Cultivating prosperity

Specialized products and e-commerce are not possible for all farmers, especially in the grain growing areas of northern China. Huang, of Peking University, says that a survey of northern provinces showed only about 2 percent of farmers in those areas now creating this kind of business. So, government policy is encouraging the growth of larger, higher-tech "modern" agriculture while still protecting the interests of small farmers. Entrepreneurial opportunities in these areas focus on providing better logistics and services to farmers and building large professional farms.

In addition to encouraging the rise of modern farming, grain price controls will be loosened to prevent surplus supply of certain grains - corn is currently overproduced. But, some grain price supports will be kept to increase farmers' incomes and to ensure food security. A December meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee laid out plans for supply-side reform.

"China will rationalize the relationship between the government and the market. Efforts will also be made to promote reforms in pricing and reserves systems of major farm produce, rural property rights and financial innovation in rural areas," reported Xinhua.

China has set a red line that arable land should never sink below 120 million hectares. This year's No 1 Central document said "arable land needs to be protected, the way we protect pandas". However, the document for the first time did not talk about the need for self-sufficiency - opening the possibility of achieving efficient allocation by international trade.

The 13th Five-Year-Plan (2016-20) supports using big data to improve the efficiency of China's farms. Analytical tools not only allow professional farmers, who manage larger farms assembled from leased land, to use precision agriculture to raise yields and profits, but also allow them to provide real-time data to reassure customers about quality and safety.

The 2017 Government Work Report of the State Council announced the creation of crop insurance, which will largely be paid for by the central government, in the 13 large grain producing provinces. Huang Shouhong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office, says: "The diversified forms of farming, at appropriably large scale, face the risk of market volatility and, worst of all, natural disasters…. If there is a disaster, the investment amassed throughout the years will be gone."

Premier Li Keqiang stressed the links between raising farmers' incomes and improving the productivity and quality of China's agriculture. Writing in the Communist Party journal Qiushi, he said: "Although the country is self-sufficient in its most important crops, it has paid a huge price for its intensive farming with excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides and plastic sheeting, causing environmental damage and threatening food safety."

Completing agricultural reform will be a decades-long project. But, the recent changes set forth guiding principles. The report of the Central Rural Work Leading group said: "Continuous income increases, like ensuring food security, are a must during the reform."

davidblair@chinadaily.com.cn