Abstract
ABSTRACT: In this study, the labour requirement and labour cost of common vegetable cultivation were investigated to help agricultural enterprises and family farms establishing reasonable “working hour” management systems in Jiangsu Province. The labour requirement of each step of three type of producers, agriculture enterprises, family farms, and private vegetable growers, in three regions in Jiangsu Province, named north, middle and south Jiangsu, was investigated by on-site observation or questionnaire survey during 2018 and 2019. The labour cost of each step and each vegetable was counted according to the labour requirement and the salary level. The results indicated that “residue cleaning”, “soil preparation and bedding”, “plant regulation”, “auxin treatment of tomato flowers” and “hand pollination” accounted for higher proportions of labour cost amongst the entire vegetable culture process. No significant differences in the labour requirements of the investigated vegetables were reported amongst three regions in Jiangsu Province. However, the order of labour cost is south Jiangsu > north Jiangsu > middle Jiangsu, due to the salary difference amongst three regions. Watermelon, broccoli and chive are more suitable for growing by agricultural enterprises since they have relatively low unit labour and high prices. We established a method to calculate and analyze labour requirement and cost of vegetable production in Jiangsu Province, which also may be instructive for other regions. In addition, our results provided useful data for various vegetable producers to improve their labour management.
Highlights
The pattern of vegetable growers growing and marketing vegetables by themselves has gradually broken in recent years with the acceleration of urbanization process and the implementation of the “vegetable basket” project by government departments at all levels in China (XU, 2020)
Due to the multiformity of operation in vegetable production, too many factors that affect the efficiency of these agricultural practices, the varying quality of agricultural employees, and the low management level, little agricultural enterprises mentioned above have formed a perfect “working hour” regulation and an effective management system
Most vegetable production enterprises still use the traditional “growth leader” management model, which often results in low work efficiency and the inability to complete tasks on time, and affects the formulation of the production plan and labour cost budget of the enterprise
Summary
The pattern of vegetable growers growing and marketing vegetables by themselves has gradually broken in recent years with the acceleration of urbanization process and the implementation of the “vegetable basket” project by government departments at all levels in China (XU, 2020). The vegetable industry in Jiangsu province, one of the most developed regions in China, is evolving towards large-scale and intensive management. New business entities, such as leading vegetable production enterprises, cooperatives, and family farms, are constantly emerging in recent years. Due to the multiformity of operation in vegetable production, too many factors that affect the efficiency of these agricultural practices, the varying quality of agricultural employees, and the low management level, little agricultural enterprises mentioned above have formed a perfect “working hour” regulation and an effective management system. It is imperative to research the scientific and reasonable “working hours” management system for vegetable production (YANG et al, 2018; YANG et al, 2019; ZHU & HOU, 2020)
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