Government orders markets to buy cabbage

A segment of a CCTV program on migrant workers in China focused on a young woman whose father could not sell his cabbage crop. The young woman posted on Sina Weibo her father’s decision to give away the cabbage, rather than see the crop rot in the field.

Her post eventually became known to a provincial official who, a reporter said, ordered markets to buy cabbage from the farmer. Markets did not buy all the cabbage, so much did rot, but government had shown itself interested in the welfare of an individual farmer.

That decision was seen as a good thing by the CCTV reporter, by the young woman and by the father. The reporter and the young woman also said the government official’s decision was an indication of the power of a social network.

In closing the program on migrant workers, the CCTV reporter mentioned plans to induce half the rural population to move to cities. You have to wonder – Who’s going to feed the urban people?