Sichuan Soybean Farmers Have Zero Harvest From Authorities’ Seeds

Multiple farmers in Xichong County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province file a complaint on May 14, 2023, to county government regarding the zero harvest from the 2022 summer soybean seeds provided by local authorities. Courtesy of Mr. Wang

Multiple farmers in Sichuan had zero harvests from the soybean seeds provided by local governments. While farmers intended to have the seeds verified and protected their rights, police intervention also took place.

Last year, Sichuan provincial government announced the plan to procure seeds from local seed suppliers in response to the national soybean revitalization plan.

Nanchong City, for instance, issued 2,000+ tons of seeds to local farmers and encouraged alternating rows of corn and soybean planting.

Mr. Wang, a local farmer, received 1,323 pounds of soybeans last year from the agricultural service center of Xichong County.

He was very happy with the idea, and his workers all had high hopes for the seeds. However, the yield was zero. “At least five farms suffered the same outcome,” he said to the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times.

Fake Seeds Are Suspected

Wang explained the seeds distributed by the government were summer soybean seeds—Nan-seed. He said, “Previous year’s grain was 30 grams per 100 grains, round and even.”

Mr. Fan also had zero harvests from the seeds distributed by the local authorities. He changed his career path from home remodeling to agriculture a few years ago in response to the national agricultural initiative. He had a family farm in Shuangfeng.

He said: “The government arranged the seeds last year. I have no idea what kind of seeds they were. They did not work and didn’t look like seeds from local areas.”

Last year Fan had plenty of harvest from seeds he bought on his own—several hundred pounds.

He indicated the bad seeds cost him nearly 300,000 yuan ($42,500), including labor and land rent for an area of 45.8 acres.

Mr. Liu, a family farm owner in the neighboring village of Fan’s, also had the same problem. “They sprouted, but there’s no grain. Our own seeds planted at the same time grew well, though,” he said. It’s common in the areas, not just a few farmers. He believed the seeds were fake.

Workers are seen next to a truck unloading harvested soybeans at a farm in Chiping County, Shandong Province, China, on Oct. 8, 2018. Reuters

Farmers’ Joint Appeal

Farmers of Xichong County filed a joint complaint on May 14 to the local government—holding the seed companies Sichuan Hechuang Seed and Sichuan Kemao Seed—accountable for all losses in the soybean seeds failure.

Wang was the first farmer who brought a bag of seeds to local authorities, from county to town, asking for verification of the seeds.

On May 15, local police disrupted his plan to visit the provincial agriculture department. He said: “I wanted to verify if the seeds were fake. I wasn’t going to the petition office. They have no right to restrict my will.”

Fan also indicated their wish to claim their rights. “We are also worried about the seeds the government provided this year. With so much cost in labor and rent, the earning is zero. What can we do? Agriculture is a scary business.”

Farmers generally suspected that local governments were attracting national subsidies in the name of soybean revitalization. Fan said, “Maybe the local finances have been difficult, but they shouldn’t rip us off with seeds.”

The calls to the two seed companies, Sichuan Hechuang Seed and Sichuan Kemao Seed, went unanswered. The service desk at the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Xichong County answered the inquiry about the seeds complaint and said the problems could be the seeds or the farmers’ planting methods. She indicated the seeds were procured by the city. She also provided two contact persons in charge of county-level seed stations. One hung up on The Epoch Times, and the other did not answer the call.

Gu Xiaohua contributed to this report.