Recommendations for Sustainable Development of Ankang Tobacco Grow ing Area

Hatao YANG，Ke SUN，Feng ZHU

Ankang Branch of Shaanxi Tobacco Company，Ankang 725000，China

1 Introduction

Tobacco is the foundation for development of the tobacco industry.Characteristic road of high quality tobacco must take the road of sustainable development［1-5］.To keep sustainable development of tobacco production，we must solve a series of problems，including where to plant tobacco，who plant tobacco，and how to plant tobacco.Characteristic sustainable development road of tobacco is an essential technical strategy conforming to and supporting development of Chinese style cigarette and the only way for future development of Chinese tobacco industry［6-7］.Ankang tobacco growing area has more than 30 years of tobacco growing history and is the major tobacco production area of Shaanxi Province in ecological tobacco production area around Qinling Mountains.Ankang has gifted ecological conditions for production of characteristic high quality tobacco.Its annual tobacco planting area is up to 12000 hm2.The tobacco growing area is mainly distributed in the area with elevation of 600-1000m.In Ankang，there are more than 10000 tobacco planting farmer households.The purchase volume remains in 18000 to 22000 tons.All of these indicate that Ankang is a typical mountainous tobacco growing area.It has registered＂Shandijin＂tobacco brand，formed unique mountainous，selenium-enriched，ecological low tar content，and sweet and soft style，won favor of many industrial customers，and got into the rank of famous tobacco brands，such as Chung Hwa，Sept wolves，Shuangxi，Tarzan，Huanghelou，and Haomao，etc.

2 Overview of the study area

Ankang is located in the southeastern part of Shaanxi Province，north of the Daba Mountains and the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains，at the intersection of Shaanxi Province，Sichuan Province，Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality.The Han River（Hanshui）crosses it from west to east，forming a natural land form of＂a plain between two mountains＂.Its terrain is mainly mountain（about 92.5%），hilly area（5.7%）and plain area（1.8%）.The elevation is 170-2964.6m.Ankang has subtropical continental monsoon climate with distinct four seasons，clean environment，and rich vegetation.Its forest coverage is higher than 60%.The annual average sunshine hour is up to 1790.4 h，the mean annual temperature is15.4℃，the annual frost-free period is 252 days，annual average accumulated temperature≥10℃ is 4738.3℃.Besides，it has abundant rainfall and the annual average rainfall is 855.2-1100 mm.Han River，crossing Ankang from west to east，is an important water source protection area of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.In Ankang，the soil is mainly yellow brown soil，rich in selenium，and has the name of＂selenium valley of China＂.In the division of national tobacco planting area，Ankang belongs to the area of Upper and Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River suitable for planting tobacco.

3 Factors restricting sustainable development of Ankang tobacco growing area and cause analysis

3.1 No professional tobacco farmer cultivation system and serious loss of tobacco farmer teamTobacco farmer team is a key issue for sustainable development of tobacco.It solves the problem of who plant tobacco in the new trend of tobacco development.Ankang is a labor service export city.With rapid and diversified development of social economy，more and more rural young labors become migrant workers.Those left behind are basically middle and old tobacco farmers（more than 73%tobacco farmers are 40-60 years old）［8］.In addition to quickening urbanization，many tobacco farmers move to towns and cities.As a result，much tobacco field is left idle.Furthermore，the land circulation mechanism is not perfect and limited land resource fails to be effectively integrated.For this，many tobacco farmers are not enthusiastic for planting tobacco，leading to gradual drop of professional tobacco farmers.

3.2 Low educational level of tobacco farmers and difficult to cultivate professional farmersMost tobacco farmers are old and unwilling to accept advanced tobacco production technology，and their innovation awareness is not strong.All of these will restrict sustainable development of tobacco growing area.Since the comparative benefit of tobacco planting is lower than other industries，and tobacco farmers have few opportunities to take part in training，tobacco planting has decreasing attraction to high quality tobacco farmers.

3.3 Few agricultural machines and tools suitable for mountain area and low mechanization levelMountain area takes up 92.5%in Ankang tobacco growing area.Cultivated land is separate and has high slope，which brings great difficulty to mechanized operation.Limited small agricultural machines and tools only solve the problem of ploughing and ridging，but the operating efficiency is relatively low，thus it seriously influences large-scale development of tobacco growing in mountainous area.

3.4 Low coverage of infrastructure construction and high difficulty of maintenanceIn Ankang tobacco growing area，there are few large land parcels.In addition to limited labor，finance and material force for infrastructure construction，it is difficult to realize full coverage.The infrastructure for tobacco industry implements once-for-all-subsidy policy.For example，tobacco irrigation facilities and maintenance of tobacco field mechanized ploughing road need high input of labor，finance and material.As a result，it is more difficult to maintain infrastructure necessary for production of mountainous tobacco.

3.5 Rise of tobacco production cost and low comparative benefitWith rise of tobacco purchasing price and increase of tobacco subsidy policy，tobacco output value is also increasing.However，the tobacco planting cost is also increasing，mainly reflected in increase of labor cost and production means cost（fertilizer，film，and fuel，etc），and net income of tobacco farmers is not increased significantly.At present，tobacco industry has no comparative advantage compared with tea，silkworm and turmeric industries.Comparative advantage of tobacco industry obviously drops，so tobacco farmers are not enthusiastic for planting tobacco.

3.6 High influence of natural disasters and imperfect risk security mechanismIn Ankang mountainous area，agricultural production relies largely on climate.In recent years，frequent occurrence of natural disasters（such as much rainfall in 2010 and 2011）leads to too much water content in tobacco，which is difficult to bake.In 2013，the temperature was too high after tobacco seedlings were transplanted and the rainfall was too little.Much tobacco field lacked water seriously，leading to tobacco early flowering and decrease of effective tobacco leaves.Besides，in recent three years，some areas suffered different levels of wind and hailstone disasters and the yield was seriously influenced.In addition，the disaster subsidy mechanism and risk evaluation system are not imperfect.It is difficult to implement subsidy policy.At the same time，the subsidy amount is limited，so the tobacco planting risk is high，and farmers'benefits fail to be guaranteed practically.

4 Recommendations for sustainable development of Ankang tobacco growing area

4.1 Strengthening land resource integration and actively exploring scientific basic tobacco field protection systemFirstly，it is recommended to establish reasonable land circulation policy［9-12］.On the legal，voluntary，paid and orderly principle，it is expected to realize large-scale operation of land through cooperative shares of land，large household operating through contracting and industrialization management，to realize optimum allocation of limited farmland resource.Secondly，it is recommended to carry out survey of ecological suitability for tobacco planting，establish scientific and feasible basic tobacco field protection system，establish medium and long-term tobacco development plan，improve basic tobacco field information file，practically implement the basic tobacco field protection system and measures，and stably promote the tobacco ecological distribution.Thirdly，it is recommended to optimize tobacco planting distribution and realize relative large-scale planting.Fourthly，it is recommended to establish reasonable tobacco field rotation system.Fifthly，it is recommended to scientifically grasp level of fertilizer application and properly increase the application of organic fertilizer on the basis of strengthening scientific application of fertilizer，implement GAP management，strengthen prediction and forecast of plant diseases and insect pests，shift the prevention and control of plant diseases and insect pests to＂stressing the prevention and combining prevention and control＂，and improve the construction of comprehensive prevention and control system with the green prevention and control as the major part.

4.2 Improving overall quality of tobacco farmers and gradually cultivating professional tobacco farmers，and strengthening construction of tobacco technician teamWith rapid development of rural economy and continuous advance of modern tobacco agriculture，the structure of tobacco farmer team also has great change.Traditional individual farmer and separate tobacco planting mode has started to change to large and modern production mode.Therefore，organization mode of tobacco production must adapt to changes of new trend.In the development mode of specialized planting households，family farms and cooperatives，cultivating professional tobacco and building tobacco technician team have become the key to sustainable development of tobacco production.

4.2.1 Cultivating professional tobacco farmers.With development of modern tobacco agriculture，professional tobacco farmer team construction is the key to stabilizing tobacco farmer team［13］.Developing specialized tobacco planting farmers and family farms is the inevitable trend of future agricultural development.It is recommended to work out detailed technical skill training plan according to age structure，educational leveland technical level，en-hance professional training of tobacco farmers，and improve production technical level and operation and management level of tobacco farmers.In sum，it is expected to cultivate a professional tobacco farmer team having vitality，grasping technologies，being good at management，and specialized production and industrialized operation.

4.2.2 Strengthening construction of tobacco technician team.It is recommended to carry out vocational skill training and evaluation，to improve comprehensive quality of technician team［14］；establish and improve innovation dynamic management evaluation system.Every year，companies should conduct examinations of tobacco production technologies and knowledge for tobacco technicians，evaluate satisfaction of tobacco farmers for tobacco technicians，and implement the last one elimination system，to fully stimulate work enthusiasm of technicians.Through strengthening evaluation and management methods，it is expected to enhance their enthusiasm and sense of duty［15］，establish a high quality，professional，efficient grass-roots tobacco production technical service team with standardized management and high quality of services.

4.3 Improving scientific and technological innovation ability，imp lementing standardized technologies，establishing tobacco production organization mode，and improving tobacco production security mechanism

4.3.1 Always sticking to innovative development and constantly improving tobacco technological level and management level.For weak sections of present tobacco production，it is required to carry out scientific research technical tackling，build scientific，reasonable and practical extension system and corresponding mechanism，popularize new technologies，and produce high quality tobacco with outstanding mountain area characteristics.Besides，it is required to solve the problems of relatively single varieties，not in place of reasonable rotation system，and precise application of fertilizer，as well as professional harvesting skills，actively explore tobacco baking ways，and stably promote specialized and classified tobacco purchase.

4.3.2 Strengthening construction of scientific and technological demonstration parks.It is expected to bring into play demonstration role through scientific organization and production demonstration，as well as demonstration of new technologies and methods.

4.3.3 Innovating upon organization mode.Intensified production is a precondition of＂reducing cost and labor and increasing benefits＂.Thus，it is required to promote construction of specialized tobacco farmer cooperatives，explore operating mechanism and standards for mechanized farming，seeding，ridging，plant protection，and classification.In addition，it is expected to bring into play functions of＂two factories＂and increase integrated utilization efficiency of facilities.Furthermore，it is required to strengthen research and development of light-duty agricultural machinery and tools suitable for mountainous area and increase efficiency of mechanized operation in mountainous area.Also，it is recommended to actively guide the development mode of cooperatives［7，16-18］，realize process style of key link businesses，orderly operation，and standardized technologies，improve specialized service level and service ability，and establish specialized technological extension and service system，increase service efficiency，reduce service cost，and promote sound development of tobacco farmer cooperatives.

4.3.4 Establishing and improving tobacco production security mechanism.It is recommended to further strengthen the communication and coordination with local government and relevant departments，and accelerate the establishment of tobacco production disaster risk security mechanism［19］.Specifically，it is required to provide hailstone prevention facilities，constantly improve disaster prevention and control system，reduce losses of tobacco farmers due to disasters，eliminate worry of tobacco farmers，and realize conscious，voluntary and rest assured tobacco planting as soon as possible.

5 Conclusions

With diversified development of present social economy，sustainable development of tobacco has become a common challenge faced by many tobacco production areas.Through study and analysis of existing problems in the sustainable development of Ankang tobacco growing area，we reached the conclusion that increasing income of tobacco farmers is a precondition for sustainable development of modern tobacco agriculture.Firstly，it is required to stabilize support policies and protect benefits of tobacco farmers.Secondly，it is required to optimize planting distribution，cultivate professional tobacco farmers，change production mode，reduce production cost，strengthen cooperation of industry and commerce，and stabilizemarket foundation of tobacco industry.In all，it is required to fundamentally solve the problem of where to plant tobacco，who will plant tobacco，how to plant tobacco，and why to plant tobacco.

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