What kind of cotton farmers abandon cotton? Some plots have been planted

At present, it is the season for cotton breeding, but under the influence of the drop in cotton purchase prices, the enthusiasm of cotton farmers in some major cotton producing areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River has generally declined, and many cotton fields have been changed to other crops or abandoned, and trees have been planted in some fields.

In 2014, the cotton market plummeted, and the purchase price of seed cotton fell from 4 yuan to 3 yuan, and there is no sign of rebound until now. The great decline in the income of growing cotton directly leads to the fact that cotton farmers in traditional cotton-growing areas no longer grow cotton.

Xu Zonghui, director of the Cotton Flower Office of the Agricultural Bureau of Dean County, Jiangxi Province, told reporters that due to high labor costs, falling cotton prices, and cotton farmers' losses in planting cotton, it is estimated that the cotton acreage will drop by at least 20,000 mu this year.

Some plots have been planted with trees.

Dean County, Jiangxi Province, as the main cotton producing area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, has a history of growing cotton for more than 20 years. Due to farming techniques and land solidification, farmers generally do not easily switch to other crops, but this year there is a phenomenon of collective cotton throwing.

April is the spring ploughing season, and the reporter returned to Dean County, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. At this time in the past, farmers were busy growing cotton. This year, however, things are a little different.

In the fields of Dacheng Village, Dean County, the reporter saw that now the number of cotton seedlings raised by farmers has become less, some cotton fields have been changed to corn or are being changed to rice, some land is directly abandoned and full of grass, and some plots are planted with landscape saplings or fast-growing forests.

The reporter saw that some of the trees in Dacheng Village, Fenglin Town, Dean County, Huangtong Village and other plots have grown to two or three meters high and have become groves. The Land Management Law makes it clear that the conversion of cultivated land into non-cultivated land is strictly controlled. Under the background of national protection of cultivated land, planting trees on cultivated land is still a sign worthy of vigilance.

However, some villagers believe that less cotton will be planted this year, and more wasteland will be abandoned. "it is better to plant some corn or trees than to plant corn or trees without manual management." During the busy agricultural season, the reporter saw that agricultural production is not the top priority for farmers, and what the villagers talk about most is where to work, including some middle-aged farmers are taking jobs in the county seat.

"now it is less and less profitable to grow cotton. It is better to find a job worth more than 1,000 yuan in the county seat than to grow cotton." Jin Qirong, a villager of Dazheng Village, said that last year, the couple planted more than 10 mu of cotton and earned only 7,000 to 8,000 yuan. "there is nothing good to grow in the land. The reporter also confirmed the fact that farmers abandoned seeds from a number of cotton seed sales points. In the seed sales street of Dean County, the reporter investigated and learned that the sales owners of seed stores generally complained about the decline in seed sales. Song Yanan, head of the seed industry sales company, said that the sales of seeds this year were only 3% of those of last year. The head of the agricultural seed sales office also said that cottonseed sales this year are only 20% to 30% of those in previous years.

Data from the Dean County Agricultural Bureau show that last year, the cotton planting area was 66000 mu, and the Cotton Office estimated that the cotton planting area this year was only about 46000 mu, a direct decline of 20, 000 mu, or 30%.

The phenomenon of cotton farmers abandoning cotton spreads

In fact, in recent years, the prices of agriculture-related means of production such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides and labor costs have been rising, while the price of cotton, which is actually related to farmers' income, has stagnated, which has greatly affected the enthusiasm of cotton farmers to grow cotton.

Xu Zonghui explained to reporters that before 2014, the state purchased cotton at a protective price, and the price of cotton was basically between 4.5 and 5 yuan, but now it has fallen to 3 yuan.

Under the influence of multiple unfavorable factors, farmers can only vote with their feet to give up planting cotton.

In fact, the phenomenon of cotton farmers abandoning cotton occurs not only in Jiangxi, Hubei, Shandong and other cotton growing areas.

Sun Liwu, cotton analyst at Zhuochuang Information, said that cotton has returned to the era of low prices since the concentrated listing of new cotton in October 2010, down 27% from the same period last year, and is expected to hover around 13000 yuan / ton this year. Cotton farmers' seed cotton sales prices fell 25% and 31% from the same period last year. "there is a big gap between the actual income of cotton farmers and that of grain and vegetables, and the enthusiasm for planting cotton will still decline. It is estimated that the planting area of cotton across the country will fall to 4900-50 million mu in 2015, down 18%-19% from the same period last year."

The decline in cotton cultivation has also been hit by imported cotton. For the whole of 2014, China imported 2.4407 million tons of cotton, down 1.7097 million tons from the same period last year. China has a quota system for imported cotton, charging only 1 per cent tariff on cotton within the quota and 40 per cent if it exceeds it.

Sun Liwu said in an interview with this newspaper that the price difference between domestic and foreign cotton is basically the same. Previously, it was calculated according to the sliding tax, and only a quota of 894000 tons was issued this year, but there is still a price difference of about 2000 yuan per ton between the 1 per cent tariff clearance and the cotton in domestic circulation.

In Xu Zonghui's view, the domestic cotton market price is greatly affected by imported cotton from abroad, and the degree of mechanization in the United States is high, while the labor cost in Africa is low, and they have their own advantages. the labor cost in our country is high, if cotton is sold for two yuan per jin, farmers lose money, enterprises operate independently, and they are regulated by the market, so they are willing to use imported cotton.

Since the beginning of this year, due to the continuous rise in the price of imported cotton, the state has begun to reduce cotton imports one after another. According to customs statistics, China imported 127900 tons of cotton in March, a decrease of 31100 tons or 19.6 percent over the previous month.

For cotton farmers, what they are most concerned about is their own income. If the income from growing cotton is not as good as that of rice, throwing cotton is also a helpless choice. However, because rice needs water conservancy, and cotton planting has caused the canal reservoir to fall into disrepair in the past, so they can only turn to corn and potatoes, or simply plant trees.

The director of agriculture in Dean County said well that now the autonomy of farming is in the hands of the common people, and the county agricultural bureau can only guide farmers to grow corn, potatoes, mulberry, sericulture, and so on. If the price of cotton is low, it will not be possible to grow forever. It is necessary to adjust the agricultural structure.