Originals, eating kings, foodthink
I can't grow the sweet potatoes
Little yu, who lives in guangzhou and lives in the village of chelming, has always had a reputation in the circle with delicious sweet potatoes. But this year's red potato was grown so late。
Early in the morning of 30 july, when we arrived from the village of chelming, guangzhou was experiencing the longest-lasting high-temperature weather since 1951, with 22 consecutive days of high-temperature warning. The high temperatures of zero rainfall have caused the villagers more trouble. Despite the fact that the area was hit by the super-dron canoe at the end of may and early june, this did not sustain the humidity of the land in the long term。
Three weeks without rain, the land has been dryed up in white and the ability of the seedlings to live is at stake. As a result, on or about 20 july of the previous year, the potatoes that had to be planted had not yet reached the ground。
The soil is dry as if cement had been spilled into the land and put into half the palms in order to feel the moisture due to the soil。
The locals grow sweet potatoes long enough to know that it will be too late after autumn. Otherwise, even if the leaves were as thick on the ground, there would be no potatoes. Left, right, right, right. Sister yu's neighbor can't wait to grow the potatoes. As a result, in order to keep the new seedlings alive, it was necessary to bring water to the ground every day and water the leaves. But in the words of xiaoyu, "i've never heard of watering potatoes."
Little yu's neighbor's potato fields are very visible in the water shower。
By the red potato fields, the place where the baby is grown. Three-and-a-quarters of it is covered with red potato leaves, in stark contrast to the land next to it, which is bald and waiting for seeding. Xiao yu is in the ground looking at the seedlings, and she's a little shy, and she says, "i've never seen them so ugly!"
She explained to us that last year the rain was balanced and that the cassava can grow more than two metres long and can cut down the four or five knots in the front. But not only is it not strong enough, but it is not long enough. She was concerned that she would not be able to cut down so many seedlings, and she had begun to estimate the need for additional seedlings for other farmers。
But even these thin potato seedlings, yu has spent a lot of effort to keep them. Every three or four days, she picks up a dozen barrels of water to water her seedlings, and even if the fields are close to the stream, it is a considerable extra labour for her。
A way out for poor villages
Xiao yu is married from the hill to the village. When she was a child, she was in bad health, and her family loved her, and never let her do her farm work. "it's just a lady." she joked。
When working in a paperbox factory in guangzhou, he met his husband, dong-guk, from le ming village. After the marriage, she moved up the hill to learn how to grow rice, potatoes and maize as a farmer, asking relatives and villagers around。
The village of le ming is only two and a half hours from the city of guangzhou, but it also has to travel 20 kilometres to the town. Because of the depths of the mountains, the majority of the villagers depend on the development of their fields in the valley. Until 2009, per capita income remained below the poverty line, hovering only around $3,000。
The landscape of le ming's terraces, most of the summer crops have not yet been planted。
More than a decade ago, the social workers' organization in guangdong came to the village of le ming to introduce the villagers to ecological agriculture and to lead the villagers together to produce, process and sell. Many villagers have doubts about this, but xiao yu and dong think it should be a way out of agriculture. After all, working in the city, they feel that the state of work and life is “unhealthy”. It's hard to go home, but it's healthy
Agriculture is good but does not make money。
Before and after 2010, villagers used to grow sandy oranges, which was when the people here were the best farmers. However, the fruit trees themselves had no resistance because of their dense planting and the use of fertilizer pesticides over the years. As soon as the yellow dragon disease came, the whole orchard was destroyed and the hard-earned income of the village was lost. Although villagers have also been replanting new popular fruits such as the golden nai-li and the bacon fruit, many more have given up their agriculture to work in the city. Gradually, much of the agricultural land in the village was also abandoned。
Xiao yu also tried to work out of the house, and for more than a month, the children at home complained: "mom is not going to work, we are at home like children left behind." after thinking about it, she decided not to work and stayed in the village for farming。
In addition to their own land, they also included several uncultivated wastelands. For a number of years, they, like many farmers close to large cities, had grown vegetables for sale to vegetable vendors. "the owner told us not to sell me if it's not hot. We're forced to take drugs the day after tomorrow. "how can i sell it to someone else?"
As a result, together with the villagers, mrs. And mrs. Yu learned various ecological agricultural techniques such as composting, covering and planting green fertilizers to grow decent rice, vegetables and potatoes without pesticide fertilizer. They tried to sell directly to the citizens through the local “rural-urban exchange” of agricultural ruins in guangzhou, but the transport costs were too high for each drive and they slowly abandoned their vegetables, mainly for such durable storage and transportation varieties as potatoes。
Green farming supports the establishment of local plum cooperatives by villagers to produce processed products such as prunes, prunes and green plum wine. Right one and right two are xiao yu and dong. Figure: green farming
Stars, potatoes and potatoes
In fact, le ming village has a tradition of sweet potatoes. Rice is grown in the first half of the year and potatoes in the second half of the year are common to the local population. Xiao yu and dong took the opportunity to use the potato as their main crop, growing it only once a year and spreading it in winter. Gradually she finds varieties that are both good and suitable for the local climate and soil。
The egg yellow i harvested in 2018 was the most suitable seed for red potato drying. Photo: fong year festival
Their potato cultivation techniques have also been recognized by ecological farmers. A stable relationship was established between guo ri and wang peng cheng. Although they had their own ecological farms, they found that xiao yu had better potatoes and ordered them every year。
In addition to selling fresh potatoes, yu-sama is also a good cook. After the harvest every winter, poor sweet potatoes are used to dry them. In order to produce sweet, sticky, scrawny, soft and dry sweet potatoes, yu-sama has to evaporate in person, in a steam pan downstairs, and then move on to the roof and dry it several times。
The red potato dryer (left) of xiao yu's house is covered on the roof (right). Figure: beijing organic farmers market, green farming
This is also a very challenging task of experience and resilience: it is necessary to adjust the time of evaporation to the local weather at all times, even taking into account the area where the customer is located。
Despite the hard work, the profits of the potatoes dry are much higher than those of fresh potatoes, which can account for half of their income. As a result, the couple make more money every year by drying their potatoes before and after spring。
Challenges in agriculture
Over the years, the days of xiao yu and dong have indeed passed as well as the good as the good assorted with the potatoes and potatoes. However, they were not easy because of the increasing challenges facing agriculture。
The first is the shortage of personnel。
I can't do it myself. I need help. However, the majority of those who remained in the village were the elderly, giving rise to concerns about their bodies。
Next is climate。
Dong-go is a village ranger and plumber who conducts regular inspections of mountains and water levels. The couple usually watch tv and notice news about the melting of glaciers in the arctic. He became more sensitive to the changes around him when he participated in the climate change workshop organized by the guangdong chiwo foundation a few years ago。
It's clear to the couple that it's getting hotter in the last seven or eight years. Tung remembers that 34 degrees in the summers were rare and that the temperature is now high at 37 and 38 degrees. It is not cold in winter: it used to be three-storey in winter, and last year it was possible to have winter in single clothes。
Rainfall has also become more uneven. This year, the dragon canoe began with a month of heavy rain, followed by a moon. Unlike in previous years, the rain and the clear sky alternated, allowing land, plants and people to grow。
The yellow ginger by the red potato fields。
In addition, red fire ants in the field are causing trouble. This invasive alien species suddenly occupied the agricultural land of le ming village. There were several nests on the field of xiaoyu's house. The ants are very hot, so they bite a big lump out of a human body。
These are the points that hit each other this year: because of the heat, red fire ants prefer to run out of the nest. The elderly who stayed in the village were not only at high temperatures but also at risk of being bitten by red fire ants, and were even more reluctant to work for over $100 a day。
Brother tung also said that even if they wanted to, they felt bad about the old people in the village: 37 degrees of weather, so that over 70-year-olds could work in the field, and it would be nice to have an accident. This year, the villagers in their 60s came to help and, after two hours of work in the field, said that they were dizzy, and they were shocked。
They used to think that if they could hire people, they wouldn't use machines, and that they would be more than a few of the villagers in the same village. This year, they also intend to repay the village by withholding some public goods from their income for the elderly in the village, such as rice and oil. But tung also foresees that older people will become older and more difficult to hire. Recently understaffed, they have also begun to purchase small machines for use in pick-up and tillage. The operation of the machinery also requires support, which gives the couple more agricultural work。
End
When we were waiting to leave le ming village, it suddenly rained. Let's congratulate xiao yu immediately: "look, when the rain comes, we'll grow potatoes!" but she was not happy: it was the rain of the sun, and it was the easiest to rot. The rain didn't go down that day and the potatoes didn't grow。
The rain is not enough, but enough to allow children to play in it。
A few days later, guangzhou finally received sustained precipitation. Today, xiao yu also told us that she had planted the potato seedlings. In order to collect enough seedlings this year, the saplings are shorter than last year, and xiao yu is concerned that this may affect the potatoes. I hope the late seedlings bring good harvest to the family。
Research on climate change and ecological agriculture
As the impact of climate change on agriculture is increasing, the enhancement of ecological smallholders is particularly critical to understanding climate change. Thus, ap and friends of nature linglong jointly launched this “climate change and eco-small farmers study”。
We hope that farmers will be helped to understand the risks of climate change to agricultural production, learn, share, summarize local climate adaptation methods and document their stories on climate change. At the same time, experts will be invited to analyse the impact of climate change on agriculture for farming households through online and offline workshops。
In the future, we will also issue relevant reports, and we look forward to them。
- it's an original 429
