Abstract
As an important starting point for optimizing the structure of agricultural products and implementing green production methods, the direction of orchard management development is directly related to the success of “supply side” reform in the fruit industry in China. However, in the context of the progressive rise of labor force, is the labor force still capable of the high labor intensity and fine cultivation management needed, such as for pruning? In this paper, based on the micro-production data of peach farmers in different provinces, we set up a decision model of fruit trees management to analyze the effects of changes in the labor cost on orchard management’s input for farmers with different trading characteristics under the information asymmetry theory. The results show that with the increase of labor force cost, although the total labor investment of farmer households has somewhat reduced, significant differences exist in the distribution of labor investment between the different farmers due to the different labor demands from the various trading characteristics. By repeated transactions that transmit information of quality, farmers can get a high marginal price of fruit, and these relatively repeated transactions further increase the labor investment of fine management. Foreseeably, the rising of rural labor cost will have a negative impact on fine cultivation management in the fruit and nut industries, which have the same management methods for pruning and flower (fruit) thinning. Therefore, this paper offers relevant policy recommendations for the support of agriculture products brand, optimization of production tools, expansion of operation scale, and the establishment of networks of companies, aimed at sharing skilled labor for the execution of quality work, etc.
Highlights
As a backbone industry that alleviates poverty in vast rural areas and creates wealth for farmers, China’s fruit industry has long maintained a rapid growth trend
This paper proposes a way to deal with increase of labor cost to improve sustainability by using estimated results
It focuses on the degree of repeated transactions and use of fine management aspects of sustainability, which can improve the sustainable development of fruits
Summary
As a backbone industry that alleviates poverty in vast rural areas and creates wealth for farmers, China’s fruit industry has long maintained a rapid growth trend. Some scholars have argued that farmers that plant labor-intensive horticultural crops should ease labor constraints, and improve quality of product through fine management faced with the rising of the labor cost. Taking peach planting farmers as an example, in the face of rising labor prices, some farmers have to reduce the labor input of fine management and choose a more extensive management mode, while others can still maintain or even improve the original orchard fine management input. With the continued increase in the application of chemical and organic fertilizers and pesticides in fruit cultivation, farmers should invest more labor force in the pruning and thinning of flowers (fruits) to the effective usage of chemicals. This study considers peach farmers in different provinces as an example and analyzes the effect of the rising labor cost on the input of fine management by studying the pruning and thinning of flowers and fruits. The improvement of research methods enhances the persuasiveness and reliability of the research results
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