Planning Chinese Agriculture

First Published in 1965. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Extract: China's agricultural economy, one of the world's largest, produces more grain and hogs than any other country. But, because of high domestic demand, China is also a major purchaser of grain, oilseeds, and fibers. The United States has become a major supplier of many of these commodities. Planners directly issue orders to control production in government-owned state farms. For collectively owned communes, the Government uses direct means such as procurement quotas and indirect techniques like credit control to manage production. China's recently reestablished statistical system is particularly weak in rural ares because of shortage of trained personnel. Census-type reporting is the main method employed to collect data.

FAO pub. Mission report on agricultural planning and agricultural policies in China - covers land utilization, irrigation, crop yield potential, agricultural mechanization, agricultural employment, grain imports, resource allocation, financing and income distribution; reports on agricultural price, agricultural taxes, consumption subsidies, agricultural credit, agricultural cooperatives, etc.; discusses agricultural education, agricultural training and agricultural research. Bibliography.

This book examines the agricultural policies and programs adopted by the Chinese leadership since 1949 and analyzes the role of agriculture in China's changing development strategies. Dr. Hsu gives particular attention to the measures intended to improve agricultural technology and to the sources of funds for agricultural investment. He concludes that, although the collective system has been effective in mobilizing China's rural resources for agricultural development and in promoting progress in labor-intensive agricultural technology, periodic extreme leftist policies and interference by rural party cadres have caused various kinds of inefficiency, offsetting the advantages gained from collective farming. This is the first book to systematically analyze the ways in which China's agricultural development is being financed. By critically examining the level and nature of state resources allocated to agriculture, the author challenges the view that China has pursued an agriculture-first strategy of economic development since the early 1960s.

1988 marked the end of an important chapter in China's agricultural development, following a series of reforms in the previous decade. This is the single most comprehensive summary of these developments. This volume surveys different aspects of reform, while assessing its historical significance. It examines planning, trends in production, livestock, consumption, incomes, technology, and policy.