Modern Agriculture and Food Security: Liu Maosong on the Industrialization Era
China's agriculture and food security issues are all agricultural problems and food security problems that have emerged in the course of industrialization. To solve these problems - talking about agriculture from the perspective of agriculture alone, talking about food from the perspective of food alone, talking about food security from the perspective of farmers alone, and talking about food security from the perspective of the agricultural authorities alone - will ultimately fail to solve them. Therefore, in an industrialized society, the problems of agriculture, the problems of farmers, including the food security problem, are social problems, and solving them must be approached from the level of society as a whole.
I. The basic characteristic of agriculture in an industrialized society is one decline and one increase
The “one decline” refers to the decline in the proportion of wealth provided by agriculture within total social wealth. For example, in 1979 the added value of agriculture in our country accounted for 31% of the added value of society as a whole, while last year it was 10.1%. The relative proportion has declined, and agriculture's ability to command total social wealth has dropped substantially. This is the “one decline,” and it has emerged in the course of industrialization. The so-called “one increase” is what Researcher Du Zhixiong, deputy director of the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, just spoke about: because income levels of urban and rural residents rise in an industrialized society, people do not merely solve the problem of food and clothing; they also demand diversified consumption, including leisure consumption and development consumption, and so on. Therefore, the demand for products provided by agriculture is no longer limited to grain. Besides eating, there is also leisure agriculture, cultural agriculture, ecological agriculture, and so on. The field of agriculture has greatly expanded, and agriculture's industrial chain has widened and lengthened. This “one decline” and “one increase” are complementary. In the “one decline,” labor must be transferred out - transferred to where? Of course, to urban industry, but there is something even more important: local transfer, that is, absorbing the labor transferred out of traditional agriculture through multifunctional agriculture. This is a very important supplement.
II. Accelerate the industrialization of agriculture
At present, the employment volume of farmers still remains at a very high proportion. For example, in 2012, our country's agricultural labor force still numbered 300 million. Of course, there are relatively many specialized laborers. These 300 million accounted for 39% of the labor force of society as a whole, yet the agricultural added value they provided accounted for only 10%. So this is a contradiction. To resolve this contradiction, we must do everything possible to raise agricultural labor productivity. How do we raise agricultural labor productivity? The small-peasant economy has no way out. We must use the mode of large-scale industrial production to transform the traditional small-peasant economy and advance the industrialization of agriculture. The so-called industrialization of agriculture: first, the industrialization of the agricultural production process, advancing the scaling-up, standardization, specialization, mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization of agriculture. Second, the industrialization of agricultural production results. Agricultural and sideline products must undergo industrial reprocessing. In developed countries today, the proportion of agricultural products that undergo industrial reprocessing already exceeds 70%, while ours is still only about 30%. The level is too low. Yet the industrial processing of agricultural products extends agriculture's chain, promotes farmers' employment, raises farmers' income, and increases local tax revenue. A single corn plant has produced more than 1,000 kinds of industrial corn products; Shuanghui Group's processing of 15 million pigs can provide 50 billion yuan in output value and more than 100 varieties. So the processing of agricultural products is extremely important. Third, the modernization of the agricultural industry's operation and management process.
As for the industrialization of agriculture, in terms of its fields: first, specialized base agriculture. Agriculture must advance the division of labor in the industrial chain and must advance the construction of base agriculture. Second, standardized brand agriculture. Standardization must be advanced in order to ensure food safety, to reduce heavy metal pollution of soil and pollution of agricultural products, and to create agriculture's economic value and form agricultural brands. Third, factory-style manufactured agriculture, that is, deep processing of agricultural products. These few fields constitute the industrialization of agriculture.
III. Do a good job in several links in transforming traditional agriculture
Transforming traditional agriculture should focus on several links: First, superior seeds and superior varieties. Seed is the key issue. Now, to advance large-scale industrialized agriculture, we face constraints from seeds. For example, why can't Hunan's pig processing get off the ground? I have conducted a lot of investigation and research. There are many, many reasons, and one of them is that the pig breed is not the best; Hunan's chili peppers have too much moisture, and industrial processing also has problems, requiring chili peppers to be brought in from Shaanxi for consumption. Therefore, the cultivation of seeds must be advanced according to the needs of the market and industrial processing. Second, distinctive characteristics. Because resource endowments differ from place to place, different regions and different counties and cities have their own kind of inhibition in agricultural development due to differences in resource endowments. So we should build distinctive agriculture and distinctive brands according to differences in resource endowments and differences in agricultural labor practices. Third, conversion through livestock raising. Conversion is very important: plant protein is converted into animal high protein, which can provide the high protein or healthy nutritional structure needed by a healthy human body. So at present, the proportion of our country's grain converted through animals is still only 30%, and already some people are shouting that this is terrible, that a food crisis has arrived, whereas developed countries have already exceeded 60%. Only when grain is converted through animals to form a kind of high protein, and then undergoes industrial processing, will its field be greatly expanded. So a single kernel of corn can form more than 1,000 kinds of industrial finished products.
IV. Strengthen innovation at the institutional level
We must allocate agricultural resources through the market, and the market must play a decisive role. In summary, innovation at the institutional level must do the following things well: First, land system reform. Large-scale land transfer is an objective law. Large-scale agriculture must transform the small-peasant economy's land contracting system. Farmers must be given property rights to land, able to mortgage and able to transfer, and in the process of mortgage and transfer, economies of scale can be formed, and farmers can also obtain property income. This is a major reform. Second, the drive of technological innovation. Today we have already entered an era of informatization and intelligentization, and agriculture must pursue intelligent agriculture. Third, organizational integration. Whether family farms, cooperatives, specialized large households, or agricultural enterprises, they should be chosen according to local conditions. As for family farms, should the emphasis be on the family, using the family to control the farm and constrain the farm, or should the emphasis be on the farm, transforming the family through the farm? So first we must be clear that the foothold of the family farm is the farm, that it is about advancing scaled-up operation and specialized production. Fourth, professional farmers. We must solve the problem of who will farm the land and who will engage in agriculture. Finally, public policy. Agricultural products, especially grain, must have the main responsibility borne by the state's public finances.
(The author is an expert of Hunan Province's major decision-making consulting think tank for offering strategies for tackling tough reforms, a member of Hunan Province's Academicians and Experts Advisory Committee, chairman of the Provincial Economics Society, and a professor; this article was compiled from the recording of the author's academic report at the Second Longping Forum.)