Since the beginning of spring this year, Shaanxi Province has been experiencing severe drought, with some areas reaching a level of exceptional drought. Not only is the wheat facing a total failure, but the important crop of Sichuan peppercorns is also enduring a double blow of drought and a massive outbreak of aphids, which may affect its yield.
Shaanxi Province is one of the main producing regions of Sichuan peppercorns in China, with Chisha Town in Baoji City being the largest distribution center for Sichuan peppercorns in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The western mountainous areas of Chen Cang District have red sandy soil that is slightly alkaline, rich in potassium, making it very suitable for the cultivation of Da Hong Pao Sichuan peppercorns.
Currently, it is the flowering and fruit-setting period for the Sichuan peppercorns, requiring an adequate supply of water and nutrients to ensure a successful harvest. However, the severe drought has also triggered a massive outbreak of aphids.
Villagers in Shaanxi and other places have reported through videos that this year’s aphids are extremely difficult to deal with, with some even after spraying pesticides four times without seeing any effect. Technicians have analyzed the reasons for the aphid outbreak: on the one hand, the dry weather with little rainfall and small temperature fluctuations between day and night accelerates the reproduction of aphids. High temperatures and drought can cause the stomata on the leaves to close, leading to ineffective insecticidal effects.
On the other hand, there are also human factors at play. Due to the fact that the price of Sichuan peppercorns has been close to the cost price for several consecutive years, most pepper farmers have not timely cleared the land to reduce costs. Once the pest outbreak occurs, the aphids will quickly spread.
Villagers say that if it continues to be dry without rain, the fruit setting rate and yield of Sichuan peppercorns this year will definitely be unacceptable.
Zhao Ming (pseudonym), a villager in Baoji City, recently told Epoch Times that the entire Shaanxi has been in severe drought this year, resulting in catastrophic losses for crops such as wheat, corn, and Sichuan peppercorns. Villagers are not only facing natural disasters but also suffering from the consequences of man-made disasters.
Zhao Ming introduced that wheat and Sichuan peppercorns are the main crops in Baoji, with the Sichuan peppercorns in Chisha Town being very well-known. About a decade ago, villagers began to plant Sichuan peppercorns, and many farmers became wealthy as a result, with annual incomes exceeding one million yuan.
However, from the autumn of 2024 to the spring of this year, the authorities in Chisha Town have organized excavators to dig up entire mountainsides, covering hundreds of acres, of Sichuan peppercorn trees, citing a national shortage of food.
Zhao Ming said, “Farmers rely on these Sichuan peppercorns to make money. They are not allowed to plant them anymore and are forced to switch to growing grains. With just one word from the Communist Party, they dug up all the Sichuan peppercorns on the entire mountainside, regardless of whether you agree or not, and destroyed them all. Then, there’s nothing left, and you can’t earn a penny.”
According to Zhao Ming, in the past, local Sichuan peppercorns could be sold for 80 to 90 yuan per kilogram, but now it is only about 30 to 40 yuan. The best harvest can bring in around fifty to sixty thousand, seventy to eighty thousand per year, but with the authorities forcing the trees to be destroyed to plant grains, the livelihoods of pepper farmers have been further devastated.
Zhao Ming said that now labor costs, pesticide costs, hiring labor for harvesting, and so on are too high, but selling at 30 to 40 yuan per kilogram cannot make any profit.
“Farmers are not willing to grow grains because even selling them for more than thirty yuan per kilogram is much better than grains in terms of benefits. It’s so difficult for farmers now, it’s not easy. The Communist Party can’t handle anything well,” Zhao Ming said.