A Study On Costs And Revenue Of The Cultivation Of Main Raw Materials Of Sichuan Pickles

Sichuan pickles, a household name, is one of the many delicacies in Sichuan. The industry of Sichuan pickles has been in a rapid development in recent years:the industrial scale keeps expanding and the output continues to increase, the traditional cottages gradually develop into mechanized, large-scale, diversified, standardized direction. Along with the booming industry of Sichuan pickles, a great deal of attention is paid to the cultivation of raw materials of Sichuan pickles. Therefore, to study the costs and revenue during the cultivation of the main raw materials of Sichuan pickles, is of great significance for promoting the healthy development of Sichuan pickles industry and increasing peasant’s income.This thesis focused on three main raw material crops of Sichuan pickles-turnip, tai-tsai and bamboo shoot, the least of which is for preserved Sichuan pickle production, and studied the costs and revenue of growing links. Ten villages of Yuexing, Duoyue, Xiuwen and Chongli in Meishan city of Sichuan province were investigated. Detailed data of the production of turnip, tai-tsai and bamboo shoot were collected, and also the input and output of farmers. Then, the costs and profits of turnip, tai-tsai and bamboo shoot were analyzed and compared, respectively. A model was built and the main factor that affecting the profits was identified. Finally, the problems and their causes during the Sichuan pickles cultivation of raw materials were analyzed; countermeasures and suggestions to promote the development of Sichuan pickles farming were put forward.We mainly investigated seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, labor and land costs about the input. Through the data we investigated we found that hidden costs, such as labor and land costs, take a higher proportion in the total costs, especially the labor, takes the biggest part, which reflects the degree of mechanization of the cultivation of raw materials in Sichuan pickles is very low. Only take dominate costs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, into consideration, the revenue of turnip, tai-tsai and bamboo shoot per unit are more or less the same. However, take the hidden costs such as labor and land costs into consideration, turnip and tai-tsai both suffer losses, and banboo shoot suffers no loss but it is low profit in general. This shows that the raw material production of pickles is high production costs with low efficiency. In addition, the survey also learned that some other problems exist in the raw material production of pickles. Such as the low cultural quality of farmers, a lack of investment in science and technology, the volatility of sales price of raw materials, quality and safety problems etal. These problems have increased the risk of the farmers who planted pickles raw materials. In this case, the pickles raw material production is not sustainable.In view of the above problems, in order to reduce the costs of raw material production of pickles and the risk the farmers face when planting raw materials of pickles, this paper presents the following suggestions:on one hand, we should regulate agricultural markets, and strengthen the interests links between enterprises and farmers. On the other hand, the government should increase the scientific and technological input of agriculture, accelerate agricultural mechanization, and strengthen supervision on the quality and safety of raw materials of pickles.