| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 農業推廣教育研究所 === 92 === Abstract
The sorghum industry constitutes the largest part of the agricultural sector in Kinmen and currently faces major changes brought about by the internationalization of trade. On the basis of these two main, this research has two broad objectives: (1) An analysis of the current management status and difficulties of large-scale farms, (2) An analysis of countermeasures adopted by large-scale farms against adjustments in the Kinmen Sorghum Contracted Cultivation System. Having adopted purposive sampling, this research concentrates on a case study of the Huang family farm, which was implement edevy a series of in-depth interviews. The major discoveries of this work are detailed below:
1. Current management situation and characteristics at Huang family farm
Huang family farm is a jointly managed farm, established as a result of an investment by four brothers. It is 120 hectares in size, with each area of arable land an average of 0.8 hectares, cultivatable land being generally highly dispersed. The output differential between good and bad arable land is 2,500 kilograms. In 2003, total income from sorghum and wheat was NT$25 million. As such, the average per annum income of the four investors in the Huang family farm was NT$2.44 million, higher than standard non-agricultural income in Taiwan and considerably higher than income earned by other farms in Kinmen.
2. Difficulties faced by Huang family farm as a result of adjustments in the contracted system and countermeasures adopted
(1) Impact of downward adjustments in the contracted price for sorghum
1. If the contracted purchasing price for sorghum is cut by half, that is to say the guaranteed purchasing price will fall from its original NT$38 to NT$19. With unit area costs of NT$11.8 per kilogram at Huang family farm, operations remain commercially viable at the reduced guaranteed price of NT$19.
2. If the existing sorghum contracted purchasing system is abolished, the fact that unit output costs at Huang family farm are much higher than the price of imported sorghum indicate that a diverse range of countermeasures need to be adopted if the farm is to survive.
(2) Operational difficulties at Huang family farm
Difficulties faced by Huang family farm include the limited contracted cultivation area allowed by the contract system and the impact of revisions to the policy of transferring to green manure crops Other operational problems include the excessively dispersed nature of arable land, poor arable land infrastructure and the unreasonable level of fixed salaries.
(3) Countermeasures adopted at Huang family farm
In response to these various operational difficulties, the main approach adopted by Huang family farm has been to focus on reducing production costs and enhancing the competitiveness of grain sorghum. Operational countermeasures include rationalization of fixed salaries, selection of top quality arable land, establishment of a large-scale production organization and the adoption of diversified management for the sorghum industry etc.
Key Words: Sorghum, Kinmen sorghum contracted cultivation
system, large-scale farm
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