Yunnan multi-land tobacco farmers rally to protest pressure level price: under the national auction system, who decides the "grade" of tobacco leaves with a year's harvest

On September 8th to 9th, Yunnan Shogun, Qingdao, etc., followed by smoke farmers rally protests. overseas China collective protest recording project "Yesterday" released on-line video showed that Shogun City Shogun County Long Street tobacco stations have a large number of tobacco farmers gathered for two days in a row; Shogun District Yongdao tobacco stations, Qingdao County tobacco stations also have similar actions. Many tobacco farmers said that this year tobacco purchase rating has become more stringent, many tobacco leaves have been reduced, prices are even rejected, some people have hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco stations, the final settlement amount is much lower than expected

This conflict is not a bidding and selling dispute in the common sense. China’s tobacco leaf acquisition is an exclusive system, and tobacco farmers are not as free to choose buyers as ordinary agricultural operators are. The law clearly stipulates that tobacco leaves are acquired by tobacco companies or their entrusted entities unitary and that other units and individuals are not acquired; at the same time, the law clearly requires tobacco companies to acquire according to contracts and national standards, and must not pressurise prices. When the dispute is concentrated on “grade” and “price”, tobacco farmers are in fact in conflict with the only or main acquisition system in a highly centralized system.

* Protests occurred simultaneously in three places, and the issue focused on rating and rejection

The “Yesterday” project said that from September 8 to 9, hundreds of tobacco farmers gathered in Zhangjiang County Long Street tobacco leaf stations. On September 9, tobacco farmers protested at Zhangjiang City tobacco leaf stations and Zhangjiang County tobacco leaf stations. Some on-site videos showed that emotionally excited tobacco farmers entered the office area of the acquisition stations; and tobacco farmers damaged or burned finished tobacco leaves due to dissatisfaction with ratings and prices.

These on-site materials are currently mainly from tobacco farmers filming and overseas platform transfer, focusing on China has not yet seen the Yunnan tobacco system to release a unified public statement on the three protests.But it is worth noting that the contention of the dispute is highly overlapping with the core provisions in the existing tobacco sales law: tobacco leaves are unifiedly acquired by tobacco companies, tobacco companies must not pressure prices, and should properly handle acquisition disputes.

Cigarette farmers do not have the option of "change a buyer" like ordinary agricultural products

The Law of the People's Republic of China on tobacco sales stipulates that tobacco companies or their entrusted units shall sign acquisition contracts with tobacco leaf growers, and tobacco leaves shall be unifiedly acquired by tobacco companies or their entrusted units in accordance with the standards prescribed by the state.

This system means that when tobacco growers grow tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco tobacco to

Therefore, the rating is not a mere technical move.The difference between the first, second, and third levels directly determines the cash income of the work of the season, and the acquisition system that makes the rating judgment at the same time has the only legitimate acquisition channel, which makes it especially important whether the rating process is public, whether reviews are allowed, and whether representatives of tobacco farmers can really participate.

Current regulations require representatives of tobacco farmers to participate in rating coordination

The implementation regulations of the tobacco sales law stipulate that the local tobacco sales administrative departments should organize relevant departments at the same level and representatives of tobacco producers to form a tobacco leaf rating group to coordinate the rating of tobacco leaf acquisition.In other words, the design of the system does not allow the acquisition site to unilaterally have the final interpretation right, but presets a rating coordination mechanism with the participation of tobacco farmer representatives.

The Yunnan protests therefore left a few questions to be checked in public documents: whether the local acquisition stations publish the rating criteria and pricing tables as prescribed; whether the rating group really works; whether tobacco farmers can apply for a review if the first rating fails; what criteria are based on for the rejected tobacco leaves; and whether there are obvious differences in the rating scale between different acquisition stations in the same region.

The national outsourcing system is both a financial machine and a local agricultural system.

Tobacco is not an ordinary industry in Yunnan.It both connects the national tobacco sales system and is deeply embedded in local finances, agricultural production, town cadres and farmers' income.Tobacco companies control the cultivation contracts, technical services, acquisition stations and final purchase channels, and local governments have long been involved in tobacco planting plans, acquisition orders and industrial organizations.

This structure brings with it a long-standing interest tension: when market and inventory pressures rise, tobacco systems have the impetus to raise level requirements and control the quality and quantity of acquisitions; but for tobacco farmers, fertilizer, manpower, baking, land and transportation costs have been invested, and acquisitions have been quarterly downgraded or rejected, meaning that the risk is almost entirely on the producer’s side.

The "Yesterday" project cited tobacco farmers said that after some people shipped a large number of tobacco leaves to the acquisition station, after degradation, depreciation and so on, they only got the very low settlement amount. These individual amounts still need more notes and contract proofs, but there were many protests at the same time, which has shown that this year's ratings and acquisition contradictions are not a single case.

What really needs to be disclosed are contracts, ratings and review records

The most effective response to this kind of controversy is not simply to classify tobacco farmers as “disrupting the order of acquisition,” but to disclose documentation that can be verified:

• Annual acquisition contracts and pricing agreements between tobacco farmers and tobacco companies;
• classification standards, pricing tables and depreciation rules used by each purchasing point;
• the number of tobacco farmers applying for review, the results and the participation of the assessment personnel;
• the number, reasons and follow-up treatment of the tobacco leaves refused;
• the production and actual participation records of tobacco farmers representatives in the local tobacco rating group.

If these materials are fully disclosed, it is possible to judge whether the dispute is due to market conditions, tobacco sheet quality differences, or the acquisition system is under pressure in the implementation. If not disclosed, tobacco farmers can only express dissatisfaction in high-cost ways such as gatherings, blocking stations, burning tobacco sheets, and society sees only conflict pictures.

The protests of many tobacco farmers in Yunnan, appearing at the doorstep of the tobacco station, point to the most fragile end of the national sales system: tobacco farmers take production risks, but lack the ability to freely choose the buyer. The law has written "do not pressure the price", and then really determine whether this phrase is effective, is the assessment of whether the rating can be open, the review mechanism can work, and whether tobacco farmers have the actual right to complain before the only legal acquisition system.