Chapter 1041 What I Saw and Heared

Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong's second stop came to the countryside of Linyi.

Linyi used to grow grain, but due to Dahua's increasing demand for fruits and the fact that grain has never been sold at a high price, Linyi began to choose to grow other cash crops.

Among them, most people grow watermelons.

As far as the eye can see, they are all watermelons.

"Hey, there are too many watermelons here. It seems that watermelons in Nanjing will be cheaper this year."

Zhao Xiaolong smiled.

He still likes watermelon, but in Nanjing, watermelon is not cheap. Last year, it cost two cents per catty (about eight yuan per catty in later generations).

For him, he can only buy it if he wants to eat it, but cannot list it as a regular fruit at home.

"It's hard to say."

Lin Sen shook his head. Prices in Nanjing have been rising, but nothing is getting cheaper.

The two walked along and saw an old farmer taking care of watermelons. Zhao Xiaolong greeted him: "Old man, the harvest is good this year. I want to make a fortune."

Zhao Xiaolong was very enthusiastic, but in exchange he was indifferent.

"I'll be lucky if I don't lose money if I make a damn fortune."

said the old farmer.

"How could it be possible? This acre of land of yours has a yield of at least 6,000 kilograms. You can earn at least dozens of yuan per acre of land. A few dozen acres of land, that's thousands. Your annual income is over a thousand, which is already Pretty good.”

Zhao Xiaolong did a rough calculation and felt a little envious.

His annual salary is only five hundred yuan.

The old farmer looked at Zhao Xiaolong as if he were an idiot, and complained: "A few dozen yuan? If you want it, ten yuan an acre, you can take it all away."

"...."

Zhao Xiaolong was stunned for a moment, and Lin Sen reminded helplessly: "The freight from Linyi to Nanjing is very expensive. The price purchased by wholesalers here is generally not too high."

Zhao Xiaolong was a little embarrassed when he heard this. He actually ignored this common sense.

Then, he asked: "How much does a wholesaler pay per pound from you?"

"How much do you pay per pound? It would be nice if someone came to collect it."

The old farmer sighed.

"How do you say this?"

Zhao Xiaolong continued to ask, but the old farmer no longer wanted to talk to them.

In desperation, Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong could only move on and continue their investigation.

Eventually, they found someone willing to tell the truth.

According to the old farmer, it’s a long story.

Linyi began to grow watermelons four or five years ago. At that time, watermelons were purchased at high prices. Those who planted watermelons first made a lot of money, and then others immediately followed suit and switched to watermelon planting.

When there are more people growing it, wholesalers will naturally lower their prices, since there is no shortage of supplies anyway.

In the words of the old farmer, those wholesalers were all very evil and directly lowered the price to one cent or twenty pounds.

At that time, watermelon production was not as high as it is now, so many fruit farmers lost money.

By the second year, they had banded together to raise prices.

Wholesalers suffered losses that year, and later wholesalers joined forces to lower prices, resulting in many fruit farmers' melons rotting in the fields and not being sold.

Later, the melon farmers banded together to bully the small wholesalers who had no power or background, forcing them to load their trucks and sell them.

In short, both sides fought back and forth and both sides suffered losses.

But this year, the watermelons are almost ripe and the wholesalers haven't come to order yet. The melon farmers are worried because last year the wholesalers threatened not to come here to buy anymore.

They are all worried that those wholesalers are really playing tricks.

The whole story left Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong speechless. This was originally a win-win situation, but because both parties wanted to make more money, it turned into a lose-lose situation.

Of course, generally speaking, wholesalers are worse.

They took advantage of information asymmetry and channel advantages to drive the acquisition price too low.

According to the old farmer, as long as the purchase price can reach one cent and ten pounds, the melon farmers will be very satisfied.

The purchase price of two cents per catty can be sold for two cents per catty in Nanjing, which is a tenfold difference.

Even if the transportation fees, manual handling fees, and storage fees are very expensive, there is still a lot of profit to be made.

For two cents and ten pounds, one acre of land can only be sold for 12 yuan, and if you plant 50 acres, it will only cost 600 yuan.

Excluding fertilizers, seeds, and labor costs, on average, an experienced farmer can only earn two hundred yuan a quarter.

It's slightly better than the minimum wage job in Dahua, but growing fifty acres of watermelons is quite hard.

"If those wholesalers are determined to win in this game, they may not come here to purchase this year, and then these melon farmers will be miserable."

Zhao Xiaolong said worriedly.

Watermelon can only quench thirst, but it cannot satisfy hunger.

Except for big cities like Nanjing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, there is really no place to consume Linyi’s watermelons.

If these watermelons cannot be sold, they will rot in the fields.

The final situation is that wholesalers make no profit, melon farmers suffer heavy losses, and people in big cities do not enjoy delicious and cheap watermelons.

This is too bad.

"The local government is not doing anything, so it has to help these melon farmers find sales channels. I don't believe it, and all wholesalers can unite."

Lin Sen complained about Linyi's government. Logically speaking, melon farmers are also working hard to improve the city's economy, and the government should provide some support and help.

"Go back and read a copy of them? Maybe those wholesalers are colluding with the local government."

Zhao Xiaolong said.

"Our mission is not to detect corruption and eliminate evil, and we are not responsible for such matters. If we cross the line, even if we do good things, some people will be unhappy.

What we need to do is to solve this problem. Moreover, what needs to be solved is not a local problem, but a universal problem.

Not only must we help melon farmers find a sales channel, we must also help vegetable farmers and farmers in other places find sales channels, so that they can have a way out in the game with wholesalers. "

Help Linyi melon farmers solve their problems?

This is certainly a good thing, but it is also a meaningless thing.

After helping Linyi, there are still hundreds of Linyi in the world. They help one by one. The efficiency is too low.

That is what grassroots officials should do, and they are the central cadres of the imperial court. What they need to do is to start from the root of the problem and design a system to solve similar problems in all places at once.

"What to do?"

Zhao Xiaolong was a little clueless.

"Perhaps, we can establish an information network to allow officials from various regions to report local specialty information to the central government, and then the court will publish this information in newspapers to let those businessmen know where the goods they need are. There are many competitors, I think. It’s hard to unite…”

Lin Sen gave a general idea and how to do it specifically. We have to go back and study this in detail.