How Can Agriculture in Mountainous Areas Develop? Lessons and Insights from Home and Abroad

China is a country of many mountains, with mountainous areas accounting for nearly 70% of the national land area. How exactly should agriculture in mountainous areas (especially poor inland regions) develop? Carefully studying and summarizing the successful experiences of agricultural development in mountainous areas at home and abroad, especially in areas surrounding China, is of positive significance for correctly grasping the trends and direction of future agricultural development in mountainous areas and promoting the healthy development of mountain agriculture.

1. Develop distinctive industries according to local conditions. Compared with plains areas that are flat and open and suitable for large-scale mechanical cultivation, mountainous areas are clearly at a disadvantage in developing bulk grain and oil crops, and their products lack market competitiveness. Therefore, under conditions of sufficient grain and oil supply and convenient market circulation, in some developed countries and regions, mountainous areas have successively reduced the planted area of bulk grain and oil crops such as corn, rice, wheat, and rapeseed, and, based on resource advantages, adjusted the industrial structure to develop distinctive industries such as fruit trees, tea, vegetables, flowers, and Chinese medicinal herbs according to local conditions. For example, Japan is a mountainous country, with mountains and hills accounting for basically 80% of its land area. In the past, Japan mainly grew rice, and its rice self-sufficiency rate once reached as high as 95%. However, as the world food supply situation fundamentally improved, Japan imported large quantities of grain from abroad and adjusted mountain farmland to grow more competitive and higher-benefit vegetables, fruits, flowers, and so on. South Korea in recent years has also gradually expanded grain imports and devoted itself in mountainous areas to developing advantageous agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, silkworms, and medicinal materials. Taiwan, China, is mainly mountainous, and the proportion of its bulk grain and oil area is even smaller, but its distinctive agricultural products such as tropical fruits and tea enjoy a worldwide reputation. It is precisely because some mountainous areas in China took the lead in basing themselves on resource advantages, adjusting the industrial structure, and developing distinctive industries that their agriculture maintained a leading position. Therefore, the development of mountain agriculture should adhere to adapting measures to local conditions, give play to its own advantages, adjust the industrial structure, seek to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses, and take a differentiated competition path different from that of plains areas.

2. Moderate-scale operations suited to different people. Mountain farmland is scattered and extremely irregular in distribution, and climate, soil, and environmental conditions vary greatly, making it difficult for large agricultural machinery to operate. Therefore, the relatively successful models of mountain agricultural development at home and abroad all adapt to local conditions and vary from person to person, taking the path of moderate-scale operations. For example, although Japan's industrial economy is very developed, mountain agriculture is still mainly small-scale family farming, with the average farmland area per farming household at around 20 mu. South Korea is also dominated by small-scale family farming, with the average farmland area per farming household also at around 20 mu. Because Taiwan, China, has many people and little land and scattered farmland, it has also taken the path of small family farms, with the average farmland area per farming household at only around 15 mu. Surveys show that in China's mountainous areas, relatively profitable growers or family farms generally cultivate 15-30 mu. To improve planting returns, farming households in mountainous areas must adhere to moderate-scale operations and continuously improve the quality of mountain agricultural operators, the degree of specialization in operations, and the level of business management, so as to truly improve the economic benefits of mountain agriculture.

⟦NL> 3. Pursue “refinement” to enhance competitiveness. Mountain agriculture cannot win in competition by “scale,” so some developed countries and regions have taken a different approach, choosing to focus on “refinement” and shifting from “seeking survival by quantity” to “seeking development by quality.” In Japan, strawberries of excellent varieties, through ecological planting and fine management, reach a selling price of 100 yuan (RMB) per jin; the net income per mu from planted apples reaches more than 25,000 yuan. At present, “refined agriculture” has gradually increased the market competitiveness of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, and flowers in Taiwan, China; the tomatoes grown by Taiwanese farmers have a net income per mu close to 20,000 yuan; the strawberries grown by Taiwanese farmers can reach 200,000 yuan per mu; and Taiwan's orchid cultivation has reached a world-leading level. In recent years, “refined agriculture” has not only received attention from some experts and scholars in China, but has also gradually gained recognition from some government officials and operators. Coastal areas such as Fujian, taking advantage of being relatively close to Taiwan and having convenient exchanges, have taken the lead in introducing, exploring, and implementing “refined agriculture,” focusing on developing high-quality fruits, vegetables, tea, flowers, and so on, and have already achieved good returns. In poor inland areas, there are also some agricultural enterprises with open minds and advanced ideas and educated young people returning home to start businesses, who fully leverage the resource and environmental advantages of mountainous areas and use platforms such as the Internet to actively explore the development of “refined agriculture,” gradually forging a new path to rural prosperity.

4. Focus on raising the degree of farmers' organization. Seeking ways to organize scattered farmers, raise the degree of farmers' organization, resolve the contradiction between “small production” and the “big market,” and improve the market competitiveness of agricultural products in mountainous areas is an important successful experience of mountain agricultural development at home and abroad. For example, Japan established the “Agricultural Cooperative Combination” (abbreviated as Nokyo), which provides participating farmers with all-round services covering production and daily life and even birth, aging, illness, and death; most of farmers' production loans, agricultural input procurement, and product sales are completed through Nokyo. South Korea's Nonghyup is a mutual-aid cooperative organization funded by farmers and representing farmers' interests, providing households that join the association with a series of services in production, distribution, processing, technology, credit, insurance, and so on. Farmers' cooperative organizations in Taiwan, China, mainly take three forms: farmers' associations, cooperatives, and production-marketing groups. With the help of these different forms of cooperative organizations, Taiwan agriculture has embarked on a path of small production, big market, and high efficiency suited to modern agricultural development. Further doing a good job in building farmers' cooperative organizations, improving cooperative organization management, and raising the degree of farmers' organization is even more urgent in mountainous areas, where production is highly scattered, far from consumer markets, and more in need of “cooperation.”

5. Establish a complete agricultural service system. At present, the agricultural socialized service systems of Japan and South Korea are both very complete and have played an important role in promoting the development of mountain agriculture. For example, Japan's agricultural service system, in addition to the farming guidance system led by Nokyo, also includes a government-led agricultural extension guidance system. This dual collaborative agricultural service system combining “official and private” elements provides an important guarantee for Japan's agriculture, based on “small farmers,” to integrate into the big market and enter modernization. South Korea has also established a relatively complete agricultural service system, with service system support before, during, and after production, which plays an important guaranteeing role in guiding farmers to produce agricultural products in accordance with standardized and internationalized requirements and in protecting the interests of producers and consumers. To achieve healthy and steady development of mountain agriculture in China, it is also necessary to increase investment, think harder, and make “real efforts” in establishing and improving the agricultural service system.