Study on the prevention of alternate bearing in Satsuma mandarins [Citrus unshiu]

The purpose of this study was to reveal the problems of alternate bearing in Satsuma mandarins from the farmer's point of view. To discover any established trends in farmers' needs and behavior for prevent alternate bearing, the authors carried out questionnaires to 2,392 people in 6 municipalities, Mikkabi (Shizuoka Pref.) , Kanaya (Wakayama Pref.) , Sakaide (Kagawa Pref.), Tobe (Ehime Pref.), Nakajima (Ehime Pref.), Tachibana (Yamaguchi Pref.). Some remarkable facts were discovered from the study and have been listed below. 1) Most of the farmers felt more necessary to prevent alternate bearing. They thought that alternate bearing was caused by a lack of cultivation management. Therefore, they tried to prevent alternate bearing, by pruning, fertilizing, and conventional fruit thinning. When they continue their techniques they have problems of labor shortage, increased difficulty in the techniques, and poor motivation from a decrease of gross profit. 2) In order to increase income, farmers introduced more variety in their citrus products and tried to decrease labor expenses. In addition, they will lower cost, improve quality production, and use the device of discount sales in the future. 3) The farmers think the reason for the unstable agricultural income was movement of yield, unit price, and shipping volume. The corrective measures they want to use are to produce higher sugar content and have a better ratio between sugar content and acidity. Finally, farmers hope for a stable product in both quantity and quality. However, there are many farmers choosing alternate bearing and conventional balance. 4) Farmers had several goals: sales goals, having a larger growing area, more days of citrus cultivation a year, higher sales, and higher unit price. When they decided upon a sales goal for a current year, they referenced the sales of the previous year. They have a stability-oriented goals and decide upon a goal medium unit price between high and low of average unit price of production area.