Cotton pickers earn, growers don't

    Updated: 2012-01-05 08:14

    By Shao Wei (China Daily)

      Comments() Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按鈕 0

    SHIHEZI, Xinjiang - The cotton growers here suffered a harsh harvest in 2011. Labor costs increased by about 40 percent from 2010, while the price of cotton dropped 22 percent.

    Zhang Yurong, a 50-year-old cotton picker from Nanyang, Henan province, earned about 17,000 yuan ($2,690) from her repetitive, arduous work over 75 days at a farm of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps near Shihezi, the main cotton production area of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

    Happily taking her wages, Zhang rode the train to Henan at the end of November "to have a good year-end gathering at home".

    "What I gained from Xinjiang is the good pay, and I am quite satisfied with it. But thanks to the painstaking work, I suffer arthritis and lumbar muscle strains," Zhang said recently on the phone.

    Cotton growers, however, had a tough season. From mid-September to early October, the peak harvest time, dozens of them milled about outside Shihezi railway and bus stations, desperately looking for migrant cotton pickers.

    Li Chunsheng, a grower in Manas county, said, "After staying at the stations for nearly a week, I finally employed three laborers from Gansu province. They asked for 2.2 yuan a kilo, free accommodations and 400 yuan each for traveling expenses. I agreed."

    Li said three laborers were "far from enough" for his four hectares of cotton, so he had to turn to temporary, local pickers who "asked for a higher price, being they were in big demand".

    "I earned 15,000 yuan from cotton this year," Li said. "That is the only return for my whole year's farmwork and the family's only source of income. It's even less than the earnings of a cotton picker.

    "We farmers don't know what to grow next year. Being a farmer is risky, as crop prices are not stable. I'll grow cotton again, as at least the government sets price protection for cotton."

    Li Yugong, a labor contractor who has taken Henan workers to cotton farms in Xinjiang for more than seven years, was planning his trip from Shihezi to Henan two weeks ago to "order more laborers in advance".

    "I have to arrive at Nanyang at Spring Festival, when lots of migrant laborers return home and look for new jobs. As the cotton picking in Xinjiang starts in September, I usually have verbal contracts with laborers and persuade them to come to Xinjiang," Li Yugong said.

    "But it's very difficult to find enough hands, because young people tend to go south for decent, easy work. Only a few young people can bear the arduous, dull work of cotton picking."

    Find original Cover Story, published on Oct 11, at chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-10/11/content_13865818.htm

    丰满人妻AV无码一区二区三区| 人妻中文无码久热丝袜| 久久精品中文无码资源站| 无码人妻AV一二区二区三区| 中文字幕一区图| 中文字幕无码毛片免费看| 久久午夜无码鲁丝片 | 日韩精品无码免费专区午夜不卡| 日韩AV无码不卡网站| 亚洲日韩乱码中文无码蜜桃臀网站| 中文字幕高清在线| 最新中文字幕AV无码不卡| 久久久久久久人妻无码中文字幕爆| 精品亚洲AV无码一区二区三区| 中文字幕精品视频| 亚洲一区二区三区无码影院| 6080YYY午夜理论片中无码| 亚洲av无码成人黄网站在线观看| 日本久久中文字幕| 中文无码伦av中文字幕| 人妻少妇看A偷人无码精品| 国产亚洲精品无码专区| 精品无码无人网站免费视频| 色窝窝无码一区二区三区| 亚洲AV永久无码精品水牛影视| 最近高清中文在线国语字幕5| 久久亚洲精品中文字幕| 亚洲AV无码成H人在线观看| 久久影院午夜理论片无码| 中文字幕亚洲精品资源网| 日本中文字幕在线2020 | 日韩中文久久| 欧美日韩中文字幕在线看| 欧美日韩国产中文精品字幕自在自线 | 亚洲精品无码AV中文字幕电影网站| 中文字幕乱码无码人妻系列蜜桃| 亚洲 日韩经典 中文字幕| 国色天香中文字幕在线视频| 无码中文人妻视频2019| 亚洲欧美中文字幕| 最近中文2019字幕第二页|