1、1Land Transfers Support Modern Agriculture in Xiaogang VillageXIAOGANG Village in FengyangCounty, Anhui Province, is atypical rural settlement wheremost farmers live by growinggrain crops. In 1978, 18 of them bravelybegan to explore a household-based landcontract system, turning a new page inthe his
2、tory of Chinas countryside. Sincethen, China has stabilized and improvedits household contract responsibilitysystem, linking remuneration to outputand encouraging diversified operations.Nowadays, the backland village onceagain stands on the forefront of Chinasland reforms by embracing the trend ofex
3、ploring land transfers as a method ofdeveloping modern agriculture. Household.based ContractSystem:Main Mode ofAgricultural Operation Before 1978, like other villages in Chi-na, Xiaogang was a part of the “PeoplesCommune.“ Centralized land operationwas practiced, and the income gainedfrom the land w
4、as distributed 2on thebasis of labor contributed. The PeoplesCommune blindly pursued large scaleoperations and a commitment to publicownership, putting serious restraints onthe initiative of farmers. Under the egali-tarian distribution mechanism, farmerssaw no ineentive to work hard. Theirgrain outp
5、ut was insufficient to feedthem, and basic agricultural productioncould not be sustained. Xiaogang Village, with a populationof more than 100 people in 2o house-holds, was infamous for its poverty. Af-ter autumn harvest, most villagers tookup seasonal “work“ as beggars. Manyfamilies lived in shabby
6、thatched houses,and some were so poor that an entirefamily shared only one cotton-paddedquilt. To shake off poverty, on the nightof November 24, 1978, 18 farmers inXiaogang Village broke away from themanagement orthodoxy of the PeoplesCommune, and made the bold decisionto practice a land contract sy
7、stem, un-der which local households distributedamong them farmland and other meansof agricultural production that wereformerly held collectively. The idea wasto manage them individually and keepwhatever of the yield left after handing inthe demanded allotment to government.At that time, this was see
8、n as a “capital-ist roader,“ which would be at best criti-cized, or at worst get you a prison term.To show 3their determination to reform,the 18 farmers put their fingerprints onthe contract, a traditional way of sealinga promise. At the end of the meeting,they contracted livestock, farm tools andar
9、able land to every household. This in-cident was a turning point and a preludeto a host of rural reforms in China. By the autumn of 1979, Xiaogangs to-tal grain output had increased to 66, oookilograms from a mere 18,ooo kilogramsin 1978, and their per capita income in-creased from RIVIB 20 to RMB 4
10、00. Forthe first time since 1956, Xiaogaug soldgrain to the state and paid back part ofits state loans. Recalling old times, YahJinchang, one of the signatory farm-ers, said, “In 1980 my family harvested 15,000 kilos of grain, becoming one ofthe first households to earn RMB 10,000in our village. In
11、1983, I spent RMB3,000 on a tractor and built a four-roombrick house.“ Xiaogangs model was soon copied byneighboring villages. Not long after that,the Communique of the Third PlenarySession of the 11th CPC Central Com-mittee popularized Xiaogangs experi-ence nationwide. From that time on,the househo
12、ld-based contract systembecame the fundamental model for agri-cultural operations in China. 4Land Transfer:Necessary forModern Agriculture In Xiaogang, a spate of one-storyhouses are clustered among stretches offarmland. The village is quiet and peace-ful, like most rural communities in thecountry.
13、Guan Youjiang, deputy directorof Xiaogang Village Committee, pointedto the asphalt road and said, “This roadwas built a few years ago. It makes itmore convenient to go ont.“ Before 2004,there was only a dirt road leading to andfrom the village, and it had no runningwater. Statistics show in 2003 the
14、 percapita annual income was only RMB2,300, and this figure jumped to RMB4,000 in 2005, but remains modest. In Guan Youjiangs view, the main rea-son that Xiaogang cannot move beyondpoverty is its dependence on the mon-oculture of grain crops. Zhou Decui, a 37-year-old farmer in Xiaogang, has beeneng
15、aged in farming since her childhood.Like her fellow villagers, she mainly growsgrain crops such as rice and wheat. “It isall right when we have good weather forthe year, but once a natural disaster hits,agriculture is seriously affected,“ Zhousaid. Even with good weather, the annualnet income of one
16、 mu (15mu =1hectare)of land is a paltry RMB 300, after deduct-5ing grain ration and such costs as seedsand fertilizers. In fact, Xiaogang is typical of manysuch villages in China, featuring a lack ofresources and poor links to transporta-tion routes. Farmers mainly depend ongrowing grain crops to ma
17、ke a living,while members of the younger genera-tion often choose to seek employment incities. “Household-based modes of produc-tion are characterized by low productiv-ity and poor risk management. A grainmonoculture does not lead to a life ofwealth, it only solves the problems ofadequate food and c
18、lothing,“ said GuanYoujiang. “We have been thinking aboutways to improve productivity and caterto the needs of modern agricultural de-velopment, so our limited land resourcescan perform a little better.“ In 2009 the GLG Natural Zero-calorieHi-tech Industrial Park was built at thewestern edge of Xiao
19、gang Village. TheGerson Lehrman Group (GLG) of theUnited States was its investor, and itsmain operations are stevia breeding andintensive processing of this crop. Thefirst transnational enterprise to settle inXiaogang brought vitality and vigor tothis peaceful village. The industrial park occupies 2
20、,ooomu of land, all of it transferred, or sub- contracted, by farmers. Zhou Decuitransferred 10 mu (half of her familyscontracted land) to 6the GLG, and she andher husband are employed by the Ameri-can company as well. Zhou Decui worksas a canteen manager for a monthly sal-ary of RMB 1,000. Her husb
21、ands goodskills earned him a promotion to the postof workshop team leader earning RMB1,700. “The annual price for land transferper mu is calculated using the price of350 kilograms of grain. No matter whatthe weather is like, we ean get this moneyfrom a land transfer,“ said Zhou Decui.“In addition, w
22、e are paid staff.“ The GLGXiaogang Village Natural Zero-calorieHi-tech Industrial Park has 200 employ-ees, and 150 are local farmers. A stevia breeding base is taking shapein Xiaogang. Local farmers gladly em-braced this cash crop after extensivepromotion by the GLG, which also pro-vides seeds and t
23、echnical consultationto growers. “I never knew that steviawas so high-yielding and could fetch somuch money,“ villager Mei Caihong said.Now stevia crop coverage has reached200 mu. Despite the extreme weather of2009, the villagers who were cultivatingthis plant on a trial basis all brought ina good h
24、arvest; their per mu income ex-ceeded RMB 3,000. To the south of Xiaogang Village anexpanse of vegetable greenhouses wereunder construction, adding up to 1,000mu. The 7land was leased by GuangdongCongyu Vegetable Development Co.,Ltd., which intends to build greenhouses,high-durability plastic tents
25、and a test-ing center. Meanwhile, the Tianjin BaodiAgricultural Sci-tech Group has signed acooperation agreement with Xiaogang todevelop livestock breeding. In fact, practicing land transfer andpooling small plots of land to allow large-scale operations is a development roadthat many rural areas are
26、 now feelingtheir way along. “We hope land trans-fer deals will fuel intensive agriculturalproduction and attract large enterprisesto Xiaogang,“ said Guan Youjiang. “Ialso hope the enterprises will provideadvanced planting technologies, and op-timize our crop structure, consequentlyramping up our la
27、nd proceeds.“ In 2010,the per capita annual income of Xiao-gang Village reached RMB 6,700. A “Modern Farmer“ Yan Deyou, aged 41, had seen much ofthe nation before returning to his villageand resuming farm work. In 2005, hecontracted 80 mu of land to grow grapes,and in 2007, he contracted 120 mu more
28、.He entered the business under an aidprogram by a village in Jiangsu Province.In 2001, Changjiang 8Village in the better-off coastal city Zhangjiagang establisheda partnership with Xiaogang, offeringto upgrade the latters economy withits managerial expertise and financialstrength built through indus
29、tries such asport logistics, iron and steel, and chemi-cals. After an extensive survey of Xiao-gang Village, Changjiang decided to helpthem build a vineyard. The two sidessigned an agreement that Changjiang Village would invest RMB 1.5 million inthe construction of an 80-mu vineyard.To help Xiaogang
30、 villagers grasp the par-ticular growing skills as soon as possible,Changjiang Village also arranged for asubsidy of RMB 3,500 per mu for grapegrowers. Yan Deyou was the first one in the vil-lage to cultivate grapes on a large scale.To promote the salability of his products,he often goes to other ar
31、eas to learntheir growing techniques and conductsresearch on which varieties taste better,sell well and produce high yields. Overthe years, Yan Deyous vineyard has nur-tured several different grape strains. Hehas also set up a cultivating cooperative,leading other grape growers in the studyand excha
32、nge of growing techniques. Xi-aogang Village has even created its owngrape brand, and holds an annual grapefestival. “In recent years all our grapessell 9well, earning us RMB 3,ooo per muof land.“ However, not many farmers choose togrow grapes. Compared to grain crops,grape growing needs much more s
33、killand energy, and the investment is aheavy one. Therefore, even though out-side aid is available, the villages grapecultivation is far from fully developed.In Yan Deyous view, one of the mainreasons why Xiaogang has not prosperedto any great extent is the “villagers back-ward ideology and the cadr
34、es inadequatesteering of a general orientation“ to thisgoal. Yan Deyou is gratified that followingthe entry of certain enterprises, manyyoung people who used to be migrantworkers have come back to seek employ-ment locally, or even tried to establishtheir own businesses. “The young peoplewho have see
35、n the bigger world beyondshow a desire to change this situation.“ Yang Yueling, who worked in Guang-zhou for 10 years as a migrant, wentback to Xiaogang in 2009. “In Guang-zhous supermarkets, two tomatoes, ifthey are branded vegetables, can fetchseven to eight yuan. This inspired me. Ifwe do a good
36、job with our agriculture,we can also achieve comfort and pros-perity,“ he said. Yang Yueling spent his savings ofRMB 100,000 to contract 36 mu of landand bought over a dozen kids, startingdrylot feeding. 10One year later, he tastedthe benefits of pioneering career move.He earned RMB 8,000 from selli
37、nghis goats, and the largest fetched RMB1,680. “The income from raising a dozengoats is equal to that from the yield of12 mu of rice. Which is better?“ Theanswer is a no-brainer. Yang Yuelingapplied for a loan to increase his invest-merit and now he is raising more than300 goats. This year Yang Yuku
38、ai, anotheryoung man in the village, looked to YangYueling as his cooperative partner ina livestock venture. “I hope to set up amodel cycling economy:planting foragegrass to raise goats and geese, and usingtheir droppings to fertilize forage grass.Through this I hope the whole village willget rich,“ said Yang Yueling, gazing at hisgoats. At present, Xiaogang is encouragingvillagers to grow economically rewardingcrops and develop livestock breeding, aspart of their transformation into “modernfarmers.“ “I hope these measures will seethe villagers living easy in no time,“ saidGuan Youjiang.
