‘Fruit of the Devil’: Hainan’s walnut sellers suffer from stuttering | China

MAny city in the south China They are known for the art of relaxation. Chengdu in the province of Sichuan is the capital of the tea house. Guangzhou is the birthplace of Dim Sum, once to share steam gnocchi and chew the fat with friends. And in Haikou, the capital of the province of Hainan, people chewed Betel’s walnut for centuries.

You don’t have to walk away in Haikou to find a seller. The small, hard and green fruits are sold in small batteries next to fresh coconut and bottled water in practically any minimarket, for about five yuan (£ 0.52) per piece. Some sellers, mostly women, sit on the side of the street to put Betel’s walnuts to pass drivers to the mopeds, almost all men.

The walnuts of Betel, the fruit of the Palma Areca, are popular throughout Asia, in particular in India, which produces about half of the world harvest. Excessive consumption is linked to oral cancer and the decay of the teeth, but also produce a natural maximum, thanks to the presence of Arecolin, a natural (and carcinogenic) stimulant in the walnuts. Like other legal maximums, they are hard popular. A Chinese popular song written in the 1930s, still sung on state television today, tells the story of a young couple who falls in love with a mountain while collecting Betel’s walnuts from the tree.

About 95% of the Walnuts of Betel Chinese is produced in Hainan, a tropical island that is the southernmost province of China. The hot and humid climate is suitable for cultivation of Palme Areca. More than 2.3 million people are involved in the Betel walnut industry, according to state media, representing more than a fifth of the island’s population. According to some estimates, sowing, growth and sale of fruits represents 8% of Hainan’s total GDP. Between 2010 and 2021, the dimension of the land used for the agriculture of Noci di Betel ad Hainan is more than doubled.

Far from Hainan, there have been efforts to repress Betel’s walnuts in the name of public health. Since 2020, it was illegal to sell them as a food product. In 2022, a singer called was Song died of oral cancer at the age of 36. Before his death he said on social media that his illness was caused by his habit of Betel and urged the others to stay away. Some cities urged the shops not to sell walnuts to children. In Xian, 750 miles away along the southern coast of China, Betel’s walnuts are prohibited. Some media reports Call him “The fruit of the devil”.

The message does not have to haikou. The reports of negative health effects are “only voices”, says a nicknamed woman was, who has been selling walnuts from Betel for more than 30 years. “It’s a fruit, there is nothing harmful to the body,” he says. “It is actually good for the teeth.”

But in the slow post-pandic economy, business are starting to slow down, also according to the sleepy standards of Haikou.

Some shops from Fu, a woman whose surname is Wang also sells Betel’s walnuts. As it was, he did not hear anything of the restrictions elsewhere in China. But it is ambivalent about the future of the sector. “The last two years have been really bad economically. Honestly, it was difficult,” he says.

“In the past, we could sell from 10 to 20 bad (5-10 kg) per day, but now we are lucky if we sell five. The volume has not gone down not because people no longer like Betel’s walnuts, it is more than not having enough money to buy bel nuts and have adequate meals at the same time. So consumption has decreased a little for a few years ago.”

But while business is slow, the number of people trying to enter the trade is increasing, says Wang, in part because there are so few jobs in other sectors.

Youth unemployment was stubbornly high from the pandemic. In February, the unemployment rate for sixteen years old in Chinese cities reached 16.9%, a maximum of two years. The overall urban unemployment rate was 5.4%, even a maximum of two years.

Many young people, including graduates, responded to the return by returning to their cities of origin and hiring humble work or “lying“.

This created competition for middle -aged sellers like Wang and Fu. “In the past, the people who sold Betel’s walnuts were mostly old, between 50 or 60 years,” Wang said. “But now, many young people sell 20 or 30 years. It’s because there isn’t much work.”

At national level, the Betel walnut industry will continue to grow, in part because improved technology is increasing yields in industrial farms. But a market research report published in March by China Research Network, a corporate intelligence company, provides that the price of the betel walnut will be demolished by greater competition between the sellers, which means that large industrialized producers could survive the expense of the sellers on the road side. China Research Network also provides that the Walnut Walnut Walnut Warning could finally start capturing this year.

Wang’s shop sells drinks and other snacks, but thinks that Blestel’s walnut business can finally decrease. “There are almost no customers. Nobody has money. They have to save money for food before buying Betel’s walnuts.”

Further searches of Jason Tzu Kuan Lu