Management of Citrus Cultivation in Emerging Rural Communities in Mexico: Practices and Challenges in the Central-Northern Region of Veracruz
, Loecelia Ruvalcaba-Sánchez 3, Horacio Bautista-Santos 4,5, Fabiola Sánchez-Galván 5 and Yair Romero-Romero 6,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsCheck the attached document
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Moderate language editing required.
Author Response
Estimado árbitro,
Agradecemos su paciencia y todo el trabajo que ha dedicado a esta reseña. Realmente aprendemos mucho de sus recomendaciones.
Le adjuntamos nuestras respuestas a sus recomendaciones.
Gracias de nuevo por sus atentos comentarios.
Los autores
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis study collected 51 producers through a face-to-face survey using a 48-item questionnaire and Snowball sampling methodology to study citrus farming challenges and practices in this region. The findings of this study are substantial and relevant to citrus plantation management to improve the productivity and sustainability of these orchards in the region. The overall writing of the article is standardized, but some minor issues remain. Detailed recommendations are given below:
1. A plot scale should be added to Figure 1.
2. Did the area survey the proportion of citrus growers? Is it representative?
3. In the introduction, it is necessary to describe the various sampling methods and explain why they are used in this paper.
4. Table 1 is confusing, and an explanation should be added to make it easier for the reader to understand.
5. Please check the figures in Table 4.
6. Please check Table 5.
7. Table 9 is complicated and needs to be simplified for better understanding.
8. There are too many tables to optimize. Some of them can be changed to graphs or used as supplementary material and need not be included in the paper.
9. Table 7 shows the risks associated with the use of chemicals in the planting process. The authors should clearly explain how they obtained these data.
10. In the discussion section, the author should focus on the results of this study. And the discussion section should be written more intensively.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe overall writing is standardized.
Author Response
Dear Referee,
We appreciate your patience and all the work you put into this review. We really learn a lot from your recommendations.
Please find attached our responses to your recommendations.
Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.
The Authors
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1. In the study area, is there any data between 3-4 hectares in the orchard size statistics between 1-3 and 4-6 hectares? How was this data collected? There is a similar issue with the tree age statistics.
2. In Table 4a, are the percentage calculations for tree age correct? The percentage statistics in Table 4b are inconsistent with those in Table 4a.
3. What does the percentage in Table 5 represent?
4. What is the research objective of this article?
Author Response
Dear Referee,
We appreciate your patience and all the work you put into this review. We really learn a lot from your recommendations.
Please find attached our responses to your recommendations.
Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.
The Authors
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsManuscript ID: sustainability-3218088
Title: Management of citrus cultivation by small producers in Mexico: practices and challenges in the central-northern region of Veracruz
I have reviewed the revised version of the manuscript titled “Management of citrus cultivation by small producers in Mexico: practices and challenges in the central-northern region of Veracruz”. The authors have carried out a comprehensive review and have responded exhaustively to my earlier concerns. Specifically, they have:
v Worked on the introduction to clearly set out the background of the study.
v The benefit of citrus cultivation in the study area and what drives their demand is highlighted.
v Improved the clarity of the study objectives.
v The materials and methods section has been enhanced by showing how individual respondents were selected and the data collection process.
v Results are well presented, and table captions have been rewritten to improve clarity.
v The discussion is well presented, and authors have related their findings to other studies.
v Authors have linked farmer knowledge with scientific knowledge.
v Conclusions are supported the data.
v References are relevant and appropriate
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Proofreading should be done for minor grammatical and editorial errors.
