Fanwen FENG, Benfu LIU, Jing HUANG, Gaohang CHEN, Shenghui TUO, Yongjun CHEN, Yong WANG

Enshi Prefecture Company of Hubei Provincial Tobacco Corporation, Enshi 445000, China

Abstract Through the investigation, this paper analyzes the important restricting factors for the tobacco farmers in Enshi Badong mountainous area from 2018 to 2021, including the age structure, the loss situation, the number of years of planting tobacco, the scale of planting tobacco and the benefit of planting tobacco. This paper puts forward some corresponding measures and suggestions, such as cultivating the team of professional tobacco farmers, establishing the team of young tobacco farmers, expanding professional services, developing "tobacco plus" diversified industries, and popularizing suitable agricultural machinery in mountainous areas in order to effectively improve the stability of the team of tobacco farmers.

Key words Mountainous area, Tobacco farmers, Stability, Measures

1 Introduction

The development of tobacco industry is inseparable from tobacco leaf[1], and tobacco leaf planting is inseparable from tobacco farmers[2]. Tobacco farmers are the specific operators of tobacco production, and the stability of tobacco farmers is not only the basis of the stability of the whole industry, but also the top priority of high-quality development of tobacco leaves[3-7]. In recent years, with the diversified development of social economy, the cost of tobacco planting remains high, and the growth space of tobacco benefit is limited, resulting in the loss of tobacco farmers[8], and the team of tobacco farmers is unstable. By analyzing the current situation and problems of tobacco farmers in Badong mountainous area of Enshi in recent 4 years, this paper studies and explores feasible measures in order to provide a theoretical basis for high-quality and sustainable development of tobacco industry.

2 Present situation and problems of tobacco farmers

2.1 Age structure of tobacco farmersAccording to the analysis of the age structure of tobacco farmers from Table 1, the average age of tobacco farmers increased gradually from 2018 to 2021, from 52.39 years in 2018 to 53.51 years in 2021; the proportion of tobacco farmers under the age of 40 varied little, accounting for less than 7%; the number of tobacco farmers aged 41-50 years decreased year by year, from 28.01% in 2018 to 19.89% in 2021; the number of tobacco farmers aged 51-60 years showed a decreasing trend, but the proportion still reached 53.24% in 2021; tobacco farmers over 60 years old accounted for more than 19%. The aging of tobacco farmers was becoming more and more serious, and the structure of tobacco farmers was out of balance.

Table 1 Age structure of tobacco farmers

2.2 Tobacco planting scale of tobacco farmersAccording to the analysis of Table 2, the per capita tobacco planting area of tobacco farmers increased gradually from 2018 to 2021, from 1.054 ha in 2018 to 1.7 ha in 2021, an increase of 61.29%. The proportion of tobacco farmers with planting scale of less than 3.33 ha was relatively high, and had a decreasing trend year by year. The proportion of tobacco farmers with planting scale of less than 1.33 ha decreased by 29.55%, while the proportion of tobacco farmers with planting scale of 21-50 ha increased by 24.40%. The number of farmers with planting scale of 3.4 ha and above was relatively small, but it still increased year by year, from 0.24% in 2018 to 5.39% in 2021.

Table 2 Tobacco planting scale and the number of tobacco farmers

2.3 Loss of tobacco farmersAccording to the analysis of Table 3, the number of tobacco farmers decreased gradually from 2018 to 2021, and the number of tobacco farmers decreased by 682 from 2018 to 2021, a decrease of 27.10%; the loss of old tobacco farmers decreased gradually from 18.63% in 2019 to 8.83% in 2021; the retention rate of old tobacco farmers increased gradually from 81.37% in 2019 to 91.51% in 2021. The above analysis shows that although the team of tobacco farmers tends to be stable, most of the young and middle-aged workers in tobacco areas are unwilling to engage in agricultural production because of their aging or changing careers, so the reserve force of tobacco farmers is insufficient and the enthusiasm of growing tobacco is not high. There will still be a gradual decline in the number of tobacco farmers in the future.

Table 3 Loss of tobacco farmers

2.4 The number of planting years for tobacco farmersAccording to the analysis of Table 4, the number of tobacco farmers with 5 years of tobacco planting by 2021 was relatively small, accounting for 2.67%, in which there were many tobacco farmers with a planting scale of less than 3.33 ha. These tobacco farmers are a new team of tobacco farmers developed in recent years. The number of tobacco farmers who have been growing tobacco for 6-20 years was the most, accounting for 89.81%, in which there were many tobacco farmers who have been growing tobacco for 16-20 years with a planting scale of less than 3.33 ha. These tobacco farmers are the main force of tobacco planting at present. The number of tobacco farmers who have been growing tobacco for more than 21 years was relatively small, accounting for 7.52%. These tobacco farmers have rich experience, but their age is too old and their working ability is declining. This shows that tobacco is a stable and main economic crop in rural areas, and some old tobacco farmers expand the scale of tobacco planting and new tobacco farmers directly plant tobacco on a large scale, so as to promote the development of tobacco intensification, scale and mechanization.

Table 4 Planting scale and years in 2021

2.5 The income of farmers from growing tobaccoThrough a random survey of more than 120 tobacco farmers, the cost of growing tobacco is 52 700 yuan/ha, which mainly involves tobacco materials, land leasing, professional services and labor costs, of which labor costs account for the highest proportion, reaching 59.77%. From Table 5, we can see the income of tobacco farmers of different ages in 2021. With the increase of age, the income and net profit of tobacco farmers gradually decreased, among which the income and net profit of tobacco farmers aged 30 years and below were the highest, while the income and net profit of those aged over 70 were the lowest, with a big difference, reaching 8 400 yuan/ha. With the increase of age, the average income and planting scale of tobacco farmers increased at first and then decreased, and most of the large-scale tobacco farmers were 31-40 years old. The above analysis shows that the age of tobacco farmers is inversely proportional to tobacco income and net profit, which means that young tobacco farmers have relatively high cultural quality, can accept and popularize new technologies and methods of tobacco production, and thus can effectively improve tobacco quality and economic benefits.

Table 5 Age of tobacco farmers and income from tobacco planting in 2021

3 Measures and suggestions

3.1 Optimizing the team of tobacco farmers and cultivating professional tobacco farmersFirst, it is necessary to stabilize the team of tobacco farmers, strengthen the permanent protection of basic tobacco fields according to the needs of high-quality development of tobacco leaves, stabilize high-standard ecological tobacco fields, and stabilize the team of tobacco farmers. The second is to develop a new team of tobacco farmers, and encourage young people left behind in rural areas, migrant workers and others in line with the voluntary principle to change careers, actively participate in tobacco planting, and enrich the team of tobacco farmers. The third is to cultivate professional tobacco farmers, carefully select cultivation objects, and carry out cultivation identification and management[7], cultivate a new type of professional tobacco farmers with vitality, technology, responsibility, adapting to the requirements of high-quality development of the tobacco industry and suitable for the construction of modern tobacco agriculture.

3.2 Strengthening technical training and improving skillsIn accordance with the requirements of the new era of new knowledge-based tobacco farmers[9], it is necessary to carry out production technology training. First, we should carry out "inviting in" exchanges, invite experienced tobacco farmers to exchange and give lectures, use their own experience to teach key technologies, and exchange advanced applicable technologies and management measures for tobacco production. The second is to carry out "going out" exchanges, actively organize tobacco farmers to go deep into advanced tobacco areas to study and exchange with local tobacco technicians and farmers, learn from each other, optimize and improve their own technology in accordance with the development needs of tobacco farmers.

3.3 Popularizing mechanization and promoting large-scale tobacco plantingFirst, it is necessary to promote the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy in the operation scenes such as seedling workshop, field production, curing factory,etc., promote agronomic mechanization reengineering, tobacco field mechanization transformation, agricultural material mechanization and allocation, agricultural machinery adaptability improvement and agricultural machinery service system construction in accordance with the characteristics of the geographical environment in the mountainous area, so as to improve the level of tobacco agricultural mechanization operation. Second, it is necessary to improve the planting scale[10], strengthen the fusion technology of agricultural machinery and agronomy, promote large-scale planting of suitable tobacco industry, develop family tobacco production farms, improve operation efficiency, improve operation quality, and reduce production costs.

3.4 Protecting the basic tobacco field and stabilizing the tobacco industryFirst, it is necessary to strengthen institutional protection, formulate basic tobacco field protection system, strengthen the protection of basic tobacco fields, implement access, examination and approval and assessment mechanism to prevent tobacco fields from not being used for planting tobacco. The second is to take measures to protect, rely on the three-level administrative units [county, township (town) and village] to divide the tobacco village groups, and transfer the basic tobacco fields according to the requirements of the separation of ownership, contracting rights and management rights. Third, it is necessary to strengthen technical protection, implement crop rotation or fallow system, implement soil conservation and restoration technology, and construct tobacco field green prevention and control protection system.

3.5 Expanding services availability and improving service qualityIt is necessary to improve the service system of tobacco farmers’ cooperatives, continuously improve and innovate the five professional services of seedling raising, machine ploughing, plant protection, curing and grading. The second is to strengthen transplanting, fertilization, ploughing, harvesting, transportation, pulling and other weak links to expand specialized services, to form a professional service system with full coverage of tobacco production.

3.6 Creating a tobacco area complex to increase the income of tobacco farmersWith the goal of stabilizing the team of tobacco farmers and basic tobacco fields, the first is to develop "tobacco+" characteristic industries, and build an industrial complex dominated by tobacco and supplemented by diversified industries, to increase the diversified income of tobacco farmers. The second is to make use of high-quality resources such as seedling workshops, curing factories and agricultural machinery, introduce leading enterprises, carry out the cooperation model of "cooperatives+enterprises", and build a "tobacco+" industrial system to improve the productivity, utilization rate and output rate of tobacco fields and infrastructure.

4 Conclusions

Through the investigation of the current situation and problems of tobacco farmers in Badong County, Enshi Prefecture, it was found that the average age of tobacco farmers gradually increased, tobacco farmers showed the phenomenon of loss, the enthusiasm of young tobacco growers was not high, and the scale of tobacco farmers gradually decreased.

Large-scale tobacco planting has gradually become a trend. In accordance with the current situation of tobacco farmers in mountainous areas, the top priority is to stabilize tobacco areas, tobacco fields, tobacco farmers and industries. It is necessary to train a new type of professional tobacco farmers, stabilize the core tobacco farmers[11], develop young tobacco farmers, and enrich the team of tobacco farmers. It is necessary to carry out land circulation, protect basic tobacco fields, improve the quality of tobacco farmers, increase their technical ability, and improve their enthusiasm for planting tobacco. It is necessary to promote the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy in mountainous areas, reduce the labor intensity of tobacco farmers, reduce labor input and improve operation efficiency. It is necessary to optimize production technology, improve production management, enhance specialized services, expand specialized services, and reduce production investment. It is necessary to build a tobacco area complex, develop diversified industries, promote the development of multiple industries or provide jobs in the slack season of tobacco, increase the income of tobacco farmers in multiple industries or labor income, raise the price of tobacco leaves in various ways[12], and increase the income from growing tobacco, reduce the disadvantages of tobacco industry and strengthen the confidence of tobacco farmers in growing tobacco.