国际棉花咨询委员会：棉花生产研究报告

Report of the committee on cotton production research
The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) met in Lubbock, Texas, USA during September 21-25, 2010 for its 69th Plenary Meeting since the establishment of the Committee 71 years earlier. Nearly four hundred people attended the meeting, including representatives from 39 governments and 9 international organizations. The Committee welcomed the Government of Mozambique as its newest member. The theme of this Plenary Meeting laid emphasis on unity and aptly summarized the need to ensure that the common interests of all stake holders in the cotton value chain, including farmers, ginners, traders, textile mills and consumers, are adequately addressed.

1. The Committee on Cotton Production Research of the ICAC organized a Technical Seminar on the topic “How to Lower the Cost of Cotton Production.” Papers were presented by experts from countries with large, capital intensive, leading-technology farming systems (Brazil, Turkey, USA), smallholder production systems (Zambia), and in countries in which production is constrained by heavy pest pressure (Pakistan). While there is the potential to achieve large increases in yields, the rising cost of cotton production is a major concern to all cotton producers.
1.1. Cotton is grown in four regions in Turkey, and there are significant differences in the cost of production among the regions. The average cost of production is high in Turkey because of high costs for land, labor, fuel and other inputs.
1.2. Cotton production in the USA utilizes high technology farming systems, thus requiring different approaches to lower costs. Among the technologies available is an autopilot, using the GPS, which guides a machine through a field according to a predefined line. Autopilot can be used with a sprayer, harvesting equipment or only at the time of cultivation. The system enables an operator to work more productively. The automatic boom control and the planter swath control also use the global positioning system and saves inputs by avoiding overlap when spraying insecticides, herbicides and foliar chemicals. With these systems, nozzles automatically stop if an area or row has already been sprayed, and the nozzle will automatically open when an unsprayed area or row begins. Dividing farms into management zones also allows a grower to save on inputs while raising yields.
1.3. Brazil has 215 million hectares of arable land, out of which 70% is suitable for agriculture, cattle, pasture and renewable energy exploration. Cotton occupies about one million hectares, most in the central west part of the country. Brazilian farmers have the highest level of recycling and correct disposal of agricultural packaging in the world. Employees get housing, are trained in accident prevention and work safety, and they are provided on-the-job training. Brazil is struggling to lower production costs through rational use of biotechnology and other inputs, with the ultimate objective of minimizing the environmental impact of cotton production.
1.4. The main reasons for high costs of production in Zambia are poor rural infrastructure, the high cost of inputs, minimal mechanization, low use of inputs and the lack of incentives to invest in cotton production. These factors are common in Africa. Zambia is striving to lower the cost of production by improving soil fertility, by encouraging the use of IPM, through the promotion of low cost agricultural products, the promotion of labor saving farm machinery, the use of herbicides instead of manual labor, and through better harvest management.
1.5. Pakistan is focused on lowering production costs by optimizing input use and farming operations. Cotton growers in Pakistan generally have a sound understanding of cotton production technology, but yields are limited due to the cotton leaf curl virus and mealy bug. Researchers have contained both problems while limiting increases in the cost of production. Farmers in Pakistan enhance nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency by 15% by splitting nitrogen applications in consonance with crop growth. Foliar applications of urea at the rate of 2% saves from having to apply much higher doses of urea through soil applications. Pakistan is quickly shifting from flat planting toward planting on furrow-beds to save irrigation water. Pakistan adopted thresholds for the application of insecticides decades ago. However, frequent increases in energy costs are affecting the cost of production.

2. The ICAC supports four regional networks, and also cooperates with the African Cotton Association, in order to facilitate communication among cotton researchers. Since the 68th Plenary Meeting held in South Africa in September 2009, the 11th Meeting of the Latin American Association for Cotton Research and Development (ALIDA) was held in Argentina in June 2010. 140 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Paraguay attended the meeting, along with the ICAC Secretariat and invited speakers from Australia and the USA. Countries presented reports on production prospects and the status of breeding and biotechnology research in their countries. Mr. Bonacic Ivan Kresic of Argentina was elected President of ALIDA. Paraguay agreed to host the next meeting of ALIDA in 2012.

3. Lowering the cost of cotton production is a complex challenge, and there is no easy solution appropriate for all cotton production systems. Labor costs are increasing even in developing countries. Mechanization and herbicide use are solutions that could be encouraged by governments in collaboration with the private sector and cotton producers. Biotech cotton can help to lower the cost of production in some cases, but it is not appropriate in all cotton production systems. Efficient input use and proper management of cropping systems must not be ignored in any cotton production system for lowering the cost of cotton production.

4. Biotech cotton is grown on over half of world cotton area, but only 11 countries have commercialized biotech cotton so far, although many more are considering adoption. Some member countries expressed the need to exchange information about biotechnology, and therefore it was decided to organize a round table for biotechnology in cotton, in which all member countries may participate.

5. The Committee on Cotton Production Research of the ICAC decided to hold the 2011 Technical Seminar on the topic “Technological Innovations for Sustainable Development of the Cotton Value Chain.”

国际棉花咨询委员会：棉花生产研究报告
2010年9月21日至25日，国际棉花咨询委员会（ICAC）在美国得克萨斯州卢博克市举行了会面。这是委员会成立七十一年以来的第69次全体会议，近400人出席了会议，其中包括来自39个国家政府和9个国际组织的代表。该委员会对其最新成员莫桑比克政府的加入表示了欢迎。这次全体会议的主题重点放在统一上，恰当地总结了需要在棉花价值链上确保所有相关者的共同利益，包括农民，轧棉工人，贸易商，纺织厂和消费者的利益。

1．本次大会的委员们对“如何降低棉花生产成本”这一话题举办了专题技术研讨会。参与这一主题报告的专家有来自资金密集及农业系统发达的巴西，土耳其，美国，也有小农生产型的赞比亚，深受害虫压力所扰的巴基斯坦。尽管实现产量大增很有可能，但棉花生产成本上升是所有棉花生产者主要关心的问题。
1.1在土耳其有四个棉花种植区，各区域种植成本差异显著。由于土地，劳动力，燃料和其它投入成本太高，土耳其的平均生产成本过高。
1.2美国的棉花生产利用了高科技农业系统，因此有不同的方法来降低成本。在现有技术中有一个自动驾驶仪，使用全球定位系统，它会按照事先确定好的路线引导一台机器通过田地。自动驾驶仪，可携带一个喷雾器，收割设备使用，或只在培育时间使用。该系统使操作人员更加富有成效地工作。自动播种和收割控制都使用全球定位系统，节省了投入的成本，避免了喷洒杀虫剂和除草剂等化学物质的重复使用。有了这些系统，如果一个区域或行已经喷过，喷嘴会自动停止，如果一个区域或行没有喷过，喷嘴会自动打开。把农场划分为几个管理区域，在提高产量的同时，还可以帮助种植者节省成本。
1.3巴西有2.15亿公顷适用于耕种的土地，其中70％适用于农业，养牛，牧场和开发可再生能源。棉花种植占地约一百万公顷，大部分在该国中西部地区。巴西农民拥有世界上最高级的农业包装再循环和正确处理的水平。员工们拥有统一住房，受过事故预防和安全生产的培训，而且是在职培训。巴西正努力通过合理使用生物技术和其他投入，来降低生产成本，并以尽量减少对环境的影响作为棉花生产的最终目标。
1.4赞比亚棉花生产成本高根源于其落后的农村基础设施，投入高，机械化少，投入成本的低利用及棉花生产缺少投资动机。在非洲这些因素十分常见。通过提高土壤肥力，鼓励使用IPM（害虫综合治理），宣传低成本的农业产品及节省劳动力成本的农业机械化运作，用除草剂代替手工劳动，优化农作物收获管理系统，赞比亚正在努力降低生产成本。
1.5巴基斯坦关注的重点是通过优化投入成本和农业经营管理来降低生产成本。巴基斯坦棉花种植者对棉花生产技术有普遍而充分的理解，但由于棉花曲叶病毒和粉状病毒，产量有限。在限制生产成本增加的同时，研究人员考虑到了这两个问题。通过使氮分解的速度与作物生长的速度相匹配，巴基斯坦农民使氮肥料的利用率增加了15％。叶面喷施2％比率的尿素，而在土壤中尿素的用剂量要高得多。巴基斯坦正迅速由平地种植转向沟床种植以节约灌溉用水。尽管巴基斯坦开始对几十年前的杀虫剂进行申请。然而，能源成本不断增加还是影响了生产成本。

2.国际棉花咨询委员会支持四个区域网络，并与非洲棉花协会合作，以促进棉花研究人员之间的沟通交流。自第68次全体会议于2009年9月在南非举行，第11次拉丁美洲棉花研究与发展协会（ALLDA）会议于2010年6月在阿根廷举行， 140名来自阿根廷，巴西，哥伦比亚和巴拉圭的代表出席了会议，与会的还有ICAC秘书处以及来自澳大利亚和美国的特邀发言人。这些国家提交了其所在国棉花的生产前景，育种情况和生物技术研究的报告。阿根廷的Bonacic Ivan Kresic先生当选为ALLDA主席。巴拉圭同意主办2012年的ALLDA会议。

3.降低棉花生产成本是一个复杂的挑战，而且没有一个简单的方法能恰当的解决所有棉花生产系统的问题。即使在发展中国家劳动力成本也在不断增加。通过与私人棉花生产者合作，各国政府鼓励使用机械化和除草剂。在某些情况下，棉花生物技术可以帮助降低生产成本，但它并非在所有的棉花生产系统中凑效。在任何棉花生产系统中要降低棉花生产成本，都不能忽视有效的投入利用及对采摘系统进行合理的管理。

4.在全球棉花种植面积一半以上，棉花生物技术已经成熟。目前为止，虽然有很多国家正在考虑采用棉花生物技术，但只有11个国家对其实行了商业化。一些成员国表示希望可以交换有关生物技术的信息，因此是时候来组织一次所有成员国都可以参加的关于棉花生物技术的圆桌会议。

5.国际棉花咨询委员会中负责棉花生产研究的全体委员们决定就主题《科技创新--棉花价值链的可持续发展》于2011年进行专题技术研讨会。