In recent years, with the gradual reduction of cotton planting area in the mainland, some major cotton producing areas no longer include cotton in planting industry statistics. Up to now, the production data of some major cotton-producing areas in the mainland can only be estimated intuitively by experienced agricultural technicians, or statistics can be obtained from various sources in the society. However, it is difficult to determine the accuracy of the reported data.
Taking Jiangsu Province as an example, cotton production decreases from south to north. As of now, there is no cotton cultivation in southern Jiangsu. At the beginning of last year, some information agencies reported that the cotton planting area was nearly 500,000 acres, and this year it was nearly 300,000 acres. Local agricultural science and technology personnel analyzed that the province’s cotton planting area was at most more than 100,000 acres. In addition to research planting and variety observation planting by a few professional households and agricultural technology departments, most of them are scattered and fragmented planting in front of and behind the houses of elderly cotton farmers in Xuzhou, Nantong, Yancheng and other old cotton areas. Basically, there are no single acres of more than 5 acres. Among the land-based growers, the main varieties are the Sulu-Anhui cotton series, and the contradiction between the variety and confusion is obvious.
Because the planting scale ranks low, the mainland’s emphasis on cotton production has generally decreased, which has made the mainland’s cotton production and marketing more liberal, especially variety updates, technical guidance and cotton production. There is still a lack of standardization and supervision of circulation, and most of them are operated by the private market.
It is understood that Dafeng City, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, has a cotton planting area of more than 700,000 acres in the city at its peak. It is the first inland area in the country to sell more than 100 kilograms of cotton to the country per capita. (lint cotton) and the first county-level city to sell more than one million tons of lint cotton to the country every year. As of this year, the district has less than 1,500 acres of cotton planting area, while the entire Yancheng city has less than 10,000 acres of cotton planting area. In this area, except for two fine seed farms that have cooperated with agricultural research universities and planted nearly 300 acres of trial cotton, there are no contiguous plantings of hundreds or thousands, and they are all planted sporadically by individual farmers. A cotton farmer in Quanxin Village, Xinfeng Town, Jiangsu Province, said that this year’s cotton planting area is 40 acres, and its varieties and techniques are guided by the improved cotton field, and it is basically an extended planting observer for the improved cotton trial demonstration. There are still a few cotton farmers in the local area with more than ten acres or several acres of land, but the vast majority of farmers who have grown cotton no longer grow cotton.
It is understood that there are many reasons for the sharp decline in cotton planting in the mainland. Some factors come from the westward shift of the national cotton industry policy, which focuses on supporting Xinjiang cotton production; The transfer and requisition of cultivated land, and the adjustment of planting varieties no longer select cotton with poor returns. The more important reason is that the cotton market is too turbulent and the price is unstable. Compared with corn, rice, aquatic products, livestock and poultry breeding, the benefits are difficult to compare, and the production and marketing risks are increasing. These are the reasons why taxes on cotton planting area have been reduced in key cotton-producing areas such as Jiangsu, Shandong, Jiangxi, Henan, and Hebei in the past four or five years.
With less cotton planted, the cotton circulation system will naturally disappear or be broken. At present, the standardized and sound cotton circulation system that Jiangsu has formed over many years has basically disappeared. Small farmers scatter seeds, small traders purchase, small rolling mills process, and small spinning mills purchase and use has become the current situation of private cotton circulation. Price and quality cannot be discussed, and the cake is just a cake. It’s so big that every aspect of the business is profitable.
About the benefits of cotton planting for farmers in northern Jiangsu, the analysis is as follows:
Because the planting area is different and the forms are different, Jiangsu’s centralized and decentralized There are differences in the costs and benefits of fragmented cotton production. Generally, the cost of growing cotton is relatively low for older farmers. There is no large investment such as land rental fees, irrigation fees and mechanical farming fees. The rigid input cost of cotton per mu is: seed fee 35 yuan/mu, agricultural film support 50 yuan/mu, pesticides and fertilizers 200 yuan/mu. The labor wages for mu, field management and cotton picking are converted into 400 yuan/mu, totaling about 700 yuan/mu. If 200 kilograms of cotton are harvested per mu, calculated at 6.50 yuan per kilogram, the cotton farmer’s income will be 1,300 yuan per mu, minus the cost of 700 yuan per mu, and the net income from cotton planting will be 600 yuan per mu.
The cost of growing cotton on a farm is basically the same as that of farmers. However, if factors such as land renting and mechanization are taken into account, based on the harvest and purchase price, most companies will lose money ( The land transfer fee per mu in Jiangsu is 1,000-200 yuan). However, if the cotton grown on the farm is for scientific research and experimentation, there will be appropriate project subsidies. In addition to the cotton price subsidies implemented in Jiangsu in recent years (500 yuan/mu in the first two years), the cotton planting benefits of the farm and farmers can maintain their capital without losing money or Small profit.
For cotton planting in the next year, experimental planting in agricultural farms and scientific research institutions and scattered planting by cotton farmers will continue. A farmer interviewed said that growing cotton has become a complex for them. They have grown cotton all their lives and have deep knowledge and deep feelings about cotton. Moreover, there is no one type of cultivation that farmers do not have to work hard for. On the contrary, it is not easy for veteran farmers who have grown cotton all their lives to learn other crop production. Moreover, in terms of basic technology and risk resistance, the strength of veteran farmers who lack education is also limited. In recent years, cotton farmers have admitted that although the 500 yuan/mu subsidy is for planting first and then supplementing, and the amount is not as high as in Xinjiang, farmers are still happy as long as the government guarantees it will be fulfilled, because even if the planting income and expenditure are balanced, this 500 yuan It’s a net benefit, why wouldn’t farmers do it?
Based on this analysis, decentralized cotton production in Jiangsu and other mainland areas will maintain a certain area next year. Although cotton production and revenue in the Yangtze River Basin have been reduced due to disasters this year, it does not mean that there will be another disaster next year, and cotton prices are improving (the local purchase price of seed cotton this year is 0.60-0.80 yuan/kg higher than last year.��. Price subsidies are expected to be maintained. Not only this year’s growers will continue to plant next year, but some neighboring old farmers will be affected and plant. Optimistic predictions are that the planting area will increase by 5-10%. </p
