Yunnan coffee planting status quo-coffee bean prices have fallen year after year, farmers have no choice but to go out to work

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Because the price of coffee beans has fallen year after year, many farmers in Yunnan cut down the trees and went out to work, resulting in a large number of left-behind children, facing the plight of raising and getting rid of poverty.

Coffee "solution"

In Cong Gang Primary School, more than half of the left-behind children like Chen Yuanjiao (top right).

At 8 o'clock on October 24, the sun in Baoshan, Yunnan Province was so bright that it only took ten minutes to stay outdoors, and two "plateau red" blossoms immediately appeared on the cheeks. Starting from the urban area, along the winding and rugged mountains all the way to the Lujiang Town Conggang Primary School in Longyang District, Baoshan City, between several mountains.

Six-year-old Chen Yuanjiao (a pseudonym) is in the first grade and her parents go out to work and are taken care of by their elderly grandparents. From home to school, she needs to climb a mountain, and it takes about three or four hours to walk. So she can only choose to live on campus and go home once a week. The primary school has 227 students, 111 of whom live in the same school as Chen Yuanjiao. "whenever I see my parents picking up my classmates, I miss my parents even more." Chen Yuanjiao told the Workers' Daily that a few years ago, her parents were growing coffee at home, and she had no lack of companionship, but in recent years the harvest was not good, so she had to go out to work, and it was her wish to be reunited with her parents as soon as possible.

"Children are the seeds of hope in the mountain village."

"in this primary school, there are more than half of the left-behind children like Chen Yuanjiao." Zhang Lizhong, headmaster of Cong Gang Primary School, told reporters that Chen Yuanjiao was able to enter the school at the right age, which is already the lucky one among many children. Due to historical reasons, many children in the village do not begin to enter the first grade until they are 12 or 13 years old. "there are more than 100 children in our school who have not attended preschool. These children not only have a poor foundation, but also know little about the outside world. Not to mention using a computer to check information on the Internet, the family's financial situation is very problematic. "

Zhang Lizhong said that the school has a total of seven classes in Grade 6, and eight teachers are responsible for their teaching tasks, with an average of seven courses for each of them. In addition, most of the students are ethnic minorities, so the school should not only be responsible for teaching regular courses such as English, but also undertake the task of teaching Putonghua to Lisu, Dai and other minority students. "due to the shortage of teachers, the school has also hired several substitute teachers in the village to assist in teaching."

Shi Yunfu, a nearly 50-year-old Ka Nong, is one of the substitute teachers. he, who graduated from high school, is a rare highly educated person in the village. The strength of the school teachers was tight, so the headmaster asked him to help undertake the "bilingual teaching" of Lisu Chinese. Speaking of working as a substitute teacher at school, he said that he was not for the monthly substitute fee of 1000 yuan, but also hoped that the village could get rid of poverty as soon as possible and lead a good life. "these children are the seeds of hope in the mountain village."

Shi Yunfu told reporters that although coffee is a traditional local planting project, it has been declining in recent years. "A few years ago, when the price of coffee was good, there were still young people in the village, but now most of the old people in the village are left behind like me." Unlike other crops, coffee has a growth cycle of as long as 4-5 years and requires high planting techniques, he said. A few years ago, when the price of coffee futures was good, it could be sold for 6 yuan per kilogram of raw beans and up to 10 yuan at the highest. Now, however, the purchase price of raw beans is only 4 yuan per kilogram. Coffee beans can't sell at a price, so many people cut it off and go out to work.

"it's better to grow coffee than to work without skills."

Mi Youbao, a fifth grader who lives in Old City Village, told reporters that his parents have been growing coffee at home since he can remember. Until the year before last, my father cut down half of the family's coffee trees and began to plant pepper. His mother stayed in the village to take him to school, while his father went out to work to subsidize his family.

"in recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the number of farmers cutting off coffee to grow other cash crops, and the number of young people going out to work has also increased year by year." Shi Yunfu also confirmed Mi Youbao's story. He told reporters that in the first few years of planting, coffee is not easy to get sick, and if the climate is good, it can still reap a bumper harvest. If the taste is good, many coffee brokers will come to the house to collect the coffee.

"I went out for a while when I was young. As I have no skills but to do some coolie work on the construction site, I still have to come back to farm after a long time. " Shi Yunfu said, "if you can't learn the skills, you might as well come back and grow coffee." No matter how bad the market is, good-looking coffee can always fetch a good price. "

"originally, from the perspective of geographical latitude, we should be able to grow coffee of the same quality as Blue Mountain, but due to the lack of investment in planting, the coffee products are different and can not sell at a good price." Zhang Zilian, mayor of Lujiang Town, said, "due to the good coffee market a few years ago, the harvest of coffee grown in the city was good." Few villagers go out to work. In the past three years, the coffee market has declined and the purchase price of raw beans has plummeted. It has become the norm for villagers to go out to work for a living. "

A farmer told the reporter that when the market is good, the city will often organize agronomists to conduct special training for farmers. The poor market in recent years, coupled with the fact that some farmers have cut down coffee trees and planted other crops, it is difficult to organize training. "these coffee trees are basically growing freely now, and I don't know why." Looking in the direction of his finger, several rows of coffee trees were covered with coffee fruit, but for some reason, some of the coffee fruit had dried up before it matured.

"this is mainly due to overgrowth and lack of necessary pruning and management." Wang Wandong, an agronomist at Starbucks Coffee Company, who traveled from Pu'er to Baoshan to provide technical guidance to farmers, said that coffee needs to be identified in terms of insect pests, fertilization, and soil quality after it has been planted for a period of time. If it is not managed, it is difficult to ensure the quality of the coffee, and naturally it does not sell at a good price.

"Cong Gang Village and Lukang Village are the villages where coffee cultivation is concentrated in Lujiang Town, with a long tradition and good varieties, but there are many problems in coffee production." The person in charge of the relevant project of the China Poverty Alleviation Foundation told the reporter that during their poverty alleviation research, they found that due to the lack of necessary agricultural input and organization for coffee cultivation, and the lack of mastery of the standards for the cultivation and processing of fine coffee, the income of curry farmers showed a downward trend year by year. "with the decrease in income from coffee cultivation and the gradual increase in the number of people going out to work, the village has gradually become a gathering place for 'three stays'. In particular, the problem of raising left-behind children is more prominent. " According to a survey conducted by the China Poverty Alleviation Foundation, school-age children in these two villages lack high-quality regular physical examinations and comprehensive courses outside the compulsory education curriculum, their cognitive development is slow, and their mental health level is relatively weak.

"it is even more important for mountain villages to get rid of poverty and help wisdom."

"in these two villages, there are 88 poor households with archival cards, 529 people, and 73 poor households, 287 people. Poor households account for 12.9 percent of the total number of households in the two villages, and the poor account for 15.9 percent of the total population of the two villages." Zhang Zilian, mayor of Lujiang Town, said that their average income in recent years is very low, and among the poor households who set up archives and set up cards, nearly 85 percent are resettlement households for poverty alleviation and relocation, and the task of getting rid of poverty is even more arduous. "Industrial poverty alleviation is the poverty alleviation model we need at present, which can not only solve the employment of labor force, but also solve the problem of staying behind in rural areas."

Tong Aaron, director of Starbucks' Yunnan project, said: "if coffee seeds are the expectations of farmers for life, then children are the seeds of their hopes." The living standards of farmers and the improvement of agronomic techniques are directly related to the taste and quality of coffee. " Wang Jingying, CEO of Starbucks China, said: "at present, Yunnan has become one of the most important coffee producing areas in the world. In the future, we will continue to strengthen the training of farmers so that they can shake off poverty and become rich on their own. We will also actively invest in local education and plan to achieve the goal of benefiting 50, 000 farmers and 6000 school-age children in 30 villages in Yunnan province by 2023. " Specifically, it includes providing children with health check-ups, as well as some interest and art hobby course resources to provide them with an opportunity for all-round development.

The reporter learned that the unique dry and hot valley climate of Lujiang Dam in Baoshan is very suitable for the growth of small grains of coffee. Yunnan Baoshan small grain coffee is a national geographical indication product of China, and it is one of the better quality coffee in China and even in the world. In fact, as early as 2012, Starbucks established a Yunnan grower support Center in Pu'er, helping thousands of coffee farms to obtain high-standard "Coffee and grower Fairness Standards" certification and providing standardized planting training for 17000 farmers. And by promoting the procurement principle of "high quality and high price", leading the industry norms, it will bring more rich returns for the farmers who grow high-quality coffee beans.

"believe in the power of a seed." Zheng Wenkai, president of the China Poverty Alleviation Foundation, said: "Poverty alleviation through education is to plant seeds for poverty alleviation. Starbucks adopts a comprehensive solution and expects its innovative poverty alleviation model to provide better results. " It is reported that in order to implement the plan, Starbucks will enter into a partnership with the China Poverty Alleviation Foundation to take the lead in pilot projects in Conggang Village and Miankang Village in Baoshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province. It is expected that the first batch of more than 1000 farmers and nearly 400 school-age children will directly benefit. 3.5 million yuan was invested in this pilot project.

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