I had asked a borrower where she gets the fertilizer and pesticide that most clients purchase with their loans, and the dear old lady looked at me quizzically and said, “the store. Where else?” Thankfully, during my visit to Gan Quan Fang, I got to see the answer to my own question.  Almost every village has a supply store,  and the one in  Gan Quan Fang is considered large, with one room devoted to agricultural supplies (piles of fertilizer and boxes of chemical pesticide are stacked everywhere) and the room next door stocked with snacks and other household goods.

 

Additionally, the shop provides a water service as well. Adjacent to the building is a deep-water well, or 水井, and while waiting for the borrowers to show up, I saw a man drive up and fill two large tubs. Practically all households have their own 水窖 (cistern, or water cellar), but not many have the means to have their own 水井. One doesn’t need a special permit to have a 水井, but most can’t afford the cost of digging, putting in the pipe work and maintenance. After the man filled up his tubs, he went into the store to buy pesticide, which he will later mix with the water to spray over his crops. Since he also purchased something, he was only charged 1 Yuan for the water.

I’ve discovered that aside from just the borrowers themselves, the loan officers also consider the borrowers'  family members as clients.  Some borrowers will bring their husbands along to the meetings. Many of the husbands are grandfatherly types who have trouble reading the contract, but the ever-prepared Mr. Huang would whip out a pair of reading glasses for them to share. I really wish I got a picture of them taking turns with the glasses.

 

 

I met a borrower who recently started raising pigs and she gave me a run down of the costs involved. A baby piglet costs 200 RMB to buy and requires 6 months to grow to full-size, ready for sale. Total cost of feed per pig is around 220 RMB:  50 RMB during the first month, and then a 170 RMB bag of feed for the remaining 5 months. There are also other costs.    I was told that, , partially due to the global outbreak of Swine Flu,  prices in the pig market have been highly unstable.  Last year, it was a pretty profitable business, as .5 kg went for 8 RMB.  There has been a huge drop in price this year,  .5 kg will only bring 4 RMB (an average pig weighs around 100 kg)!

 

The woman is a repeat borrower.  With her current 3000 RMB loan, she decided she could purchase at most 10 piglets. The remaining 1000 RMB would be used towards feed and other household expenses.

 

When Dan was here last, he had raised the question of why people didn’t form cooperatives to raise pigs or other livestock. Turns out  there are lots of co-ops, especially pig co-ops, in other villages.   However, PCWSDA considers lending to them too risky.  The huge aforementioned price drops have meant lots of people in the business saw losses this year. If PCWSDA had lent to this group, it would have resulted in a significant loss to the Association. Therefore, for right now, the Association only approves loans to people who raise livestock on a small scale.

 

 

 

On the way home, we stopped by to visit one of the PCWSDA staff’s younger sister in her watermelon field.   Apparently, watermelon growth produces a certain bacteria or germ that makes the land unfit for growing  watermelons again  for many years.  (However, the land can still be used for other crops.)   Therefore, many farmers lease land elsewhere.   This woman and her husband lease over 10 Mu of land from several different people at a price of 550 RMB per Mu.  None of the contracts specify how long the lease is  for, it is just understood that the land will be used for the 6 or so months to grow a crop of watermelons.

 

During those 6 months, the fields is watered a total of 3 times. After each watering, the watermelons are covered with a plastic film to trap in the moisture.   There is also the constant battle with pesky weeds.  Since the land is 15 li away from home, the couple  has built a temporary hut. It is an extremely bare basic living arrangement. Their bed is a blanket thrown over wooden planks that are propped up by bags of fertilizer, a cardboard box serves as their closet, and their kitchen is a single wooden table. When they are away, the husband’s parents tend to the land at home.

 

I met a borrower from Yue Xing Village who also leased 10 Mu of watermelon fields and who is in the same boat, except he lives in the hut alone.  Occasionally his son will travel the 10 Li to help him, or he will make a short trip home to make sure the other crops are doing well. He said 1 Mu can produce around 500 watermelons. Total investment might cost 2000 per Mu but he thinks he can make about 4000 per Mu.

 

This farmer was very kind and wanted to give me a watermellon.  “So you can take home to share with your family!”, he said.   Too bad I wouldn’t be able to clear customs carrying  such a huge watermelon.