Opinion     

Crop farming still dependent on families

China.org.cn, February 6, 2013

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  "Agricultural scale: bigger not necessarily better”

  Question: The rural work conference of the CPC Central Committee stresses to respect the farmers' position on land circulation without coercion or limitations. What are the considerations in this?

  Chen Xiwen: The land circulation scale throughout the country last year was 260 million mu (about 17.33 million hectares), 20 percent of the total contracted land. Most farmers were voluntarily involved in such circulations. However, some forced circulations have occurred in some places. In order to achieve scale benefit, some localities do not limit big industrial and commercial entities in using large areas of contracted land (forest and grassland) for a long term. This has infringed on farmers' land rights, has turned crop fields into non-crop fields, and has affected farmers' livelihoods. In the long run, this will not only affect stable development of grain production, but also impact the stability of the basic business system in rural areas, thus causing unpredictable influences on the rural economic and social structure.

  Properly expanding the agricultural business scale will improve management efficiency. Yet, it may not be the case that bigger means better. Family farms, with limited investment, technological and production levels, face limitations in many aspects. But when the business scale becomes bigger than their management capability, there may be decrease in resource utilization, land productivity and economic efficiency.

  The second national agricultural census showed that there are 198 million agricultural business operators, 167million of which are pure farming households. If all of the farm lands are put under large-scale operation, where should the other farming families go?

  We stand for proper business scale, but we also support cooperative economic organizations centered around farmers. By means of this socialized service system, we can address problems that cannot be solved by one household or that are uneconomical for one household to resolve. So, we are reforming, rather than replacing the existing mainstream business model for agriculture.

  The story was first published in Chinese and translated by Li Bin.

  Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

   

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