Moderate scale and realization potential of new citrus-planting business entities in hilly and mountainous areas in China

The natural and economic conditions of agricultural resources vary greatly in China,especially in hilly and mountainous areas.The phenomenon of land fragmentation has become increasingly prominent,so that large-scale operations cannot be fully achieved in a short period of time,and the centralized and continuous scale of operations cannot be realized in China.In addition,with increasingly strict farmland protection and agricultural land use control systems,the issues of nongrain production and nonagricultural cultivated land use have become increasingly restricted.Thus,it is quite necessary to determine the appropriate scale of operations and the means to achieve moderately scaled operations for the new business entities.On the basis of microsurvey data for 108 new citrus-planting business entities in the modern agricultural park in the Chongqing's Jiangjin District,an area with long citrus-planting history,we measured the moderate scale of new citrus-planting business entities to maximize profit using a translog growth model.According to the projection pursuit model,we evaluated the suitability conditions of citrus planting in garden land,woodland,grassland,and general cultivated land in the study area.We then explored the potential for new moderate-scale business entities within different farming radii.The results showed that large-scale planting conditions of citrus in garden land,forest land,grassland,and general cultivated land in the study area were suitable,and the proportion of high-suitable and mediumsuitable land was 73.42%.Under the existing social and economic conditions,the moderate scale of new citrus-planting business entities in the study area was 1.8–2.7 hm^(2).In particular,its rankings from large to small were agricultural enterprises(17.19–25.78 hm^(2)),farmer cooperatives(16.88–25.33 hm^(2)),big growers and breeders(6.39–9.59 hm^(2)),and family farms(5.02–7.53 hm^(2)).In the sample of 108 households,only 47.22%of the entities achieved moderate-scale operation,of which 25%of the entities achieved a scale greater than moderate operation.However,52.78%of the entities achieved a scale of less than moderate operation.These entities would have to transfer the surrounding adjacent garden land,forest land,grassland,or general cultivated land to achieve largescale land management.The land area of the adjacent gardens in a 1000 m farming radius could meet the moderate-scale operation demand of the vast majority of new business entities.For the vast majority of new business entities,the land area of the adjacent woodland,grassland,and general cultivated land could supplement the garden land to achieve moderate-scale operation in a 500 m farming radius.If the land area with moderate suitability and high suitability is prioritized,the land area in the adjacent gardens in the 1000 m farming radius could meet the moderate-scale operation demand for the vast majority of new business entities.Within the 500 m farming radius,the vast majority of new business entities have achieved moderate-scale operations if the land area adjacent to forest land,grassland,and general arable land was supplemented by gardens;however,a few entities could not achieve moderate-scale operations.From the village perspective,gardens were prioritized.Sixteen villages had planting areas and planting suitability that exceeded the average level of the study area,accounting for 23.53%.If combined with the reserve potential of the garden land,eight villages could improve their potential,accounting for 11.76%.Therefore,the conditions of large-scale citrus planting in the study area should be further improved,and the scale expansion of new citrus-planting business entities should receive additional scientific guidance.

Current Situation and Influencing Factors of Pluriactivity in Mountainous and Hilly Rural Areas of Sichuan Province,China

In this study, the current situation of pluriactivity in mountainous and hilly rural areas of Sichuan province was analyzed using representative sample survey data and natural factor data calculated based on 30 m-resolution DEM and GIS. Moreover, using logistic regression model, a quantitative analysis was conducted on factors influencing pluriactivity in terms of individuals, households, communities and natural environmental conditions. The results showed that, （1） only 17.77% of rural laborers in mountainous and hilly areas of Sichuan province were engaged in pluriactivity. Geographically, pluriactivity was mainly chosen according to the ＂proximity principle＂, and was concentrated in construction and service industries; （2） the following factors have a significant influence on whether rural laborers in hilly areas engage in pluriactivity： gender, number of years of education, marriage, number of laborers and time to towns. Those with little influence include： age, health, family size, arable land per capita and per capita income, whether there are elderly people over 75 years and children less than 3 years. According to the main factors affecting pluriaetivity, the government should enhance vocational skills training for rural laborers in mountainous and hilly areas, especially for female laborers, further improve transport accessibility and encourage rural laborers, especially female laborers to move into pluriactivity to increase the income of farm households.

Distribution of Soil Nutrients in Arable Land of Tropical Hilly and Mountainous Area

[Objective] The aim was to explore spatial distribution characters of soil nutrients in arable lands of Hainan mountainous areas and provide references for soil nutrient management in tropical mountainous areas. [Method] The research took arable lands in Wuzhishan City as an example by field survey, sampling and lab analysis and investigated soil nutrients and distributions based on analysis of soil nutrient contents. [Result] The soils were dominated by acid soils, with pH of 5.1; soil nutrients were distributed in a non-uniform manner; contents of soil organic matter, available phosphorus, available potassium, as well as medium elements kept lower or moderate levels; effective copper and available zinc were rich. Local spe- cial climate, uneven distribution of parent material and non-uniform fertilization con- tributed to acid soils and unbalanced distribution of soil nutrients in Wuzhishan. [Conclusion] It is recommended to facilitate soil nutrient balance by promoting re- turning straws to farmlands and technical specification of balanced fertilization by soil testing as per nutrient distribution of arable lands in Wuzhishan City.

Spatio-temporal Pattern of Cropland Abandonment in Hilly and Mountainous Areas:A Case Study of Jiangxi,China

Cropland abandonment is common and widely distributed in hilly and mountainous areas.Clarifying the current situation and development of cropland abandonment can provide reference for the rational and classified management of cropland abandonment in hilly and mountainous areas.Taking Jiangxi Province as the study area,and using the Google Earth Engine and Landsat data,the scale and years of abandoned cropland from 2002 to 2020 were calculated by using the random forest classifier and rules for identifying cropland abandonment.The spatio-temporal pattern of cropland abandonment at the county level was analyzed.The results indicated that the overall accuracy of land use classification was over 90%.The cropland abandonment rate ranged from 3%to 5.5%from 2002 to 2020,while the cropland abandonment rate was highest in 2013 and showed a downward trend after 2017.Among the years,the area of first-time abandoned cropland was the largest in 2005.The distribution of the cropland abandonment rate was low in the middle and north,but high in the surrounding area and the south.A notable positive spatial correlation was observed in the cropland abandonment rate,with a gradual intensification of spatial clustering.The LISA cluster map revealed a significant north-south disparity,exhibiting an incremental trend over time in the characteristics of the“High-High”cluster in the Southeastern Mountainous Area and the“Low-Low”cluster in the Poyang Lake Hilly Plain in Jiangxi.The results of this study can provide data for extracting spatial information and analyzing the driving factors of cropland abandonment in hilly and mountainous areas,and they can also provide a basis for the development of policies for the utilization and classification management of abandoned cropland.

Design and experiment analysis of the small maize harvester with attitude adjustment in the hilly and mountainous areas of China

To solve the problem of small planting plots and large sloping land for mechanized maize harvesting in China hilly and mountainous areas,a small maize harvester with attitude adjustment was designed to realize maize snapping,peeling,straw crushing and attitude adjusting at on time in this study.The basic structure and working principle of the small maize harvester were described,and the key components were designed as follows.The maize snapping device adopted the combination form of maize snapping plates and straw pulling rollers,and the gap of the straw pulling rollers can be adjusted to adapt to different maize varieties.Two pairs of peeling rollers formed a groove arrangement to improve peeling rate and reduced ear grain loss.The pressure feeding device mainly comprised drive chain and three grade pressure feeding rollers to increase the friction between ears and the peeling rollers,and help ears slide.The attitude adjustment advice was designed according to the high point stationary pursuit leveling method.When the attitude angle of the rack approached 0,the small maize harvester reached the level state.The actual range of attitude adjustment was obtained and the accuracy of static attitude adjustment was verified through attitude adjustment test.The influencing factors of ear loss rate and bract peeling rate were determined by orthogonal test,including the rotational speed of straw pulling rollers,peeling rollers and pressure feeding rollers.The mathematical regression model between the experimental factors and indicators was established by using Design Expert,and through the analysis variance to verify the significance of the evaluation indicators,the best combination of operation parameters was determined that the rotational speed of straw pulling rollers,peeling rollers and pressure feeding rollers were 1440 r/min,1535 r/min and 406 r/min.Under the optimal combination of the operation parameters,the ear loss rate and bract peeling rate were 1.33%and 93.98%.The design indicators of the small maize harvester can meet the relevant national standards,and can satisfy the need of maize mechanized harvesting in China hilly and mountainous areas.

湘闽赣山区劳动力转移差异对梯田荒决策和规模的影响

In recent years,the phenomenon of abandonment of cultivated land in mountainous areas has occurred frequently,and the problem of abandonment has become a focus of attention of government agricultural departments and academic circles.However,few studies have paid attention to the impact of differences in labor transfer on the abandonment behavior of farmers’terraced fields.Based on this,this paper takes the terraced fields of Hunan,Fujian and Jiangxi provinces as the research area,combined with data from 1438 farmer households,and uses the Probit and Tobit models to analyzed the impact of the difference in the quantity,distance and quality of labor off-farm transfer on the decision-making and scale of terraced field abandonment of farmer households.The results show that:(1)The greater the quantity of labor transfer,the farther the transfer distance and the higher the quality of non-agricultural employment,can promote the decision of farmers to abandon terraced fields;(2)With the deepening of the degree of non-agricultural transfer,the scale of abandoned terraced fields by farmers in hilly and mountainous areas will also expand;(3)The distance and quality of labor transfer can strengthen the impact of labor transfer quantity on farmers’decision to abandon land.To alleviate the phenomenon of abandoned terraced fields,the government should pay attention to the labor substitution role of agricultural service outsourcing and mechanization in mountainous areas.The government should actively promote the transformation of terraced fields into mechanized farming,improve the cultivated land transfer market,and encourage farmers to transfer terraced fields.