3.3. Returns and costs analysis
3.3.1. Capital requirements and costs
Costs varied among different types of farms in the 2 provinces; for example, total fixed costs ranged from 4.6% to 10.1%, and total variable costs ranged from 90.2% to 95.3% (Table 7). Extreme values of the cost components were found in category II farms in Guangdong and category III farms in Zhejiang. Farmers in Guangdong invested less short-term capital than those in Zhejiang while, in contrast, the amount of medium- and long-term capital invested in Guangdong was higher than in Zhejiang.