Print

Mail

wiki links

Coping with high produce prices

One morning before Typhoon Parma hit Taiwan, I went to a food market to do some pre-typhoon shopping. I picked up some produce, but put it back when I saw the prices. For example, the producer’s sale price for Chinese cabbage increased from NT$10 to NT$22 per jin (600g), while the retail price rose from NT$18 to NT$28, and a cob of fresh corn — a popular item for barbecues during the Mid-Autumn Festival — rose to NT$40. What can we do to avoid having to pay excessively high prices for vegetables during the typhoon season?

First, we can stock up before the typhoon season. Typhoon season normally starts around June. We can buy some extra root vegetables and freeze them and then eat them when a typhoon hits. For example, sweet potato remains the same after it is thawed and is therefore a good vegetable to freeze and store. Green onions also retain their taste after being frozen and are normally cheap and can be cut up and frozen, as long as they are not wet when frozen. Potatoes will not turn black once peeled if they are soaked in salt water. Cabbage, onions, root vegetables and fruit that can be refrigerated for longer periods of time are also good choices. Oranges and other citrus fruit can be refrigerated for about two weeks. Because of their longer shelf life, this type of fruit does not experience a sharp increase in prices when the weather changes. During typhoons, TV news programs often report how expensive the farm produce affected by changes in the weather have become. Bear in mind, however, that these news programs usually choose the most severely affected products, so there is no need to worry when we see these reports.

Some consumers hoard vegetables before a typhoon because they worry that they will be unable to buy them after the typhoon hits. This means that more vegetables are consumed during typhoons and this pushes up the prices of vegetables. Wholesalers sometimes use typhoons as an opportunity to offload poorer quality vegetables. Hoarding vegetables before a typhoon is therefore unwise. More and more people now know that they can buy frozen vegetables at regular prices at supermarkets. Organic shops and direct sellers who get their supplies directly from farmers also have a steady supply.

Media reports tend to focus on farm produce whose prices rise sharply during a typhoon, but many of these produce do not experience such serious fluctuations. Examples are: greenhouse vegetables like green bean sprouts and legumes, or frozen food such as corn, carrots and peas, canned corn, pickled vegetables, dried vegetables and dried seaweed. Frozen dumplings also contain vegetables and come in a large variety of flavors. We do not have to eat the same vegetables everyday and can choose a combination of different food items that we have on hand when a typhoon strikes.

So why do so many people feel they must eat leafy vegetables during a typhoon? It will not make a huge difference to our quality of life or fiber intake if we substitute one dish with a bowl of mung bean soup. When we cannot change a situation, we can change our own actions. We can learn from our ancestors, who knew better than to fight nature. Some people place so much emphasis on quality of life, but we should not have to pay exorbitant prices to keep our lifestyle unchanged. Some urban residents have started planting vegetables on their balconies. It isn’t hard to grow some green bean sprouts or green onions or make some kimchi, which can be refrigerated and then consumed when a typhoon strikes.

The government should also work on improving the domestic distribution of farm products and promote a comprehensive and fair system for trading farm products and protecting the rights of farmers and consumers. The coastal provinces of China closest to Taiwan grow many farm products. If the government will not allow the sale of farm products from China in Taiwan for political reasons, it could at least purchase farm products from China that local consumers are worried about missing when typhoons, droughts, water shortages or earthquakes hit Taiwan. This would suppress and help stabilize prices of consumer products. This is a fundamental right and guarantee that the public should require of the government.



Chang Yu-cheng is chief executive officer of the Taiwan Farm Products Agents Association.

TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
This story has been viewed 682 times.