Analysis on the Factors Influencing Pollution-free Vegetable Production: A Case Study of Shenzhen Huantong Farming Products Co. Ltd.

Ligui CHEN, Peixiong ZHANG, Chuanying LI

1. Vegetable Production Farm of Shenzhen Huantong Farming Products Co. Ltd., Shenzhen 518103, China; 2. Chaozhou Vocational Technician School of Guangdong Province, Chaozhou 515642, China; 3. Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China

Abstract More than 170 vegetable farmers and vegetable production in 4 vegetable farms of Shenzhen Huantong Farming Products Co. Ltd. were investigated, and the factors affecting the quality of vegetable products were analyzed. The development strategies of pollution-free vegetables, such as strengthening training of vegetable farmers, reducing vegetable farmers’ mobility and vegetable brand building, were put forward.

Key words Pollution-free vegetable; Vegetable farmer

1 Introduction

There are about 9 500 hm2vegetable farms in Shenzhen, and the yield of vegetable is about 157 057 t in 2019. The production and operation mode is dominated by "company+farmer", with a small part of large-scale operation and scattered farmer operation. Vegetable farmers are basically composed of nonlocal farmers from western and eastern counties of Guangdong Province, Guangxi and Hunan Province. This situation has also been prevalent in other cities in the Pearl River Delta in recent years, with slightly different proportions of nonlocal vegetable farmers. The behavior of vegetable farmers directly affects the quality of vegetable products. Although domestic and foreign experience shows that household operation is the most suitable for the characteristics of agricultural production and can accommodate multi-level productivity, it is reported that the qualified rate of pesticide residue in vegetables grown on a large scale in Guangdong is higher on average than that grown by scattered farmers[1]. Therefore, improving the quality of vegetable products produced by household management mode will be a practical subject of pollution-free vegetable production in Guangdong Province in a certain period. Taking Fuyong, Jiazitang, Yulv and Tangjia vegetable bases in the vegetable farms of Shenzhen Huantong Farming Products Co. Ltd. as examples, the basic situation of vegetable farmers and their production were investigated and analyzed, hoping to find countermeasures for improving the quality of pollution-free vegetable products.

2 Basic information of vegetable farmers

2.1 Age structureThe age survey results of vegetable farmers in the 4 vegetable bases are shown in Table 1. They were divided into five groups according to their ages: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-69 years old. After the average age of each group was calculated, the average age of farmers was calculated by weighted average method, which was 44.66 years old. The proportion of 40-49 years old was 45.88%, which was the main labor force. The minimum time for farmers to grow vegetables in Shenzhen was one year, and the longest time was 28 years.

Table 1 Distribution of farmers in different age groups in Shenzhen Huantong Farming Products Co. Ltd.

2.2 Cultural structureThe survey results on the education level of vegetable farmers in the 4 vegetable bases are presented in Table 2. The vegetable farmers were mainly received junior high school education. In addition, 90.43% of vegetable farmers had received training, with an average of 3.79 times. The proportion of those who had participated in green certificate training was 61.18%, indicating that vegetable farmers were highly motivated to receive training (Table 2).

Table 2 Distribution of educational level of vegetable farmers

2.3 Family members and labor forceThe survey results of family size and family labor force of vegetable farmers in the 4 vegetable bases are shown in Table 3. The number of vegetable farmers’ families generally ranged from 2 to 8 people, among which there were many families composed of 2-5 people, mainly with 2 labor forces.

Table 3 The number of family members and the situation of household labor force

3 Production and operation condition

3.1 Vegetable production, income and direct costsThe 170 sample farmers surveyed had planting areas ranging from 0.08 to 0.3 hm2, with an average planting area of 0.18 hm2. The number of vegetables planted by farmers varied from 4 to 16 crops per year, with an average of 8 crops. The main means of transportation for farmers was electro-tricycle, and the vegetables sold at each time ranged from 50 to 350 kg, with an average of 156 kg per time. The household income of farmer households was calculated based on the income of the whole year of 2019 and the income from January to June of 2020, and the input costs of fertilizer, pesticide and seed production were calculated as well. The four vegetable bases were investigated respectively, and the total income of each base in 2019 and the income in the first half of 2020 are shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Vegetable output and income of vegetable farmers in vegetable bases

3.2 Relation between input and output of vegetable farmers

According to the income of farmers and the input of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds used in the first half of 2020, correlation analysis was conducted on the 4 vegetable bases, and the linear regression relationship is shown in Table 5. It can be seen from Table 5 that there was a significant correlation between input and output, indicating that the production of all vegetable bases was normal and the survey data were reliable.

Table 5 Correlation between income and cost of vegetable bases

3.3 Interval distribution of vegetable production costThe production cost of vegetables ranged from 1.6 to 1.998 yuan/kg, accounting for 19.38%; the production cost of 0.80-2.40 yuan/kg accounted for 66.08% (Table 6).

Table 6 Interval distribution of vegetable production cost

4 Investigation on factors affecting vegetable farmers’ production of pollution-free vegetables

4.1 Questionnaire surveyThrough this questionnaire survey, only 3 out of 170 vegetable farmers produced their own vegetables in a small area, accounting for 1.76%, indicating that the vast majority of farmers were trustworthy producers. Results of other questionnaires are shown in Table 7. About 33.58% of farmers said that the most important factor affecting pollution-free vegetables was the high cost of pesticides and fertilizers as hard expenditure.

Table 7 Factors affecting the production of pollution-free vegetables

4.2 Investigation on fertilizers used by vegetable farmersIn terms of fertilizer use, 39.94% of farmers often used Norwegian compound fertilizer, 22.01% of farmers often used Batian compound fertilizer, and only about 25.15 % of them used organic fertilizer (Table 8).

Table 8 Survey of fertilizers commonly used by farmers

5 Analysis and countermeasures

The survey results showed that the average age of farmers was 44.66 years old, and 45.88% of them were 40-49 years old. They mainly received junior high school education, and the average number of years of education was 7.19 years. There were many families composed of 2-5 people, mainly with 2 labor forces. The above situation is similar to the investigation results of 6 provinces in China[2]. Obviously, it is a long way to improve the cultural and technical quality of vegetable farmers through all kinds of training. The results showed that the direct cost of vegetable production was high, and the cost of 0.80-2.40 yuan /kg accounted for 66.08 %. Farmers also reported that the production cost of pollution-free vegetables was higher than the normal agricultural products[3]. Therefore, it is necessary to steadily increase the price of pollution-free vegetables and organic vegetables by strengthening the brand construction by companies+farmers. In addition, the survey showed that only about 25% of vegetable farmers often used organic fertilizer, and one of the reasons may be that nonlocal vegetable farmers were more mobile. Therefore, it is necessary to stabilize vegetable farmers, and guide them to use organic fertilizer, improve their enthusiasm for soil quality improvement and green control lore continuously.