How Should China's Agricultural Modernization Path Proceed? Expert Interpretation
According to a report by Voice of the Economy's "CNR Finance Review," today is World Food Day. This year's World Food Day theme is “Family Farming: Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth”. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has always regarded “food for all” as its sacred mission. Yet surprisingly, even with the world economy developed to where it is today, this seemingly most basic goal has not only failed to be achieved, but has drifted further and further away. Factors such as the continuous growth of the global population, the year-by-year reduction of arable land, and unbalanced regional development have all made the world food production situation extremely severe.
On the eve of World Food Day, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization welcomed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Premier Li Keqiang, who was visiting Europe, said yesterday in a speech at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization that hunger and poverty remain a “silent crisis” and an “Achilles' heel” that deeply troubles all humanity. At present, more than 800 million poor people in the world still face the threat of insufficient food and malnutrition. He candidly acknowledged that feeding more than a billion people is China's biggest matter, and was once also the biggest challenge for economic development. He even recalled living in the countryside for many years when he was young and personally experiencing the years of “not having enough to eat”: “A full meal may soon be forgotten, but the impression left by hunger is unforgettable for a lifetime.”
Food is the first necessity of the people. Over more than 30 years of reform and opening up, through a series of reform measures including the implementation of the household contract management system, China's grain output grew from more than 300 million tons to more than 600 million tons, successfully solving the problem of food and clothing for the world's most populous country. Now, for China's agricultural production to reach a new level, it is necessary to take family management as the foundation, promote appropriately scaled management, and follow the path of agricultural modernization, so as to solve the major issue of “having enough to eat.”
China uses nearly 9% of the world's arable land to solve the food problem of nearly 20% of the world's population, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Tang Min, a special commentator for Voice of the Economy and a counselor of the State Council, said that China's grain output increase is one of the greatest achievements of the 30 years of reform and opening up. By contrast, many countries in the world are still trapped by food problems and have not escaped poverty.
Tang Min: According to the UN Millennium Development Goals, at present only China can achieve this goal, and it is about to achieve it very soon, while most other countries have not. The reasons are, first, China's rapid economic growth, and second, the government's long-standing special emphasis on poverty reduction work. These experiences can be shared with the whole world.
⟦NL> Now, China has established a complete agricultural science and technology extension system, and every year hundreds of thousands of agricultural machines migrate back and forth across China's land like migratory birds. Tang Min believes that despite this, China's agriculture must still be based on the family, while also requiring appropriate scale.
Tang Min: The agricultural model of East Asia is somewhat different from that of Europe and America. Because Europe and America have vast land and few people, and large-scale machinery industry developed early, while throughout East Asia's development process family farms have still been the mainstay. Of course, after reaching a certain stage of development, when there are very few farmers, a portion of large-scale agriculture, or large-scale commercial agriculture, is also needed. So far, in most East Asian countries, although they have already entered the ranks of developed countries, their agriculture is still mainly based on family farms. China's per capita GDP is 7,000 US dollars, and it has not yet entered the ranks of developed countries, so we all the more need this kind of agricultural development model of a certain scale. This model has certain benefits for poverty reduction and income distribution.
Hu Dinghuan, a special commentator for Voice of the Economy and a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, provides his interpretation.
Voice of the Economy: What is the relationship between taking the family as the foundation and promoting agricultural modernization? The Premier said that taking family management as the foundation, promoting appropriately scaled management, and developing modern agriculture is conducive to better “feeding China.” How should this sentence be understood?
Hu Dinghuan: This question is very well raised. Because our country's arable land is limited, feeding 1.3 billion people is not easy, and the key is how to improve the efficiency of land use. The current situation is that more and more farmers go to work in cities, and much arable land cannot be used effectively, so using family farms and specialized farmers to cultivate the land is very effective for increasing the output of grain, vegetables, and so on.
Voice of the Economy: China is promoting innovation in various forms of agricultural operation. On the basis of strictly protecting farmers' land rights and interests and respecting farmers' wishes, farmers with the conditions are encouraged to transfer land management rights, and farmers are encouraged to unite and cooperate. So in future innovation in operation methods, what is the most crucial thing we need to do?
Hu Dinghuan: The most crucial issue is the problem of making the agricultural labor force of family farms younger and more knowledgeable. Because more and more people are moving from rural areas to cities by attending university, working, and other means. As a result, those now employed in rural areas are mostly the elderly and women, with relatively low educational levels, which is not conducive to the development of modern agriculture. Therefore, our country should find ways to advocate, encourage, train, and support young aspiring people to go to rural areas to operate family farms.
Voice of the Economy: As we say, food is the first necessity of the people. Today is also World Food Day, and everyone is very concerned about the issue of food security, which is a major issue. So as a country, which aspects are most important for ensuring food security?
Hu Dinghuan: The first point in ensuring food security is the issue of the agricultural operation model, which is the issue of developing and expanding family farms as proposed by the Premier now. The second issue is still science and technology, that is, how to produce more grain and crops on land of the same area, which requires us to conduct a great deal of research. The third is the issue of environmental protection. Much of our current grain output is increased by adding pesticides and chemical fertilizers, which has a great impact on environmental pollution and food safety. So while improving agricultural productivity, we must also pay attention to the environment. We must leave a good environment for our descendants.