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China Agriculture
In the late 1980s, China remained a predominantly agricultural
country. As of 1985 about 63 percent of the population lived in
rural areas, and nearly 63 percent of the national labor force was
engaged in agriculture
(see Migration;
Labor Force
, ch. 2). Modern
technology had spread slowly in the vast farm areas, and the
availability of modern supplies was less than adequate, causing
growth in agricultural output to lag behind production increases in
the rest of the economy. The proportion of GNP produced by
agriculture declined from over 43 percent in the early 1950s to
about 29 percent in 1985. The low agricultural growth rate as
compared with other sectors of the economy reflected the fact that
the average farmer had far less machinery and electric power and
fewer other modern production aids to work with than the average
worker in industry. Under the
responsibility system (see Glossary),
farm households and collective organizations purchased large
amounts of new machinery, particularly small tractors and trucks.
The horsepower of agricultural machinery per farmer increased by
almost 30 percent between 1979 and 1985 but still came to less than
1 horsepower per person.
Before the early 1980s, most of the agricultural sector was
organized according to the three-tier commune system
(see Rural Society
, ch. 3;
Agricultural Policies
, ch. 6). There were over
50,000 people's communes, most containing around 30,000 members.
Each commune was made up of about sixteen production brigades, and
each production brigade was composed of around seven production
teams. The production teams were the basic agricultural collective
units. They corresponded to small villages and typically included
about 30 households and 100 to 250 members. The communes, brigades,
and teams owned all major rural productive assets and provided
nearly all administrative, social, and commercial services in the
countryside. The largest part of farm family incomes consisted of
shares of net team income, distributed to members according to the
amount of work each had contributed to the collective effort. Farm
families also worked small private plots and were free to sell or
consume their products.
By the end of 1984, approximately 98 percent of the old
production teams had adopted the contract responsibility system,
and all but 249 communes had been dissolved, their governmental
functions passed on to 91,000 township and town governments.
Production team organizations were replaced by 940,000 village
committees. Under the responsibility system, farm families no
longer devoted most of their efforts to collective production but
instead generally signed contracts with the village or town to
cultivate a given crop on a particular piece of land. After harvest
a certain amount of the crop had to be sold to the unit at a
predetermined price, and any output beyond that amount was the
property of the family, either to be sold in the market or to be
consumed. Beyond the amount contracted for delivery to the
collective, farmers were allowed to determine for themselves what
and how to produce.
Market activity played a central role in the rural economy of
the 1980s. Farmers sold a growing share of their produce in rural
or urban free markets and purchased many of the inputs that had
formerly been supplied by the team or brigade. A prominent new
institution that thrived in the market environment was the
"specialized household." Specialized households operated in the
classic pattern of the entrepreneur, buying or renting equipment to
produce a good or service that was in short supply locally. Some of
the most common specialties were trucking, chicken raising, pig
raising, and technical agricultural services, such as irrigation
and pest control. Many of the specialized households became quite
wealthy relative to the average farmer.
The new economic climate and the relaxation of restrictions on
the movements of rural residents gave rise to numerous
opportunities for profit-making ventures in the countryside. Towns,
villages, and groups of households referred to as "rural economic
unions" established small factories, processing operations,
construction teams, catering services, and other kinds of
nonagricultural concerns. Many of these organizations had links
with urban enterprises that found the services of these rural units
to be less expensive and more efficient than those of their formal
urban counterparts.
The growth of these nonagricultural enterprises in the
countryside created a large number of new jobs, making it possible
for many workers who were no longer needed in agriculture to "leave
the land but stay in the country," significantly changing the
structure of the rural economy and increasing rural incomes. In
1986 nonagricultural enterprises in the countryside employed 21
percent of the rural labor force and for the first time produced
over half the value of rural output.
Although the chief characteristic of the new rural system was
household farming for profit, collective organizations still played
a major role. Agricultural land still was owned by township or town
governments, which determined the crops farmers contracted to grow
and the financial terms of the contracts. Many township, town, and
village governments also engaged in major entrepreneurial
undertakings, establishing factories, processing mills, brick
works, and other large-scale enterprises. Finally, the maintenance
and operation of public works, such as irrigation systems, power
plants, schools, and clinics, generally still was regarded as the
responsibility of the collective administrations.
Four percent of the nation's farmland was cultivated by state
farms, which employed 4.9 million people in 1985. State farms were
owned and operated by the government much in the same way as an
industrial enterprise. Management was the responsibility of a
director, and workers were paid set wages, although some elements
of the responsibility system were introduced in the mid-1980s.
State farms were scattered throughout China, but the largest
numbers were located in frontier or remote areas, including
Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwest, Nei Monggol
Autonomous Region, the three northeastern provinces of
Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning and the southeastern provinces of
Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi.
Data as of July 1987
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