The Productive Efficiency Of Alfalfa,wheat And Maize

Alfalfa(Medicago sativa) is the most widely cultivated legumes in the world. Gansu Province has the largest planting area of alfalfa in China. The No. 1 document from the national central government in 2015 and 2016 has proposed the adjustment of agricultural planting structure, to carry out pilot sitre and expand food, cash crop and fodder planting structure, as well as establishmodern forage production system. Wheat(Triticum aestivum) and maize(Zea mays) are the main crops in Gansu Province. Reducing planting area of food crop, particularly in corn, and expanding the area of alfalfa is one of the major tasks to adjust planting structure. Economic benefit is the key factor affecting the plant structure, thus the study on cost-benefit analysis of alfalfa, wheat and corn has important theoretical and practical meanings.Household survey was carried out in two consecutive years in 2014 and 2015. The data was collected from 674 farmers in the dry area of Gansu including Huan County, Anding district, as well as the irrigated area of Minqin County, Yongchang County, Jinta County. The data related to the seeds, water, pesticides, labors, fertilizer, machinery, and plastic were collected from dry and irrigated farming. Comparative analysis of the cost and benefit of dry and irrigated agriculture systems of alfalfa, wheat and maize was conducted. The econometric model is developed using Cobb-Douglas production function for the three crops, respectively. And comparative analysis of the three crops is conducted using the Elasticity coefficients and Marginal Productivity. Finally, policy suggestions related to the future development of the alfalfa industry are proposed. The results and conclusions are as follows:1. The average planting area of alfalfa, wheat, corn in the Hedong dryland are 0.7 hm2, 0.4 hm2,0.5 hm2, while that of Hexi irrigated area are 0.5 hm2, 0.3 hm2,0.6 hm2, respectively. Famers in the dry area of Gansu plant alfalfa for self-sufficient, while famers in the irrigated area plant alfalfa mainly for sales purpose. In dry or irrigated region, wheat is used to eat, in contrast, corn is offered for sale.2. Under dry cultivation condition, the yield and gains of corn are much higher than that of wheat and alfalfa; and net profit and average yield of wheat and alfalfa are similar, whereas the cost of the wheat is 5.88 times more than that of alfalfa. From 2014 to 2015, the average yield of alfalfa hay, wheat and corn is 3213.9 kg/hm2,2467.1 kg/hm2,5979.3 kg/hm2;the average cost of the three crops is 501.0 yuan/hm2,2948.2 yuan/hm2,4171.9 yuan/hm2, respectively. While the net profit is 2798.8 yuan/hm2, 2741.4 yuan/hm2 and 8536.2 yuan/hm2.3. Under the irrigation condition, net profit and yield of alfalfa are far more than wheat, less than corn. From 2014 to 2015, the average yield of alfalfa hay, wheat and corn is 10234.3 kg/hm2,6450.7 kg/hm2,12916.5 kg/hm2; the average cost of the three crops is 4398.1 yuan/hm2,6143.0 yuan/hm2,8690.0 yuan/hm2;and the net profit is 12022.5 yuan/hm2, 8937.3 yuan/hm2 and 17636.3 yuan/hm2, respectively.4. Rate of return of alfalfa is the highest, followed by corn and wheat. Rate of return of alfalfa in dry area is higher than that in the irrigation area. The rate of return of wheat demonstrates an opposite results, and the rate of return of corn is similar in both areas. The rate of return of alfalfa, wheat and corn under the dry area is 605%, 93.5%, 204.5%; and that of irrigated area is 328%, 145%, 204%, respectively.5. The result of Cobb-Douglas production function model shows that alfalfa production of farmers in the survey is in the phase of increasing returns to scale, while the wheat and corn are in the state of decreasing returns to scale. According to the descending order of importance, the significant factors impacting output of alfalfa are agricultural systems(dry or irrigation), seed, water, machinery and plastic film mulching; and that of wheat and maize are agricultural systems(dry or irrigation), seeds and water, respectively. From the point of the Marginal Productivity, all the factors affecting output of alfalfa has not reached to the optional inputs, the output will increase while increasing the inputs. The inputs of the wheat have already approached to saturation. And the inputs of corn also reached to the optional state in addition to the seed.6. The recommendations for the development of alfalfa industry in Gansu province are given as follows: 1) Strengthening the policy supports to improve famers’ attention to alfalfa; 2) increasing alfalfa cultivation inputs, especially seeds, irrigation and machinery, to improve the yield and quality of alfalfa hay; 3) reducing the planting area of wheat in Hedong area; 4) increasing the land transfer and expanding the planting scale of alfalfa; 5) promoting the development of grazing livestock industry.