Cotton Farmers Complain: The More They Sell, The More They Lose

In the early winter season, the cold is threatening.

Looking at the piles of cotton in the yard, cotton grower Wei Kai Ming in dujiaying village of Yongji Town, Shanxi City, sighs and sighs.

Their family planted more than 350 mu of cotton this year.

Yuncheng is located in the the Yellow River River Basin and is a traditional cotton growing area in Shanxi province.

In the main cotton producing counties of Yongji and Ruicheng counties under the jurisdiction of Yuncheng, the rainfall was abundant in nine and October this year, which caused adverse effects on cotton during the period of picking and picking, resulting in the emergence of yellow leaves and rotten roots of cotton plants. The cotton could not be picked in time and the Cotton Bolls at the bottom of the cotton were mildew and rot, which seriously affected the yield and quality of cotton this year.

Under the influence of unfavorable factors such as falling prices and weak purchasing power of enterprises, cotton sale is difficult, and the interests of local cotton growers are greatly affected.

Li Yuanshou, director of the Agricultural Technology Extension Station of the Yuncheng Agricultural Commission, said that the cotton yield per mu of this year is about 75 kg, which is 10 kilograms less than the normal year. The yield of seed cotton is less than 230 kilograms, and the quality of cotton is seriously reduced, most of which are four grade cotton or even cotton.

Zhang Qingshou, a farmer in the village of Yao tou village in southern Ruicheng County, Yuncheng, has planted 70 mu of cotton this year. Because of the low-lying cotton fields, it is seriously flooded, and only 150 kilograms of seed cotton per mu are produced.

"Cotton pickup was picked up last year, and someone immediately bought it. The village can see people everywhere. This year it is different. Up to now, no one has bought cotton.

I can't sell more than 10 thousand kilograms of cotton in my house now. I'm really worried about it. Next year I will not grow cotton any more.

Zhang Qingshou said.

Dujiaying village, Yongji, has grown more than 3000 acres of cotton this year, with a total output exceeding 600 thousand kilograms.

Up to the beginning of December, 90% of the cotton in the village had not been sold, and almost every yard was filled with cotton harvested this year.

Bai Chunfang, a farmer in dujiaying village, said that the biggest impact of this year's rainfall on cotton is the poor quality of cotton. The color of cotton is grey yellow and poor in elasticity, and the overall grade is about 4.

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Bai Chun Fang calculated an account: planting an acre of cotton to fertiliser, machine farming, pesticide, picking and land contracting costs will cost 1300 yuan. He planted 60 mu of cotton last year and this year. Last year, the seed cotton per mu was 175-200 kg. According to a kilogram of seed cotton, 11 yuan could earn about 1500 yuan per mu.

This year, we will not be able to produce 150 kilograms of cotton seeds per mu. We will hire people to pick up the cotton and also manage the rice. If we sell it according to the market conditions this year, we will not be able to get enough capital.

Bai Chunfang said, "now the price of seed cotton market is around 6 yuan / kg, but no one has collected 4 yuan per kilogram of seed cotton.

The cost of seed cotton is high, and seed cotton is 7 yuan / kilogram to ensure that no loss is made. The more we sell at the present price, the more we lose.

The Cotton Research Institute of the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Yuncheng comprehensive experimental station of the national cotton industry technology system recently conducted a survey of 60 cotton farmers in 6 towns and 12 villages in 3 cotton producing counties in Xinjiang, Linyi and Yongji. The survey showed that only 17.14% of the cotton seeds had been harvested, of which only 10% of the cotton farmers had sold all the cotton, the average selling price was 6.44 yuan per kilogram, and 63% of the farmers had not started selling cotton.

In the same period last year, 60% of cotton growers had sold cotton, the average selling price was 10.9 yuan per kilogram, and the total sales of cotton accounted for 85% of the harvest.

Yongji City, Yuncheng

Ma Jianjun, general manager of the cotton purchase point in the white village of Qing tou Town, said: "the cotton purchase price in 2010 is the same as the roller coaster. The seed cotton increased from 5.6 yuan per kilogram to 6 yuan, and the highest breakthrough was 12 yuan.

However, the price of seed cotton started to reach 8 yuan / kg in Yuncheng this year, but then it went down all the way, only 6 yuan / kilogram at present.

He disclosed that many cotton enterprises have not yet started the purchase of scale, mainly because the cotton market is not clear, because the market of cotton has just dropped after processing, and it is worried that the cotton price after processing will not keep up with the purchase price.

Ma Jianjun said that at this time of the year, its acquisition point could receive 25 tons of seed cotton per day, and less than 2 tons a day.

On the one hand, because of the reduction in cotton production and less cotton available for sale, on the other hand, farmers are too low in price and sell cotton for sale, waiting for cotton prices to rise further.

The decline in production, low prices and loss of interest caused many cotton growers to decline in confidence in the cotton market.

Most cotton growers are dissatisfied with the current price, except for a small number of cotton growers who are in urgent need of money and are reluctant to sell late cotton prices.