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Cargill donates granaries to two villages in China

Farmers in two villages of Qian’an County in China’s northeastern Jilin Province will benefit from 250 granaries built by the government and Cargill’s donation of 200,000 Yuan as it will help them boost their income through better grain storage.

Farmers in two villages of Qian’an County in China’s northeastern Jilin Province will benefit from 250 granaries built by the government and Cargill’s donation of 200,000 Yuan as it will help them boost their income through better grain storage.

The granaries will also help farmers to solve the “ground-piled grain” issue and better adapt to market-oriented environment since China’s adjustments of its corn reserve purchasing program this year.

The two villages that will receive the donations are Rangzi village and Xiazi Village, located in Qian’an Country in Songyuan City. A donation ceremony was held today in Rangzi village which was attended by Jilin Provincial Grain Bureau officials, local government officials, executives from Cargill China, as well as villagers who will benefit from this donation.

China started a project in 2009 to promote scientific grain storage. Leveraging this program, Jilin Province has built 469,000 units of modular granaries, and more than 1.5 million farmers have also built homemade granaries that are off the ground to achieve cubic grain storage. As a result, a number of cities and counties in Jilin Province have almost eliminated the “ground-piled grain” issue. However, this issue still exists in many other places and can result in a grain damage of 11.8 percent on average.

Cargill works with Jilin Provincial Grain Bureau to donate 200,000 Yuan to 250 households from the two villages in Qian’an County to help build scientifically-designed modular granaries to achieve cubic storing of grains and prevent mold growth on the grains, thus to increase grain quality and farmers’ income. Based on the calculations, the new granaries could decrease grain damage notably to 3 percent compared to the “ground-piling” method. With these granaries, the farmers can also keep the grain in stock for a much longer time than the traditional “ground-piling” method. This way, they can hold the grain and sell it later at higher prices, giving them increased income. This is especially important because they are facing a more market-oriented environment as China adjusts its corn reserve program this year.

Cargill is committed to helping farmers in China increase production efficiency, carry out safer and more sustainable agricultural and grain production,” Robert Aspell, president of Cargill China and managing director of Cargill Agricultural Supply Chain Asia, said, “We are very happy to work together with local governments on this important initiative in Jilin to help corn farmers reduce waste in storage and increase income, especially in a more market-oriented environment.”

Cargill started to cooperate with Jilin Provincial Grain Bureau to help local farmers build granaries in Jilin Province since last year. In 2015, the company donated 200,000 Yuan and helped 150 households with safe and more efficient corn storage.

Feng Xizhong, deputy director of grain storage department of Jilin Grain Bureau, said, “This is the second year that we work with Cargill on the grain storage program. Last year, our cooperation has effectively helped reduce 150 households’ loss in Da’an County. We are glad to see that Cargill is continuing its effort with this donation to another 250 households targeting the “ground-piled grain” issue. We hope to collaborate more with Cargill on safe food storage in the future.”

Cargill is committed to utilizing its global expertise to support China’s ongoing efforts in promoting sustainable agriculture, increasing farmers’ income, a secure and safe food supply and industry upgrades. As a global leader in world’s food supplier chain, Cargill is dedicated to enable farmers to better cope with a more market-oriented environment with its expertise and resources, as well as its keen understanding of local market.

In order to increase corn production while decreasing environmental impact, Cargill and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), along with other parties, started a sustainable farming project in Jilin province since 2012, which provided training in various stages of farming, including ground cover, farming, harvesting, storage and sales, to more than 26,000 corn farmers.

 

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