2024-03-08 04:08:02
The last one century has been an example of an unprecedented degree of urbanization of the world, in the first place, of course, in the industrially and economically developed regions, among them Europe, Russia, North America, Japan and China. In the case of China, urbanization has been particularly noticeable in the last few decades and has coincided with the accelerated development of the country and its transformation into the second largest economy in the world. But unlike other countries, China understands that rural areas are often the backbone of a nation, and it makes serious efforts to develop them and the people in them to have good life prospects, writes “Radio China”.
Not long ago, China’s Minister of Agriculture stated that the revival and revitalization of rural areas, as well as the establishment of a serious agrarian industry, are witnessing increasingly better opportunities as a result of China-wide modernization. Which, we must add, has been particularly accelerated since 2013, when Xi Jinping became president and started a number of strategic projects.
In terms of rural areas, perhaps most importantly, China in the last decade has achieved something almost unthinkable in human history – it has managed to defeat absolute poverty and lift hundreds of millions out of it. Three or four decades ago, China’s mass population was made up of hundreds of millions of poor peasants. In 1980, China’s GDP per capita was only $200, and at the end of 2022 it will be $12,720. In fact, the GDP per capita of the PRC has increased in the short period of four decades by as much as 60 times.
More specifically, over 128,000 Chinese villages have been removed from the list of population-poor places under Xi Jinping’s administration, which is unprecedented in all of human history and has never been achieved in such a short period of time. We are talking about a population that is as large as the whole of Europe and North America combined, and even more.
This is due to the Chinese government’s mass literacy policies, the country’s scientific and technological progress, as well as the accelerated economic development and growth that China has experienced within the framework of the major changes that have occurred in the country since the 1970s. century, and especially after 2013.
According to the Chinese Minister of Agriculture, the country will pay particular attention to its food security and in particular to grain production, as well as other key agricultural products. At the same time, the People’s Republic of China will strengthen growth and development in rural areas, emphasizing also human development in these localities, which until recently were poor and underdeveloped, but today are taking their first confident steps towards prosperity.
A concrete example and indicator is that China’s grain production for 2023 has achieved a larger yield by 1.3 percent, reaching a record 695 million tons, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. This is actually the ninth consecutive year that China has had a grain harvest that exceeds 650 million tons.
A strategic plan has also been drawn up, according to which by 2035 China must have made decisive progress in the development of rural areas and the modernization of agriculture. For this purpose, the reform of a number of institutions, as well as certain working mechanisms, has been initiated in order to achieve the necessary revitalization.
China is expected to deepen and strengthen the reform of its collective property system as well as other agriculturally important areas, which will allow farmers to increase their incomes as well. This, in turn, will logically lead to less outflow of people from the villages to the cities. The reform, in turn, is part of the PRC’s plan to become a developed and great socialist country by the middle of this century.
In fact, over the past decade, China has made a number of breakthroughs in terms of rural and agricultural reforms, for example in the remembered collective property rights. For example, the country allows farmers to voluntarily convert their rights in collective assets and holdings into equity shares, which aims to protect their rights and interests, as well as improve the viability of the collective holding.
One successful example given in the Chinese media is the village of Houbaligou, where as a result of this reform, the assets of the farming collective jumped from 3.5 billion yuan to over 8 billion yuan (which is 1.1 billion dollars). A serious growth that affects the quality of life of the people in the village, as well as their income. Now as shareholders, farmers in the village receive annual dividends, and their income growth has not stopped since the reform was successfully implemented there.
Moreover, now as shareholders, all the villagers and employees of the local cooperative farm are also highly motivated to contribute to the overall development of their village. Such examples can be seen in hundreds of other small settlements where the reform was implemented.
Such revitalization of rural life is due not only to agriculture, but also, for example, to tourism, where the Chinese government’s rural reforms are also bearing fruit. In a concrete example, a village that, due to a number of geographical features, did not have such agricultural success, as a result of the reform created a cooperative economic organization, which led to the appearance of more than 160 guesthouses. They, in turn, lead to a complete change in the way and standard of living of the local villagers. It turns out that nearly 60 percent of the young villagers in this village, who previously worked in the cities, return to their hometown.
As a result of the reform, almost one million rural collective economies have been established since 2015, leading to a sharp rise in living standards and conditions in rural areas of the People’s Republic of China. The process continues in full force and the authorities are drawing up even more ambitious plans for the development of the Chinese villages, which have always been the backbone of the country during its millennial history.
The authorities thus promote increased rights, incomes and life satisfaction in villages, which reduces migration to cities and keeps small settlements viable.
A very important element in China’s rural revitalization programs is the modernization of agriculture. Crucially, under Xi Jinping’s tenure so far, Beijing has allowed farmers to retain their contractual rights over the tracts of arable land they work. At the same time, farmers have the right to rent this land.
The key to the Chinese agricultural model is that the land is not parceled out into small plots, and village collectives cultivate large areas, which allows for strategic planning, greater production and easier application of modern technological concepts and techniques. The small pieces of land are combined into one large one, and all the peasants as shareholders benefit from the improvement of crops and production.
Moreover, the cooperative approach allows village collectives to extract better market prices for their produce even in operations with private conglomerates. Land consolidation logically also leads to a higher level of mechanization and modernization, which is also reinforced by special government policies for this purpose.
The achievements of sciences such as biology, as well as modern technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles and others, are also widely used in Chinese agriculture. Nationwide, the level of mechanization in sowing, plowing and harvesting has increased from 67.2 percent in 2017 to 73 percent in 2022.
A major contribution to the aforementioned record harvest of over 650 million tons of grain is precisely the agricultural machinery and high technology that are the product of Chinese research and development institutes promoted by the government of the People’s Republic of China.
The reform along with the innovation of institutions and mechanisms as well as the improvement of infrastructure in rural areas and also wider access for business operations have led and will continue to lead to ever larger harvests, record results and a higher level of agricultural efficiency. This, in turn, leads to high labor productivity, an increase in the income of people from the villages and, accordingly, their remaining in their native settlements, which are being revived, even against the background of the modernization and urbanization of the country.
China’s financial and banking policy in this regard is also important for the prosperity of rural areas. In 2023, the Agricultural Development Bank of China said it provided approximately 2.78 trillion yuan in loans ($391.35 billion). This is a colossal amount even for one of the largest countries in the world, which is China. These funds help producers and cooperatives to develop and modernize.
The principle of this main agricultural bank of China is precisely to serve the needs of the real economy, not to speculate and pursue narrow financial interests, as is often the case with Western financial institutions. It was established in 1994 and is the only agricultural bank of the PRC that is under the direct control of the State Council.
Education and improved access to training in rural areas are also key to their revitalization. A major social program is currently underway to promote science and technology education for students and teachers from 1,039 schools in rural areas. The program is now in its fifth year and is producing serious results. During this period, 380,000 books and over 100,000 experimental science kits were donated to over 310,000 children and adolescents, as well as 20,000 teachers in rural schools. And this is just one of many examples.
The example of China, unencumbered by the neoliberal doctrines that influence agricultural policies in many countries around the world, shows that the state, rural residents, business and science can join hands and work together to revitalize and flourish small settlements . China shows a viable, adaptive and modern approach to agricultural and rural policy that helps both to ensure the country’s food security and to improve the lives of the rural population, rather than leading to an endless process of urbanization at the expense of the countryside. The goal of the PRC authorities is to keep the Chinese countryside alive and thriving with the clear awareness that rural areas have always been the backbone of Chinese civilization, and in an age where we are talking about fighting world hunger, such areas will be even more important for all the world.