Reform of Rural Planting Structure in China since the Reform and Opening-up and Its Main Problems

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1. The School of History Culture and Tourism, Liaocheng University; Ji Xianlin Honor School, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, China; 2. The School of History Culture and Tourism, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, China

Abstract Based on the oral interview of six different types of rural families in Houdian Village, Longkou City, Shandong Province, combined with the adjustment of rural reform policies, this paper analyzed reasons for the reform of rural planting structure in China since the reform and opening-up and elaborated the general outline of the reform of the planting structure. From the changes in farmers’ attitudes, it explored the achievements and shortcomings of rural reform in the past 40 years. It discussed problems such as shortage of labor resources and vacancy of family education of teenagers in the current sustainable development of rural areas. Finally, it came up with some recommendations for the development of rural areas.

Key words Reform and opening-up, Planting structure, Household contract responsibility system

1 Introduction

As to the reasons for the reform of planting structure, Huang Furong, an associate researcher at Jinan University[1], stated that the formulation of the central rural reform policy centered on the household contract responsibility system created excellent conditions for the reform of rural planting structure. Functions of market orientation and economic laws have enabled farmers to gradually give up the idea of product economy and set up the concept of commodity economy. As a result, the planting area of some low-income products has been decreasing year by year. The adjustment of the rural industrial structure, the development of the secondary and tertiary industries, attracted a large number of labors, the number of agricultural labor decreased sharply, and some crops with relatively labor-saving and high mechanization became the choice of most farmers. Dr. Zhao Xiaofeng[2]from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University held that the decline in proportion of grain income, the optimization of the allocation of labor resources, increase of the proportion of labor, and increase of the wage income have promoted the increase of farmers’ income. Contracting land, expanding land management area, and improving the marketization level of agriculture have more significant effects on increasing the household income. As a result, farmers have to reduce the planting area of grain crops, change the planting structure, and improve the marketization level of agricultural products. Farmers actively contract land, carry out agricultural production, and go to cities to do migrant work during the slack season, to increase the household wage income. As to the impacts on the reform of planting structure, associate professor Dong Xiaoxia from Agricultural Information Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences carried out an in-depth study[3]. She believed that with the continuous deepening of reform and opening-up, the labor cost in agricultural production is rising, and the proportion of farmers doing migrant work is increasing year by year. This has a certain impact on the planting structure. The reform of planting structure has significantly increased the income of farmer households from planting, while the non-agricultural employment is an important factor influencing the total family income of farmers. The increase in family income has brought about changes in the life of farmers in all aspects[4]. For the problems faced by agricultural development after the reform of planting structure, in the opinion of Jiang Xiaozhong[5], the rising cost of planting and the decline in the price of grain have reduced the enthusiasm of farmers for grain production, promoted the reform of the planting structure and the optimization of the proportion of grain crops and industrial crops, and the multi-composite business model began to emerge. At the same time, there are problems such as high market risk, asymmetry of supply and demand information, high natural risks, rising production costs, weak scientific and technological support, low amount of insurance claims, and difficulty in bringing into play functions. These problems have increased the risk of farmers planting cash crops such as vegetables and fruits. Based on the oral interview of six typical rural families in Houdian Village, Longkou City, Shandong Province, combined with the adjustment of rural reform policies, we analyzed reasons for the reform of rural planting structure in China since the reform and opening-up and elaborated the general outline of the reform of the planting structure.

2 Reform of the planting structure and its historical factors

2.1Initialstageofthereformofplantingstructure(1978totheendof1981) From the beginning of the reform to the end of 1981, along with the implementation of the household contract responsibility system, farmers gradually withdrew from the "people’s communes", which changed the way of collective working in the past. Along with the farmer households contracting the land, farmers started owning the operation autonomy. Besides, farmers urgently needed to solve the problem of food and clothing. In addition to handing over certain amount of grain (handing over the specified amount to the state, leaving enough amount to the collective, and the rest would be farmers). Thus, planting wheat and maize was almost the choice of all farmers. The household contract responsibility system re-established the thought line of "freeing up the mind and seeking truth from facts", laid an ideological foundation for promoting the rural reform and breaking the single planting structure. The household contract responsibility system is not only a great innovation in institution, but more importantly it gradually changes the attitude of farmers[6]. From passively accepting the policy directives for agricultural production, farmers started to gradually own the production autonomy. Due to historical and realistic reasons, there are no great changes in the crops cultivated in Longkong City in a short term. However, for the changes of rural planting structure in the past four decades, the development of rural economy plays an important role.

2.2Transitionstageofthereformofplantingstructure(1982to1993) On January 1, 1982, the Communist Party of China summarized the experience in the implementation of reform and opening-up in the past five years in view of the new trend of rural development, and promulgated the No. 1 document of rural work faced the new situation of rural development and the experience of implementing the reform and opening up policy in rural areas in the past five years. It issued the No. 1 document of rural workMinutesofNationalRuralWorkConference, clearly pointed out that the production contracted to the team and production contracted to household were both the production responsibility system of the socialist collective economy. The promulgation of No. 1 document launched another climax of rural reform throughout the country. "It is necessary to continue to relax the policy and invigorate the rural economy so that the farmers have more room for development. This is the requirement of the times, the requirements of the party, and the hope of the farmers!"[7]With the gradual deepening of rural reform by the party and the state, in addition to the fact that Longkou City is large in population but little in land, as well as rapid urban and rural construction, a large number of farmers have become construction workers. The household contract responsibility system has undergone new changes in Longkou City. Adult male farmers began to become "half working and half farming". In other words, farmers operate land on one side, and do migrant worker on the other side. Adult female farmers mainly take care of the family and land. In 1983, the No.1 document of the second rural work conferenceSeveralIssuesConcerningCurrentRuralEconomicPolicieswas officially promulgated, affirming the significance of the implementation of the rural contract responsibility system, pointing out that this production method has produced better productivity in more than ten years and played a great role in the productivity. In order to actively respond to the call of the party and the state, before and after 1983, the model of farmers’ land management in Longkou City developed from a single "contract system" to a mode of joint operation of "grain ration land" and "contracted farmland". This stage continued to the time around 1993. At this stage, each farmer was allocated with a certain area of grain ration land. At this time, farmers still mainly planted grain crops. Due to the existence of equalitarianism and some traditional ideas, although the "contracted farmland" at this time was voluntary, most farmers would choose the contracted land to conduct agricultural production, rather than not choosing the contracted land and only cultivating the grain ration land. The annual "land rent" was much lower than the income from cultivating in "contracted land". Also, because the population was large and the land was little, the land allocated to each person was little. Combined with land centralization, autonomous management would inevitably affect the production of crops of other farmers around their own farmland. At this time, the land contract period was shorter, and the crops planted at this time were still the wheat and maize. From the initial stage of reform and opening-up to 1993, from the perspective of farmers’ business projects and contents, the household contract responsibility system implemented at this time was mainly oriented towards field production, planting grain crops, and there was almost no professional contracting.

2.3Completionstageofthereformofplantingstructure(1993tothepresent)

Plantingoneyearofwheat,wecouldnotearnmoney.Suchlandmakesnomoney.Farmersarebusybutearnnomoney.

Inotherwords,ifthereisagardeninfrontofyourhouse,thisgardenwillbeyours.Youarenotallowedtoplantcropsinfield,becausethefieldiscollective.Wejustplantgingerinourgardens.Buttheplantingareaissmall.Ifthegardenislarge,youcanplantmore,butitisstillonlyabout100to150kg.

(Respondent: Yin Guoliang)

Inthebeginningofthereformandopening-up,thelandofHoudianVillagewasabout2 700-2 800mu(or180-186ha).Now,thereislessthanhalfofthisfigure.Yousee,thelandofthefactoriesaroundthevillagewasfarmlandinthepast.Anotherreason,thepopulationismore,andpeoplebuilthouses.

(Respondent: Zheng Chengli)

Houdian Village of Longkou City is located in the northern part of Shandong Peninsula, and the terrain is dominated by plains. At the beginning of the reform and opening-up, the total cultivated land in Houdian Village was about 180 ha. Due to the rapid development of private enterprises around Houdian Village, the planning and construction of highway transportation and the growth of population, a large amount of cultivated land became the construction land. Now, there is about 2 400 people (600 households) in Houdian Village, and the total cultivated land is about 80 ha. Due to the small area of cultivated land per capita, most farmers choose to participate in cultivation of land (mainly planting grain crops) on one side and participate in non-agricultural work to maintain daily living expenses. Farmers over the age of 60 are mainly do farming work and planting such vegetables and fruits as ginger, fragrant-flowered garlic, and cherries, and no longer participate in non-agricultural work.

In 1993, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issuedSeveralPolicyMeasuresonCurrentAgriculturalandRuralEconomicDevelopment, stating that "to stabilize land contracting, encourage farmers to increase income, and increase land productivity, it is decided to extend the original land contracting period for another thirty years. The introduction of this document has promoted the emergence of professional land contracting form. With 30 years of land operation right, farmers can male long-term investment in agricultural production instead of simply planting grain crops. Fruits and vegetables such as ginger and cherries are the preferred choice for farmers. However, during the oral interview, it was found that before the reform and opening-up, there were already cases of farmers planting ginger and other vegetables, mainly planted in their "garden" (self-retained land) in the front of or behind their houses. Due to factors such as small planting area, single planting content, and national policy restrictions, the scale has not been formed, but this policy has played an important role in the lives of farmers and the income of rural families.

With the implementation of rural reform, the improvement in the living standards of farmers and the rural family planning policy not implemented in a timely manner, there has been a substantial increase in the rural population. Housing has replaced food and clothing and become a top priority for farmers. The "gardens" in front of or behind the houses became the homestead for house construction in rural areas. The changes in functions of "gardens" promoted change in the farmers’ operation of land. The land where farmers originally planted vegetables becoming not suitable for agricultural production, the rapid development of township enterprises, the large number of farmers flowing to urban areas, the lack of labor for cultivating land, the rise of small towns, sharp increase in the demand for vegetables and fruits, and expansion of the market promoted the reform of new round of land operation system in Longkou City. In 1993, the grain ration land of each person was reserved, and the contracted land was no longer allocated per capita, but changed to professional contracting. At that time, the planting structure underwent substantial change, and industrial crops such as vegetables and fruits became main crops. Objectively, Longkou City is located in Shandong peninsula where the land is narrow but the population is large, and the per capita cultivated land is small. Yongwen River flows through Longkou City, and the soil quality is significant different. There are also provincial highways and rivers running through Longkou City. The land parcels are scattered. These promote diversification of planting structure. The relative income of planting grain crops is gradually declining. Before the reform and opening-up, the price of wheat was about 1.5 yuan/kg, while the highest price in recent years was 2.58 yuan/kg. Although the increase is very large, farmers have limited land, the yield is not high, and the unit price is low. The grain income alone cannot meet their needs of daily life. Moreover, the policy supports professional contracting, and the demand for vegetables in the development market of urbanization is rapidly rising, farmers start planting various vegetables such as ginger. In summary, the planting structure of Longkou City roughly experienced the changes from maize and wheat planting to vegetables, fruits and other industrial crop planting such as ginger and fragrant-flowered garlic, Such planting structure is still prevailing at present.

3 Impacts of reform of planting structure

3.1Unstablepriceandnaturaldisasters

AnoldmanfromWangmashijiaVillage,sittingonthestreet,didnotsellhisgingerat8yuanor9yuan.Later,someoneloudlyroseto10yuan,buthehada"big125".Ifheattendedtothecustomer,hewouldsoldanother"big125".Atthattime,a"big125"wasmorethan10 000yuan.At11:00,someoneoffered12yuan,another"big125".Atnoon,someoneoffered13yuan,another"big125".Byafternoon,whatabad!All"big125"weregone.

(Respondent: Yin Guoliang)

Around2005,thegingerpricedeclinedto0.4-0.6yuan/kg,afamilyonlysold200-300yuan,itevencouldnotcoverthecost.Bycontrast,plantingfragrant-floweredgarlic,youcansellinsummerandinwinter,andyoucanharvestmanytimes.Insummer,thefragrant-floweredgarlicischeap.Thepriceis4-6yuan/kg;inwinter,itcansellat14-16yuan/kg.

(Respondent: Zheng Chengli)

Planting ginger and other vegetables has increased the income of farmers’ family income. The investment in the early stage of the ginger is large, and it takes 1 to 2 years to recover the cost. The ginger has high requirements on the soil, and the land suitable for planting ginger is decreasing year by year. The risk of ginger is high. Once it is affected, the harvest will be greatly reduced, and the price will change greatly every year. For example, around 2005, the ginger price dropped sharply, only about 0.6 yuan/kg. The family that planted ginger as main source of income had income of about 3 000-4 500 yuan/ha, far less than the cost of ginger cultivation. Under the influence of various factors, farmers started planting other vegetables and fruits. For example, fragrant-flowered garlic becomes a main crop. Farmers with cultivation as their main income source started to plant fragrant-flowered garlic, combined with ginger and current season vegetables, and no longer plant grain crops. By now, the fragrant-flowered garlic is still a common crop in farmland. The fragrant-flowered garlic price is more stable than ginger price. In addition to the promotion of fragrant-flowered garlic greenhouse, the fragrant-flowered garlic can be harvested in all seasons. The cultivation of industrial crops such as vegetables and fruits has promoted the steady growth of farmers’ income and the substantial improvement of their living standards. For these farmers, the risks in the production and operation gradually dampened their confidence in getting rich. The price of vegetables such as ginger and fragrant-flowered garlic is not stable. A whole year of effort and hardworking may be wasted. And such situation is very common. The instability of the climate has intensified the instability of agricultural development and frequent occurrence of droughts and floods. The heavy rains in the summer of 2018 exerted serious impacts on the agricultural development of Shandong Province. By September 3, 2018, heavy rainfall caused a total of 883 000 ha of crops in Shandong Province, and the economic losses of farmers were tremendous. The agricultural greenhouses of the farmers in the affected areas were seriously destroyed and their savings were cast to the winds. For these problems, the government subsidies are little, then farmers who lack commercial insurance have to bear the losses by themselves. Farmers who are merely engaging in agricultural production have many worries.

3.2Braindrainandlaborlosses

Numerousruralresidentshavegoneout,therearenotalents.Oldpeopleareleftbehind.Mostof60yearsoldpeoplestayathometotakecareoftheirland.Theycouldnotdootherthings.Theyjustdolittlefarmingworkandbarelysupporttheirfoodandclothing.Now,suchsituationisprevailinginruralareas.However,infuture,orinseveraldecades,oldpeoplehavedead.Then,noonewilldofarmingwork.Justlikeyoungpeople,theydonotknowfarmingskillsatall.

(Respondent: Yin Shoujia)

Thesamegradeasyou,therearefivepeopleinourvillage.Onlytwopeoplewenttocolleges.Therestjustwenttovocationalhighschool.

(Respondent: Yin Guoliang)

Notmerelyourvillage,manyvillagesaroundourvillagearelikethis.Oldpeopledofarmingwork,whileyoungpeopledomigrantwork.

(Respondent: Gao Yufu)

In the past three decades, the rural reform centered on the household contract responsibility system has become gradually stagnated, but a recessive rural revolution——the development of farmers’ life and the increase in income of the non-agricultural sector—has quietly taken place[8]. Stagnation and reform are full of the 40-year historical process of rural reform and opening-up. In this process, farmers’ attitudes have undergone some subtle changes. On the one hand, young farmers go out to do migrant work to increase their family income. However, such method will make them lack the care for their children, and there is the problem of left-behind children. On the other hand, if staying at home to do farming work and accompany their children, they could not satisfy their family expenses. Between the children and the income, most farmers choose to do migrant work to increase their family income. But such choice is, to a certain extent, not favorable for the long-term development of rural areas. For rural children, education is still a main approach for changing their economic status. Family education and school education play the same important role. The farmers are busy with their livelihood, resulting in the absence of family education in the process of their children’s growth. In addition, most rural students are also affected by factors such as agricultural production, and few rural students receive better higher education. This leads to the situation of lack of high quality talents. Besides, from the beginning of reform and opening-up, farmers began to participate in non-agricultural work to improve their daily lives. The rapid development of township and village enterprises has made farming work become a "part-time" job for most farmers. In the 1980s, rural industries obtained great development. In ten years, the development absorbed about 100 million rural labors. In the 1990s, the migrant work tide absorbed another 100 million rural labors[9]. The high income of the non-agricultural sector has caused a large number of rural laborers to no longer cultivate the collectively allocated land without, but directly or indirectly leave the land and no longer live on the land, causing the problem of the gap between generations of traditional farmer group. This has adversely affected the sustainable development of rural areas.

4 Conclusions

In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China’s rural reform has made great achievements, and the living standards of farmers have been improved remarkably. However, the lack of rural family education and the lack of rural labors have seriously restricted the sustainable development of rural areas in China. To realize long-term development, rural areas should first solve the problem of talents. At present, China’s rural development lacks high-quality agricultural development talents, and the size of the farmer group in the traditional sense is becoming smaller and smaller. On the one hand, the party and the government should increase agricultural subsidies, expand the scope of agricultural subsidies, increase the income of farmers, eliminate the worries of farmers for cultivating land alone, and attract more farmers to do farming work. It is recommended to increase the financial subsidies for agricultural losses caused by natural disasters and improve farmers’ ability to cope with the risks of natural disasters. Besides, it is recommended to expand the coverage of new rural cooperative medical system, increase the level of minimum security for basic pension of new rural insurance, to solve the worry of farmers for cultivation. On the other hand, it is recommended to increase the investment in education of rural areas, and raise the middle school running level of rural areas, to lay an excellent foundation for students going to higher schools. It is recommended to increase the preference for college entrance examinations for rural residents and reduce the difficulty for rural students to receive higher education. In addition, it is recommended to improve the employment treatment and welfare for college students who go to rural areas for work after graduation, attract more and more agricultural technical talents and high quality agricultural talents to go to rural areas, so as to promote rural development. The practical solution of the "talent issue" could fundamentally solve the three rural issues, so as to lay a solid foundation for talents of rural revitalization strategy.