at the same time."

Chen Guanye's interest was piqued, and she began to whisper with Chen Jiazhi.

Baise has agricultural areas ranging from 100 meters to 2000 meters above sea level, which can produce many local specialty agricultural products.

Even each district and county can cultivate and strengthen its advantageous and distinctive industries according to local conditions, ensuring that each county has its own 'signature industry'.

Chen Guanye became more and more interested as they talked, because poverty alleviation was not just about helping Tianyang, but about helping the entire Baise area.

Chen Jiazhi's analysis, starting with geography and climate, gave him a lot of inspiration. He believed that starting with agriculture was a very important means for people in mountainous areas to achieve comprehensive poverty alleviation.

The claim that Chen Jiazhi was a county-level official seems quite plausible.

"Young Mr. Chen, which one have you taken a fancy to?" Chen Jiazhi shook his head again. Chen Guanye assumed that he hadn't made up his mind yet, so he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he took the materials and started studying them on his own.

In fact, Chen Jiazhi had a lot of ideas, but he couldn't handle too many at once.

Chen Jiazhi would not act rashly or impulsively before understanding a region.

At present, Kaopu Fresh's plan in Baise is simply to fulfill its promises and invest at least 100 million yuan to build a fruit purchasing and transfer station.

There are plenty of mangoes in Baise, so we can try selling mangoes first, and then guide farmers to grow tangerines, gradually building our business.

It was late at night when the plane arrived at Baiyun Airport. After walking out of the airport, Chen Guanye asked, "Mr. Chen, where are you going? I'll have someone take you home."

Chen Jiazhi said, "Just give me a ride along the way; I'm going to Jiangnan Market."

Chen Guanye was slightly surprised; the intensity of the research over the past three days had been quite high.

But it also made him admire Chen Jiazhi even more; young people should have this kind of vigor.

As December arrived, at three in the morning in Huacheng, the chill and dampness seeped into my collar.

The entire city fell silent, but the area around Gangnam Market was as bright as day.

Chen Jiazhi walked straight to stall number 63 and immediately saw the tall stacks of styrofoam boxes, with shadowy figures moving under the lights.

The stall is still doing well.

"President Chen is here."

"Oh, Mr. Chen is quite a rare guest, isn't he?"

One after another, familiar old customers greeted Chen Jiazhi, which made Li Cai notice that Chen Jiazhi had arrived.

When did the boss get back?

"Just got off the plane."

"..." Li finally understood who Chen Zhengxu had learned from; there was someone even more dedicated.

"How much stock can you ship in a day now?" Chen Jiazhi asked as he entered the stall, casually examining the various vegetables.

Li Cai said, "Recently, the vegetable production at various bases has been very high, and the sales volume at the stalls is also large, with a daily sales volume of nearly 80 tons. If we include distribution, supply to Hong Kong, and a small amount of exports, the average daily sales volume is still close to 200 tons of vegetables."

Li Cai explained in great detail, and Chen Jiazhi also learned about the recent situation.

"Overall, there's not much change."

"There are still some."

No sooner had Li Cai finished speaking than a loud, burly voice rang out, "God of Wealth, what happened to the 20 boxes of mustard greens I was supposed to have? Did someone steal them?"

"Keep it."

"Okay, call me a tricycle to deliver this. Here's the money from yesterday, please accept it."

The customer paid and left without even going into the stall to look at the goods. Li then introduced him, saying, "Hulu House, a regular customer."

Li Cai then added, "The biggest change has to be in the mustard greens. After the start of winter, the quality of mustard greens has been getting better and better, and they've been selling like hotcakes lately."

At the beginning of the year, I thought that 1,000 acres of land, with a daily production capacity of 30 to 40 tons, would be enough to sell, but now it's not enough to distribute through various channels.

Li Cai held out one palm and said, "I can only give you a maximum of 5 tons of goods per day. Even with just 5 tons, I still have to prioritize selling to my old customers."

Chen Jiazhi was surprised, "The remaining 30-plus tons were all delivered?"

Li Cai shook his head. "We don't do much delivery either. Most of it goes to Hong Kong Tong Hing Tai. Tong Hing Tai is under a lot of pressure in Hong Kong lately."

Chen Jiazhi has been busy with fruit-related matters lately, and has actually neglected this aspect.

Li Cai added, "Tong Hing Tai's original main customer base was in the Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po areas, but now, with Hong Kong's return to China imminent, all the major vegetable markets are penetrating each other's territory."

It seems that Tung Hing Tai is being targeted, as other vegetable stalls such as Hop Hing, Cong Yuk, Wing Lung, and Au Tai Kee are all expanding into Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po, vying for Tung Hing Tai's customers.

Xia Youche approached me and Xu Zong, asking us to give him more mustard greens and to control their flow into Hong Kong through other channels, otherwise Tongxingtai would have a hard time holding on.

Mr. Xu and I agreed that 10 tons would be reserved for delivery, 5 tons for the stalls, and the remaining 20 tons or so would be given to Tongxingtai.

Of course, the price Mr. Xia offered wasn't bad either; the wholesale price for chicken heart mustard was 90 yuan per box.

After hearing the whole story, Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "Well done. Tongxingtai is now an ally, and the reason it is being targeted may also be because it has invested in Heli Agriculture."

Li Cai said, "Xia Youche said the same thing. I heard it was Yu who made the suggestion."

Chen Jiazhi raised an eyebrow. If that were the case, was Congyu trying to cut off reliable fresh food supply channels to Hong Kong?

Reliable Fresh's exports have already declined. If Tong Hing Tai is also defeated, it will have to find other partners to supply Hong Kong.

Perhaps from the perspective of Yucai Industry, only a few large vegetable markets can handle the output of Heli Farm.

If Kaopu Fresh were to abandon supplying Hong Kong and focus solely on the mainland market, it would be good news for several vegetable markets, such as Congyu, as it would mean one less strong competitor.

But why specifically target Tongxingtai?

Chen Jiazhi felt that these people were crazy, and Tongxingtai's market share in Hong Kong was not high.

But since their partner was being targeted, Kaopu Fresh definitely had to step in to help.

(End of this chapter)