Three issues facing migrant workers starting businesses urgently need to be resolved

Zhan Huilong, deputy director of the Rural Social Undertakings Development Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, said at a recent press conference for the "2016 First China High-Level Forum on Migrant Workers Returning Home to Start Businesses and Innovate for Development" that as of the end of 2015, the number of migrant workers returning home to start businesses nationwide had exceeded 4.5 million, accounting for more than 2% of migrant workers who go out to work, and a new upsurge in migrant workers starting businesses is taking shape. At the same time, difficulty in obtaining land, difficulty in financing, and talent shortages have become the main problems encountered by migrant workers in the process of starting businesses.

Zhan Huilong said that with the implementation and advancement of the national strategy of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, migrant workers returning home to start businesses in various places are developing vigorously, showing three new changes:

First, the number of people starting businesses is increasing, and a new upsurge in entrepreneurship is taking shape. In recent years, the number of migrant workers returning to their hometowns to start businesses has remained at around double-digit growth. According to survey statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, as of the end of 2015, the number of migrant workers returning home to start businesses nationwide had exceeded 4.5 million, accounting for more than 2% of migrant workers who go out to work.

Second, the fields of entrepreneurship are becoming broader, and cross-industry entrepreneurship has increased noticeably. The fields in which migrant workers return home to start businesses are no longer limited to the traditional farming and breeding industries of the past, but now cover specialty farming and breeding, agricultural product processing, specialty tourism, e-commerce, development of specialty agricultural products, and so on, involving the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas and showing a new trend of multi-industry interaction and integrated development.

Third, the starting point for entrepreneurship is getting higher, and the quality of factor input has improved markedly. In the past, migrant workers returning home to start businesses were mostly engaged in ordinary farming and breeding; now, with higher quality and stronger skills, more are starting businesses in groups, management models are constantly being updated, new technologies and new models are widely adopted, and they are broadly entering new business forms.

Zhan Huilong pointed out that migrant workers returning home to start businesses are an important link and source of potential in China's overall strategy of mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Modern farmers with relatively high cultural and technical levels and relatively strong modern business concepts are a vital force for rural economic development, an important support for optimizing and upgrading the rural industrial structure, and innovative actors in the development of new urbanization and agricultural modernization.

However, as migrant workers return home to start businesses in increasing depth, they also encounter many difficulties, which can be summarized in three aspects.

First, difficulty in obtaining land is more obvious than in other industries. Because most migrant workers returning home to start businesses are based in agriculture-related industrial fields, the intensity of their entrepreneurial investment is generally relatively low, and the fiscal revenue and tax revenue they create are generally relatively small, so local authorities are generally unwilling to provide land use quotas. At the same time, many entrepreneurial projects are carried out under the existing conditions of land management rights, and because there is no clear expectation, there are certain concerns about investment in infrastructure construction, soil fertility improvement, and industrial development.

Second, difficulty in financing is more prominent than for other entities. In urban entrepreneurship, once land is obtained it can be used as collateral for entrepreneurship, but although returning-home entrepreneurs invest heavily, it is difficult for them to obtain mortgage loans. According to a sample survey, 69% of migrant workers' entrepreneurial funds come from family and relatives and friends, 20% from personal savings from work, and only 11% from loans and other sources.

Third, talent shortages are more serious than in other fields. The main battlefield for migrant workers returning home to start businesses is in rural areas. Because of low incomes, poor conditions, backward infrastructure, and incomplete service conditions, these areas lack sufficient appeal for all kinds of talent. Many entrepreneurs report that to succeed they cannot fight alone and need to work in groups, but in their hometowns there is often a lack of business management talent. They want to hire management and technical personnel to form entrepreneurial teams, but because of the various conditions and restrictions mentioned above, there are enormous difficulties.

It is reported that the "2016 First China High-Level Forum on Migrant Workers Returning Home to Start Businesses and Innovate for Development," hosted by the China Rural Labor Resources Development Research Association of the Development Research Center of the State Council, the Rural Social Undertakings Development Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, the CPC Zunyi Municipal Committee, and the Zunyi Municipal People's Government, will be held in Zunyi City in September this year.