Vegetable prices have tumbled across China for a third consecutive week. According to figures from the Agriculture Ministry, last week's average cost for 28 different items was down 8.8 percent, from the same period last year. How are farmers coping with this dip, and what's causing the current trend?

 

Harvest time doesn't always make farmers smile.

It can occasionally break their hearts instead.

Vegetable Farmer of Shandong Province said, "It's so cheap. But there are still no buyers. I don't know what to do. What can I do? How can I live?"

Sadness drowns this village, and perhaps all of Shandong Province, one of China's major vegetable growing regions.

Local cabbage prices have dropped below 0.1 yuan per kilogram this year.

Farmers say when the new sowing season began, they planted more cabbage than usual, in a bid to boost profits.

Yu Changping, Shandong Begetable Farmer, said, "We follow market trends. Last year's price was good, so we grew more, in hopes of making more money when the cabbages went to the market this time."