Chinese City Successful in Developing Tobacco Production Cooperatives

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 05/18/2009

Baoshan City in southwest China's tobacco-producing Yunnan Province has achieved initial success in a drive to develop specialized tobacco production cooperatives across the city over recent years, in reforming the traditional system of leaf tobacco production and arousing the production enthusiasm of local tobacco growers. In January 2009, Baoshan City Tobacco Monopoly Administration, which doubles as the city tobacco company, started the process of reforming its existing leaf tobacco production and marketing organization system on a full scale. By the end of March, a total of 349 specialized leaf tobacco production cooperatives in Baoshan had completed registration with the local administrative authorities for industry and commerce. They are now operating as registered tobacco production cooperatives in the city. In Baoshan, tobacco production cooperatives are established on the basis of the rural household contract system, in which local tobacco growers acquire shares in cooperatives by offering their farmland. With cooperatives as the basic units, tobacco growers form specialized labor service teams to provide services in the processes of tobacco seedlings development, mechanized farming, crop protection, leaf tobacco curing, leaf tobacco grading and tying, with priority given to the provision of technical service. In actual operation, the tobacco production cooperatives manage to strengthen professional training of production managers, technicians and tobacco growers, in efforts to practically improve the management of tobacco production and the development of a modern tobacco agriculture in Baoshan. In total, the tobacco production cooperatives in Baoshan have operated 866 programs of professional training of technicians and tobacco growers in the city, involving 9,398 persons/times. The operation of tobacco production cooperatives in Baoshan has contributed to greatly enhancing the awareness of local tobacco growers about marketing, application of new technologies, investment and mutual assistance, and to greatly arousing their production enthusiasm as well. Enditem