A farmer's wife who hanged herself has
highlighted the plight of watermelon growers in Yuncheng, in northern China's
Shanxi Province.
Early this month, Zhang Baiwang, a villager of Zhanghe Village in Yanhu
District, took his watermelons to Linyi County to sell.
He got very little for them.
At noon, as Zhang was riding home, the county's transport bureau impounded
his tricycle, demanding he pay 465 yuan road-maintenance fees.
Zhang didn't have enough money, so he called his wife Li Aifang, asking her
to send the money.
For Li, distressed that the watermelons had not sold well, the impounding of
the tricycle was the last straw.
Li, 52, hanged herself.
The Linyi transport bureau later gave Zhang 4,600 yuan, a local newspaper
reported.
Li's death has been a catalyst for the despair of local watermelon farmers.
Some farmers have plowed their watermelons in, preparing to plant other fruit
or vegetables.
Some even threw away their watermelons as garbage because prices were so low.
In the city's Nansunwu Village, a third of the village's more than 133
hectares of plowland was used for watermelons.
But the weak market has forced villagers to discard a third of their melons.
A hectare of watermelons costs 4,500 yuan to produce, but will return on
average only 3,000 yuan, the newspaper said.
Wholesale prices have dropped to 4 fen (0.5 US cents) a kilogram on average
in the city, the newspaper said.
An official of Yuncheng's agricultural bureau surnamed Lang said the poor
market resulted mainly from mediocre quality.
Lang said it was rainy in Yuncheng this year, but watermelons prefer dry
weather that can help the fruit grow big and sweet.
The use of chemical fertilizer also affects the taste.
In addition, many farmers planted watermelons on the same land this year and
last year.
These melons were prone to rot, he said.
Lang said 5,040 hectares of watermelons were planted in Yuncheng this year, a
jump of 69.5 percent from last year.
Local authorities have taken several measures to help farmers survive.
Traffic police will allow farmers to sell watermelons on most streets of
Yanhu District, provided they don't affect traffic.
The newspaper said the retail price of melons was 1 yuan a kilogram on Sunday
in Taiyuan, capital of the province. The wholesale price was about 0.9 yuan a
kilogram and most watermelons came from Shaanxi and Hebei
provinces.
