'Fresh' maize drives a boom in corn sales

HARBIN－In just seconds, Li Mengdi purchased a crate of fresh maize online from his hometown in Heilongjiang province.

The order, placed at his workplace in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, some 2,000 kilometers away, was not born from a longing for home, but for the delicious taste of the variety of corn from Suihua.

Maize farmers in Heilongjiang traditionally sold kernels as feed and for industrial products. Despite not being very tasty, the corn was edible.

But in recent years, they have turned to juicier and sweeter varieties dubbed "fresh maize" to increase their profits.

"Our maize is now sold by the ear and brought us a total profit of over 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) last year," said Yin Decai, deputy general manager of a corn company. "We have produced 70 million sheaves of maize this year, and the output is expected to reach 100 million next year. What does that mean? It means about one in 20 people in China have tasted our corn."

Suihua fresh corn has become famous in recent years, thanks to an upsurge in maize planting and greater quality control.

This year, corn plantations in Qinggang county alone reached 8,867 hectares, with an annual processing capacity of 250 million sheaves and value of 420 million yuan.

"Our corn is mainly sold to big cities. For example, we hold a large market share in Hangzhou," said Li Weisheng, deputy head of Qinggang county.

"It has also helped locals shake off poverty and increased their incomes."

Sun Huanwen, Party secretary of Shangjia village in Zhaodong county, said the village set up a cooperative to plant fresh corn in 2017.

"The profit per hectare is between 18,000 and 22,500 yuan, quadruple that of ordinary corn," he said.

Last year, the cooperative grew 400 hectares of fresh corn, stored 11 million ears in cold storage, and made a net profit of 3 million yuan.

"Our corn was snapped up even before it was produced," said a worker at the Yuanye food company in Hailun county.

The company earmarked 1,200 hectares of land to plant seleniumrich corn, which benefited 2,522 poor households, and earned them additional income of 2,000 yuan a year.

Zhaodong and Hailun are both under the jurisdiction of the city of Suihua.

To further promote Suihua fresh maize, a festival was held this autumn in Qinggang county.

Wang Lei, head of the county, promoted the maize in a livestreaming chat room. Within just 10 minutes, he had received 1,762 orders, with sales totaling 550,000 yuan.

To avoid competition, maize processing companies in Suihua have formed an alliance, said Guan Guozhi, head of the city's bureau of agriculture and rural affairs. There are now more than 50 fresh maize processing companies in Suihua.

In August, Suihua published standards for maize, specifying requirements on a range of indicators such as maize varieties, the organic matter content of soil and management methods.

The fresh maize industry has become a new economic engine and injected vitality into the local agricultural industry.

An estimated 2 billion ears of fresh maize worth 2 billion yuan will be produced in Suihua this year. The fresh maize industry is also expected to create 12,000 jobs for residents.