Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in China
China stands as the world’s largest producer of both conventional and organic tea. However, the economic and environmental performances of labor input intensity on tea cultivation processes remain understudied at present. For Chinese tea varieties, highly specific distribution of major producing reg...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| Online Access: | https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/ehs.0307 |
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| author | Panfeng Li Yuanran Xian Xinhui Huang Biao Wang Xiaolong Wang Yinan Xu Juping Yan Jixiao Cui Yuanquan Chen Wangsheng Gao |
| author_facet | Panfeng Li Yuanran Xian Xinhui Huang Biao Wang Xiaolong Wang Yinan Xu Juping Yan Jixiao Cui Yuanquan Chen Wangsheng Gao |
| author_sort | Panfeng Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | China stands as the world’s largest producer of both conventional and organic tea. However, the economic and environmental performances of labor input intensity on tea cultivation processes remain understudied at present. For Chinese tea varieties, highly specific distribution of major producing regions always led to variations of tea production under conventional management (CM) and organic management (OM) conditions. Therefore, this study focused on the production of Pu’er tea and thus chose the Yunnan province as the study region, which is the largest Pu’er tea-growing province in China. The study compared the economic and environmental performances between organic and conventional Pu’er tea plantations under different labor intensities by a joint analysis based on economic analysis, emergy evaluation, and environmental footprints. The findings revealed that compared with CM, OM reduced costs by 9.06% (P < 0.05) and enhanced the ratio of income to cost by 33.00% (P < 0.05). The emergy sustainability index (ESI) of OM was 33.58% (P < 0.05) higher than that of CM. The environmental footprint index (EFI) per unit area and per unit economic output for OM decreased by 17.31% (P < 0.05) and 37.77% (P < 0.05), respectively, compared to CM. The CM and OM had better economic and ecological benefits when the labor input intensity was 3 to 6 and 8 to 10 persons/hm2, respectively. This study provided a novel perspective on understanding the interaction between labor allocation and green income growth in tea production. The findings of this study offered solid scientific evidence and decision support for the green transformation of Chinese tea industry. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-066d193324ec4608be76cd340c202cc0 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2332-8878 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj-art-066d193324ec4608be76cd340c202cc02025-08-20T02:29:29ZengAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Ecosystem Health and Sustainability2332-88782025-01-011110.34133/ehs.0307Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in ChinaPanfeng Li0Yuanran Xian1Xinhui Huang2Biao Wang3Xiaolong Wang4Yinan Xu5Juping Yan6Jixiao Cui7Yuanquan Chen8Wangsheng Gao9College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China.College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.China stands as the world’s largest producer of both conventional and organic tea. However, the economic and environmental performances of labor input intensity on tea cultivation processes remain understudied at present. For Chinese tea varieties, highly specific distribution of major producing regions always led to variations of tea production under conventional management (CM) and organic management (OM) conditions. Therefore, this study focused on the production of Pu’er tea and thus chose the Yunnan province as the study region, which is the largest Pu’er tea-growing province in China. The study compared the economic and environmental performances between organic and conventional Pu’er tea plantations under different labor intensities by a joint analysis based on economic analysis, emergy evaluation, and environmental footprints. The findings revealed that compared with CM, OM reduced costs by 9.06% (P < 0.05) and enhanced the ratio of income to cost by 33.00% (P < 0.05). The emergy sustainability index (ESI) of OM was 33.58% (P < 0.05) higher than that of CM. The environmental footprint index (EFI) per unit area and per unit economic output for OM decreased by 17.31% (P < 0.05) and 37.77% (P < 0.05), respectively, compared to CM. The CM and OM had better economic and ecological benefits when the labor input intensity was 3 to 6 and 8 to 10 persons/hm2, respectively. This study provided a novel perspective on understanding the interaction between labor allocation and green income growth in tea production. The findings of this study offered solid scientific evidence and decision support for the green transformation of Chinese tea industry.https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/ehs.0307 |
| spellingShingle | Panfeng Li Yuanran Xian Xinhui Huang Biao Wang Xiaolong Wang Yinan Xu Juping Yan Jixiao Cui Yuanquan Chen Wangsheng Gao Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in China Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| title | Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in China |
| title_full | Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in China |
| title_fullStr | Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in China |
| title_short | Optimizing Labor Intensity Improves Economic and Environmental Performances in Pu’er Tea Plantations in China |
| title_sort | optimizing labor intensity improves economic and environmental performances in pu er tea plantations in china |
| url | https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/ehs.0307 |
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