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China Chapter 6. Agriculture
CHINA HAS THE WORLD'S LARGEST agricultural economy and one of
the most varied. The nation stands first among all others in the
production of rice, cotton, tobacco, and hogs and is a major
producer of wheat, corn, millet, tea, jute, and hemp. This wide
range of crops is possible because of the country's varied climate
and agricultural zones. China participates on a large scale in
international agricultural markets, both as an exporter and as an
importer.
For over 4,000 years, China has been a nation of farmers. By
the time the People's Republic of China was established in 1949,
virtually all arable land was under cultivation; irrigation and
drainage systems constructed centuries earlier and intensive
farming practices already produced relatively high yields. But
little prime virgin land was available to support population growth
and economic development. However, after a decline in production as
a result of the Great Leap Forward (1958-60), agricultural reforms
implemented in the 1980s increased yields and promised even greater
future production from existing cultivated land.
A successful agricultural sector is critical to China's
development. First, it must feed more than 1 billion people, about
21 percent of the world's population, using only 7 percent of the
world's arable land. Second, it must provide raw materials for the
industrial sector. Third, agricultural exports must earn the
foreign exchange needed to purchase key industrial items from other
countries.
Since 1949 China's political leaders have tried a variety of
large-scale social experiments to boost agricultural production.
First, a massive land reform program eliminated landlords and gave
land to those who farmed it. Next, farm families were progressively
organized into cooperatives, collectives, and finally people's
communes. After more than twenty-five years of experience with
communes, officials abolished these institutions, which had become
too bureaucratic and rigid to respond to the flexible requirements
of agricultural production. Also, farm production incentives
languished in the commune system. In 1978 China's leaders began a
program of far-reaching agricultural reforms. Townships and
villages were organized, and new incentives were incorporated into
contractual relationships tying farmers to economic cooperatives
and businesses.
Since the revolution in 1949, China has devoted most of its
investments and administrative energy to the industrial sector.
Generally, the agricultural sector received special attention only
when the leaders perceived that the sector was beginning to
restrain China's overall economic development. Agricultural output
basically kept pace with the growth of population but did not
expand fast enough to raise living standards. Per capita
consumption of grains, fibers, edible oil, sugar, fruits,
vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products remained low. The
value of goods generated by the agricultural sector has grown, but
not as fast as output generated by other sectors in the economy. In
1949 about half of the country's output came from the agricultural
sector. This ratio dropped to 41 percent by 1955, declined to 31
percent by 1965, and fell another few percentage points in 1975 to
25 percent. But agricultural reforms initiated in the early 1980s
brought a rise in agriculture to 33 percent of GNP in 1985. At the
same time, more than 60 percent of the national labor force was
employed in agriculture.
China in the late 1980s was thus poised to confront growing
demands for agricultural production with a combination of timetested farming methods and modern agro-technology. The size and
diversity of the country--in geography and in population--however,
presented a unique challenge to China's policy makers and
implementors.
Data as of July 1987
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