Group characteristics of tea growers relative to weed management: a case study in southwestern China

Abstract Farmer training is important to improve weed management practices in tea cultivation. To explore the group characteristics of tea growers, we interviewed 354 growers in Guizhou Province, China. Sixty-one percent of the respondents planted tea for companies or cooperative groups, and 56% managed tea gardens larger than 10 ha. Self-employed tea growers tended to be older and smallholders, and to apply herbicides and conduct weed control less frequently ( P < 0.05). Approximately 87% of the respondents conducted weed control two to four times yr −1 , 83% spent between $200 and $2,000 ha −1 yr −1 for weed control, and 42% thought weed control costs would decrease by 5 years from this study. Twenty-eight species were mentioned by the respondents as being the most serious. According to canonical correspondence analysis, latitude, altitude, being self-employed or a member of a cooperative, having training experience in tea-garden weed management, and frequency and cost of weed control in tea gardens had significant ( P < 0.05) influence on the composition of most troublesome weed species listed by respondents. Among the respondents, 60% had had farmer’s training on weed management in tea gardens. Of these, a significant number ( P < 0.05) tended to think weed control costs would decrease, and a nonsignificant number ( P > 0.05) tended to conduct weed control more frequently and have lower weed management costs in their tea gardens.