Govt solves pepper crisis

Yanqing county government has stepped in to aid local bell pepper farmers who were facing financial ruin, as they were unable to transport their harvest because of snow-blocked highways caused by the recent early wintry weather.

The swift change in the pepper farmers' situation came after the local government appealed for buyers and wholesalers across the capital to help reduce the pepper stocks, which were in danger of going rotten.

There was a glut of 200,000 kilograms of peppers stranded in Yanqing with no buyers, the Beijing Daily reported Monday.

The government began its great pepper sales push on November 4, the report said.

A media officer from Yanqing township, surnamed Wang, told the Global Times that after the cooperative efforts of supermarkets, media, and government, there are now only around 5,000 kilograms of colored bell peppers left.

"It won't be a problem to sell the rest of the peppers now," she said. However she would not answer further questions regarding why the local government stepped in.

Hou Genxiong, from Dongchun village in the county, told the Global Times that the village previously had 50,000 kilograms of peppers and now there is only around 4,000 left.

Like other local farmers, Hou said that the 8,000 kilograms of peppers she planted in her greenhouse could not be transferred outside of Yanqing because of the heavy snow on November 4.