Cotton Farmers' Income Is Not As Good As That Of Grain Farmers.

In recent years, domestic cotton prices have been rising in recent years, due to the decline in domestic cotton production and the increase of cotton recovery in textile enterprises.

According to the statistics of Shandong Provincial Department of agriculture, the cotton planting area in 2008 was 13 million 320 thousand mu, which dropped to 12 million mu in 2009, and further reduced to 11 million 700 thousand mu in 2010.

Dezhou, Shandong, is a key cotton producing area in the country. Recently, Liu Yunjiang, a farmer who had been planting cotton for more than thirty years in Shandong, dictated why he did not want to plant cotton.

It is better to grow grain than to grow grain.

I am Liu Yunjiang, the villagers of Cheng Zi Po village, Lun Zhen Town, Yucheng City, Dezhou, Shandong. Why do they abandon cotton and replant wheat and corn?

The main reason is that cotton is not cost-effective.

Cotton prices are the highest in recent years, and the price is 7 yuan per kilogram the other day.

Even so, according to my calculation, the amount of cotton planted in a year is less than 132 yuan per mu.

Because only one crop can be planted each year, and the annual income of planting one mu of cotton is 1417 yuan.

If the seed cotton yield is 255 kg and the selling price is 7 yuan / kg, the output value of one mu of cotton is 1785 yuan, and the direct cost of planting is 383 yuan / mu (90 yuan for base fertilizer, 35 yuan for machine ploughing, 60 yuan for seed, 15 yuan for planting, 20 yuan for plastic film, 50 yuan for pesticide, 91 yuan for dressing, and 50 yuan for irrigation.

But if I replant wheat and corn, my income will increase.

This year, my direct planting cost per mu of wheat is 351 yuan / mu (base fertilizer 98 yuan, machine ploughing 35 yuan, seed 45 yuan, machine sowing 15 yuan, irrigation 33 yuan, topdressing fertilizer 64 yuan, pesticide 16 yuan, machine income 45 yuan); corn direct planting cost per mu is 298 yuan / mu (seed 27 yuan, machine sowing 27 yuan, chemical fertilizer yuan yuan, fertilizer sowing yuan, irrigation yuan yuan, pesticide yuan yuan, machine harvest yuan).

Comprehensive calculation, the output value of grain is deducted directly.

Cotton planting is time-consuming, laborious and crowded.

Compared with grain production, seed cotton not only reduces direct income, but also wastes time and effort, and occupies a lot of time that can be used to work.

In recent years, farmers in our surrounding areas have realized mechanization, and from planting to collecting basically do not need manual management. Farmers can spare a lot of time to earn money by going out to work.

And planting cotton is not good.

Because the plots are scattered and unable to carry out mechanical operations, all kinds of cotton rely on labor and labor intensity is very large. We cotton farmers are tied to the land, and there is no time and energy to go out to work.

I usually start planting cotton in the middle of April and cover the film in the field after sowing.

7 to 10 days later, the cotton began to sprout, and all the films covered by the seedlings should be picked up by hand to facilitate the growth of cotton seedlings.

From early May to the middle of the year, I began to "pick seedlings" and "set seedlings".

When cotton seedlings grow, some grow well and some grow bad. Picking seedlings means removing bad seedlings and leaving good seedlings.

After repeated "picking seedlings", it is necessary to leave the best growing seedlings. Only three or four of the ten seedlings can be left.

"Cotton repair" will begin in June because

From around July 20th to around August 20th, I want to carry out "topping" and "beating heart" for cotton, in order to prevent cotton from overgrowth and waste of nutrition.

From the end of August to November, the picking period of cotton was entered.

Because of the irregular opening of cotton bolls, I picked cotton almost every day for several months. As long as the cotton bolls are open, I will pick them in the field.

Picking cotton must bend over, and it often gets too tired for a day.

In addition, during the whole growth period of cotton, I also need to fertilize many times, and fight pesticides every four or five days. Sometimes insecticides are not good enough to kill insects.

According to my calculations, cotton farmers will have to reduce their working time by at least four or five months in a year compared with the grain farmers. If they earn 60 yuan per day, they will have to reduce their income by seven thousand or eight thousand yuan.

Cotton farmers want policy "strong heart" {page_break}

In recent years, fewer and fewer farmers have planted cotton seeds around me.

As an old farmer who has planted cotton for more than 30 years, I don't think so. The state should introduce some policies to improve the income of cotton.

First of all, we need to increase the subsidy for seed cotton.

Secondly, the state should introduce a minimum cotton purchase price policy to prevent cotton prices from falling.

At present, grain has a minimum purchase price policy, and farmers are steadfast in planting grain, while planting cotton can not enjoy this preferential agricultural policy.

In recent years, the price of cotton has fluctuated greatly. The highest price of seed cotton differs from that of the lowest price per kilogram by four or five yuan.

If the purchase price of seed cotton is below 7.5 yuan / kg this year, farmers' cotton planting will not be cost-effective. Next year, the cotton planting area will also decline.

Finally, we must improve the scale of cotton cultivation.

I suggest that the state can encourage large cotton acquisition and processing enterprises to take the lead in the establishment of farmers' professional cooperatives, centrally operate land, and carry out large-scale mechanical operations to liberate cotton farmers from land, so that we can have more time to work, so as to increase revenue through multiple channels.