"Policy vacuum period" cotton planting problem

The cancellation of the collection and storage policy is the biggest benefit to cotton spinning companies. However, for cotton farmers in Shandong Province, they faced a “vacuum of policy” that lacked the policy of underwriting reserves and subsidizing target prices.

“The 'target cotton price subsidy pilot' started in Xinjiang, where 30% of the country's cotton is planted. This shows that at least this year, the income of cotton growers in other regions will depend entirely on the market,” said Wu Haifang, deputy secretary-general of the Provincial Cotton Association.

Yang Wenying of Yangjia Village, Liubao Town, Wuyi County planted 300 mu of cotton fields and is now preparing to sow. He said that the biggest problem with growing cotton in the local area is that most links still rely on labor. It takes more than 20 working days to plant an acre of cotton, which is more than the two-season grain work. The cost is of high quality and it is not good, plus the cost of land transfer. When there is a closing of the reserve price, it will not be calculated. "If the price falls further, I dare not plant it."

The level of cotton planting in Shandong Province is not only not comparable to foreign large farms, it is also behind that of Xinjiang. In many parts of Xinjiang, the rate of cotton extraction has exceeded 50%, while in Shandong Province it is less than 1%. Zhao Hongliang, head of the province's cotton technology station, told reporters that the cotton planting area in Shandong Province has been declining over the past few years. Last year it was 1009.2 million mu, which was more than 200,000 mu less than the previous year. The goal of Shandong Province this year is to strive to stabilize at more than 9 million mu, but it is not optimistic. Farmers' willingness to plant cotton has fallen to the freezing point. "A lot of farmers this year have had land and seeds ready. If they lose money at harvest, they will be even harder to say next year."

Ma Junkai of the Cotton Association of Texas predicts that the area of ​​cotton in Shandong Province this year will fall by more than 15% (including 20% ​​in Dezhou). If Shandong does not implement direct subsidies for cotton next year, the area of ​​cotton will drop by more than 30%. In fact, there are many cotton textile companies in Shandong Province, which require a large amount of cotton supply. The large-scale saline-alkali lands in Dongying and Binzhou are also more suitable for planting cotton, and other crops are difficult to grow.

Zhao Hongliang said that the provincial capital of Shandong Province will strive to be included as a pilot province of cotton target subsidies early. Farmers also need to grow cotton according to local conditions. They only grow cotton on plots suitable for growing cotton; select high-yield and high-quality varieties to increase cotton output; develop moderate-scale operations, introduce mechanized production, and reduce employment; work with textile companies and large-scale farms to implement orders Production, to ensure that cotton sales outlets.

It is understood that the Shandong provincial financial support cotton project has also been officially launched. The project is mainly to promote the adoption of high-yield model cultivation techniques for insect-resistant cotton and the promotion and application of key technologies for lighter-simplification of cotton production. The area of ​​the core area is 320,000 mu, in order to increase cotton yield, reduce cotton production costs, and increase the scale of cotton production. Mechanized and organized.