Training a large contingent of full-time agricultural workers to solve the problem of no one to take over farming
Author: Bi Xiaozhe Normally, young people are basically nowhere to be seen in the village. Chen Maosheng, a professional grain-farming farmer in Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province, said with no small worry that he is already 55 years old, and that it has become a common phenomenon for middle-aged and elderly people to farm. For now, at least, someone is still farming the land, but
Author: Bi Xiaozhe
“Normally, young people are basically nowhere to be seen in the village.” Chen Maosheng, a professional grain-farming farmer in Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province, said with no small worry that he is already 55 years old, and that it has become a common phenomenon for middle-aged and elderly people to farm. For now, at least, someone is still farming the land, but in another decade or so, when people like us grow old and can no longer farm, who will farm the land will truly become a problem. (Economic Information Daily, November 5)
According to media surveys, the phenomenon of “no one to take over farming” faced by contracted households in rural villages across the country is related to factors such as non-standard land transfers, weak infrastructure, difficulty obtaining loans, and an unsound insurance system, and is in fact also related to the enormous “absorption” of rural population during the rapid development of cities. The vast majority of young people would rather live in cities with developed conditions and a superior life; going to the countryside to “suffer hardship” is psychologically “resisted” by some young people. Therefore, the confusion of a lack of successors in farming, where “those born in the 1970s are unwilling, those born in the 1980s do not know how, and those born in the 1990s do not even discuss it,” is inevitable. To solve this difficult problem and crux, from the standpoint of common sense and ordinary reasoning, it is enough to have sufficient “agricultural migrant workers” - even if these people do not hold rural household registration, it is enough that a mobile group of “full-time” “agricultural migrant workers” serving the vast number of contracted households widely exists in society.
This model has long had “embryonic” forms and practical applications in some places for many years. Some places in Fujian Province are famous domestic tea-producing areas, where contracted tea gardens range from more than 100 mu for small households to over 1,000 mu for larger ones. A family alone cannot bear the heavy work of maintenance and picking. Therefore, every year during the tea-picking season, workers from neighboring provinces come to Fujian one after another to help tea farmers complete their work tasks, and after earning a certain income they move on their own to the next “contracted plot.” Take another example: the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, rich in cotton. Every year during the cotton harvest season, large numbers of agricultural workers from Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and other places surge in like a tide, reaching more than 1 million people, becoming the most typical group of out-of-town “cotton pickers.” The phenomenon of “recruiting” agricultural workers from other places during busy farming seasons, which appears in large numbers in some places and provinces, shows that under the new era and new agricultural production background, it is no longer realistic to solve the problem of “large-scale agricultural production” relying only on one household or one locality. What is needed is “cross-provincial” and cross-regional workers' help. This is an inevitability of the times and also what the rural contracting market requires.
When a “labor shortage” appears in a certain field, in a country like China that currently has relatively abundant labor resources, a “labor shortage” can only be relative. If it can adapt to market needs and make the market sufficiently attractive, there is no worry about being unable to recruit people. In the course of China's rapid urban development, hundreds of millions of migrant workers have emerged. The root cause lies in the rapid development of urban construction, urban infrastructure, and the prosperity of urban real estate, which brought about this enormous market demand for labor. Under sound market development, it has also satisfied, to the greatest possible extent, workers' “income issues” and needs such as the realization of personal value. The vast rural areas of China likewise have enormous market momentum in the future demand for agricultural workers. The key is that the current market vitality has not been fully stimulated, and the “specialized and full-time” agricultural workers serving this enormous market are still far from sufficient. Relatively professionalized types such as the “tea pickers” and “cotton pickers” in Fujian and Xinjiang are still limited to certain parts of the country and certain areas of agricultural work. If we broaden our vision, and every province across the country can have a relatively stable group of such “professional and full-time” farming personnel - tens of thousands of them - supporting modern agriculture and modern intensive agricultural production, will future agricultural planting personnel still be so “scarce”?
To solve the “bottleneck” of scarce future agricultural development workers in China, on the one hand we must rely on the “market.” The vast number of contracted households must be psychologically prepared to accept market challenges, truly raise profits and reduce costs through large-scale, technological and intensive operations, lower the possible proportion of “labor costs,” and attract people with generous wages. This is the path that rural agriculture must take in the future. On the other hand, we must rely even more on the “mayor.” The government must take the lead. In the new development period, when agriculture has not yet become large and strong, the government should vigorously assist and support it, not only providing conditions in policy for cultivating future modern farmers, but also giving strong support in fiscal and financial terms. In particular, it should take as soon as possible the training and cultivation of a mobile, professional agricultural workforce as a plan and goal. For these floating population groups that in fact already exist and have already begun to engage in this “profession,” while giving them convenience in “cross-provincial” and cross-regional transportation and travel, every effort should be made to provide them with convenience in food, lodging and travel away from home, and a scientific wage-income protection mechanism should be established so that they are “willing to engage in this profession.”
At the same time, as local administrative heads, the “mayors and county heads” must vigorously implement and enforce the policy of rural contracted land transfer, increase investment in rural infrastructure, and help rural contracted households “increase income and reduce expenditure,” so that they have more capital to improve and cultivate “professional agricultural workers.” It is also necessary to provide more social security for agricultural workers, so that they live better and live with the same “dignity” as urban residents. Recently, the central government deliberated and passed the “Opinions on Guiding the Orderly Transfer of Rural Land Management Rights and Developing Moderately Large-Scale Agricultural Operations.” This is a programmatic document for deepening rural land system reform in China at the current stage. It is of great significance for solving the “three rural issues” well and blazing a path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, and it truly “reduces the burden” for rural land and rural workers at the central policy level. The “spring” of rural land production and operation will surely arrive. Making the vast rural areas a “base” for young people to realize their dreams, a platform for stimulating social vitality and creating enormous social value, and cultivating across the country millions of professional “harvesters,” “tea pickers” and other outbound agricultural work forces, and fundamentally solving the labor shortage in rural agricultural production - in my view, this can be expected in time. (Bi Xiaozhe)
“Normally, young people are basically nowhere to be seen in the village.” Chen Maosheng, a professional grain-farming farmer in Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province, said with no small worry that he is already 55 years old, and that it has become a common phenomenon for middle-aged and elderly people to farm. For now, at least, someone is still farming the land, but in another decade or so, when people like us grow old and can no longer farm, who will farm the land will truly become a problem. (Economic Information Daily, November 5)
According to media surveys, the phenomenon of “no one to take over farming” faced by contracted households in rural villages across the country is related to factors such as non-standard land transfers, weak infrastructure, difficulty obtaining loans, and an unsound insurance system, and is in fact also related to the enormous “absorption” of rural population during the rapid development of cities. The vast majority of young people would rather live in cities with developed conditions and a superior life; going to the countryside to “suffer hardship” is psychologically “resisted” by some young people. Therefore, the confusion of a lack of successors in farming, where “those born in the 1970s are unwilling, those born in the 1980s do not know how, and those born in the 1990s do not even discuss it,” is inevitable. To solve this difficult problem and crux, from the standpoint of common sense and ordinary reasoning, it is enough to have sufficient “agricultural migrant workers” - even if these people do not hold rural household registration, it is enough that a mobile group of “full-time” “agricultural migrant workers” serving the vast number of contracted households widely exists in society.
This model has long had “embryonic” forms and practical applications in some places for many years. Some places in Fujian Province are famous domestic tea-producing areas, where contracted tea gardens range from more than 100 mu for small households to over 1,000 mu for larger ones. A family alone cannot bear the heavy work of maintenance and picking. Therefore, every year during the tea-picking season, workers from neighboring provinces come to Fujian one after another to help tea farmers complete their work tasks, and after earning a certain income they move on their own to the next “contracted plot.” Take another example: the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, rich in cotton. Every year during the cotton harvest season, large numbers of agricultural workers from Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and other places surge in like a tide, reaching more than 1 million people, becoming the most typical group of out-of-town “cotton pickers.” The phenomenon of “recruiting” agricultural workers from other places during busy farming seasons, which appears in large numbers in some places and provinces, shows that under the new era and new agricultural production background, it is no longer realistic to solve the problem of “large-scale agricultural production” relying only on one household or one locality. What is needed is “cross-provincial” and cross-regional workers' help. This is an inevitability of the times and also what the rural contracting market requires.
When a “labor shortage” appears in a certain field, in a country like China that currently has relatively abundant labor resources, a “labor shortage” can only be relative. If it can adapt to market needs and make the market sufficiently attractive, there is no worry about being unable to recruit people. In the course of China's rapid urban development, hundreds of millions of migrant workers have emerged. The root cause lies in the rapid development of urban construction, urban infrastructure, and the prosperity of urban real estate, which brought about this enormous market demand for labor. Under sound market development, it has also satisfied, to the greatest possible extent, workers' “income issues” and needs such as the realization of personal value. The vast rural areas of China likewise have enormous market momentum in the future demand for agricultural workers. The key is that the current market vitality has not been fully stimulated, and the “specialized and full-time” agricultural workers serving this enormous market are still far from sufficient. Relatively professionalized types such as the “tea pickers” and “cotton pickers” in Fujian and Xinjiang are still limited to certain parts of the country and certain areas of agricultural work. If we broaden our vision, and every province across the country can have a relatively stable group of such “professional and full-time” farming personnel - tens of thousands of them - supporting modern agriculture and modern intensive agricultural production, will future agricultural planting personnel still be so “scarce”?
To solve the “bottleneck” of scarce future agricultural development workers in China, on the one hand we must rely on the “market.” The vast number of contracted households must be psychologically prepared to accept market challenges, truly raise profits and reduce costs through large-scale, technological and intensive operations, lower the possible proportion of “labor costs,” and attract people with generous wages. This is the path that rural agriculture must take in the future. On the other hand, we must rely even more on the “mayor.” The government must take the lead. In the new development period, when agriculture has not yet become large and strong, the government should vigorously assist and support it, not only providing conditions in policy for cultivating future modern farmers, but also giving strong support in fiscal and financial terms. In particular, it should take as soon as possible the training and cultivation of a mobile, professional agricultural workforce as a plan and goal. For these floating population groups that in fact already exist and have already begun to engage in this “profession,” while giving them convenience in “cross-provincial” and cross-regional transportation and travel, every effort should be made to provide them with convenience in food, lodging and travel away from home, and a scientific wage-income protection mechanism should be established so that they are “willing to engage in this profession.”
At the same time, as local administrative heads, the “mayors and county heads” must vigorously implement and enforce the policy of rural contracted land transfer, increase investment in rural infrastructure, and help rural contracted households “increase income and reduce expenditure,” so that they have more capital to improve and cultivate “professional agricultural workers.” It is also necessary to provide more social security for agricultural workers, so that they live better and live with the same “dignity” as urban residents. Recently, the central government deliberated and passed the “Opinions on Guiding the Orderly Transfer of Rural Land Management Rights and Developing Moderately Large-Scale Agricultural Operations.” This is a programmatic document for deepening rural land system reform in China at the current stage. It is of great significance for solving the “three rural issues” well and blazing a path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, and it truly “reduces the burden” for rural land and rural workers at the central policy level. The “spring” of rural land production and operation will surely arrive. Making the vast rural areas a “base” for young people to realize their dreams, a platform for stimulating social vitality and creating enormous social value, and cultivating across the country millions of professional “harvesters,” “tea pickers” and other outbound agricultural work forces, and fundamentally solving the labor shortage in rural agricultural production - in my view, this can be expected in time. (Bi Xiaozhe)