National Research Perspective
Han Yang
Cultivated land is the root of farmers, the foundation of agriculture, and the source of grain. Throughout the dynasties and dynasties, if the cultivated land is stable, the agriculture is prosperous, the peasants are stable, and the grain is sufficient, the country is unified, the society is stable, and the people live and work in peace and contentment; if the cultivated land is unstable, the agriculture is withered, the peasants are unstable, and the grain is insufficient, the country is divided, the society is turbulent, and the people are not happy. Therefore, properly handling the relationship between the state, farmers and cultivated land, and protecting the productive forces of cultivated land to ensure food security have always been the most important task for governing the country and ensuring state security.
Over the past one hundred years, the CPC has led the people to carry out practical explorations at different times, safeguard the fundamental interests of the vast number of grain farmers, promote the high-quality development of the grain industry in the course of opening up, Chinese rely on their own strength to achieve basic grain self-sufficiency, make important contributions to safeguarding world food security, and embark on a road of food security with Chinese characteristics.
The period of the new-democratic revolution: carry out the agrarian revolution, mobilize the broad masses of peasants, and provide financial and food guarantees for the revolutionary war
The party explored and adjusted the land policy in accordance with the situation and tasks at different stages, and worked hard to ensure that the land system of "cultivators have their own land", which greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the peasants to participate in the revolution and participate in democratic politics.
During the period of the agrarian revolution, in 1928, 1929, and 1931, the Party successively formulated the Jinggangshan Land Law, the Land Law for Rejuvenating the Country, and the Land Decree of the Chinese Soviet Republic, confiscated the land of feudal landlords, gentry, and other large private owners, distributed it to the toiling peasants, formed the agrarian revolutionary line of "relying on hiring peasants and poor peasants, uniting with the middle peasants, restricting the rich peasants, and eliminating landlords.", and organized peasants in revolutionary base areas to build water conservancy, improve soil, popularize technology, cultivate good seeds, and carry out cattle, agricultural tools, seeds, and cultivate cattle, agricultural tools, seeds. The mutual assistance and cooperation of labor and other forces in the development of agriculture has greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of the broad masses of peasants to participate in the revolution, and the peasants have become supporters of the revolution and have made important contributions to consolidating and expanding the base areas and to the food supply of the revolutionary war.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to establish a broad united front, the Party adjusted its land policy, adjusted the confiscation of all feudal landlords' land to reduce rents and interest rates, increased the number of wasteland, popularized cotton planting, adjusted labor force, increased agricultural loans, improved agricultural technology, and implemented progressive agricultural taxes, launched large-scale agricultural production campaigns, and improved grain self-sufficiency.
During the period of the War of Liberation, in order to adapt to the new changes in the situation, the party formulated the "Outline of China's Land Law" in 1947, abolished the landlords' land ownership rights, coordinated the equal distribution of land in quantity and quality to individual villagers according to the entire population of the countryside, and carried out cooperation and mutual assistance, which not only stimulated the enthusiasm of the broad masses of peasants to participate in the revolution, but also greatly aroused the enthusiasm of agricultural production, promoted the development of productive forces, to a large extent solved the problem of food and clothing for the military and the people, and laid the deepest mass foundation for the victory of the Liberation War.
In 1949, the total population of the country was 538 million people, the total grain output was only 113 million tons, the grain yield was only 1035 kg / ha, the per capita grain share was only 210 kg, and the annual net income of farmers was only 44 yuan.
The period of socialist revolution and construction: transforming agricultural production relations, improving agricultural infrastructure, and improving the basic conditions for the development of grain production
After the founding of New China, the party persisted in basing itself on agriculture, regarded the development of grain production as the focus of agricultural and rural economic work, and tried every means to strive for a steady increase in the total amount of grain.
In terms of agricultural production relations, in order to speed up the restoration of agricultural economic development, since 1952, the relationship between land ownership has been gradually reformed, and the party has led the broad masses of peasants to carry out mutual assistance and cooperation, from a mutual aid group with the help of au pairs to a primary cooperative with land shares and dividends and private ownership of important means of production, and a high-level society with collective ownership and unified management of the means of production. By 1958, the movement from high-level agricultural cooperatives to people's communes began.
In terms of agricultural productivity, measures such as large-scale construction of water conservancy facilities, agricultural mechanization, improvement of the use of fertilizers, promotion of fine varieties, improvement of soil, expansion of the area of replanting, planting of high-yield crops, and eradication of pests and diseases have been initiated; and experience in grain planting in the "Eight-Character Constitution of Agriculture" has been accumulated.
In terms of grain circulation, in 1953, in order to solve the problem of shortage of grain supply and demand in urban and rural areas, a unified purchase and marketing system was implemented. As the supply side, the rural areas hand over public grain according to the land area and quality level; as the demand side, the residents purchase grain according to the nature and age of their work, and gradually establish a national economic development model of "supplementing workers with agriculture.", and the accumulation of financial grain in rural areas provides basic support for the establishment of a complete national economic system and industrial system.
During this period, the urban population grew rapidly. In 1978, the total population of the country grew to 963 million people, the total grain output reached 305 million tons, compared with 1949, the population increased by 1.79 times, the grain production increased by 2.7 times, the grain yield reached 2532.7 kg / ha, and the per capita grain share increased to 318 kg. Although the problem of food and clothing for the people has not been fundamentally resolved, relatively obvious results have been achieved in improving agricultural infrastructure, raising the level of agricultural materials and equipment, and speeding up the progress of agricultural science and technology, thus laying the foundation for the sustained development of grain production.
Reform, opening up, and the new period of socialist modernization: Reforming agricultural production relations, liberating and developing agricultural productive forces, and taking solid steps toward building a well-off society in an all-round way
In terms of agricultural production relations, reform and opening up has taken the lead in making breakthroughs in the implementation of the household contract responsibility system on rural land. From 1982 to 1986, the central government issued the "No. 1 Document" for five consecutive years, refining and improving the household contract responsibility system, gradually establishing a basic rural management system based on household contract management and combining unified and decentralized management system, and determining the first round of land contracting period of 15 years. Along with the timely adjustment of agricultural production relations, the peasants' enthusiasm for production has been greatly mobilized, and the concentrated release of energy accumulated in the past in agricultural infrastructure, science and technology, inputs, and other aspects has promoted the relatively large improvement of comprehensive agricultural production capacity. The Eighth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that the two-tier management system with the responsibility system based on household co-production contracting and the combination of unified and decentralized management should be stabilized for a long time as a basic system of rural collective economic organizations. The Third Plenary Session of the 14th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that land use rights be allowed to be transferred for a fee in accordance with the law, and in this year, it was clear that "the second round of land contract period, that is, after the expiration of the original cultivated land contract period, it will be extended for another 30 years." The Third Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that the right to use the contracted land of peasant households can be transferred voluntarily and for a fee, and in the Rural Land Contracting Law promulgated in 2003, it was clearly stipulated that "the right to land contractual management may be transferred by subcontracting, leasing, exchange, transfer or other means". In 2007, the Property Law was promulgated, which defined the right to land contract management as a usufructuary right, and clarified that contracted farmers enjoy the rights to possess, use, circulate and benefit from the contracted land in accordance with the law.
In terms of agricultural productivity, in 1987, the first Land Administration Law since the founding of new China was officially implemented, formally incorporating farmland protection into the legal framework. With this starting point, the process of cultivated land construction on the mainland was initiated, and in 1999, the Revision and Improvement of the Land Management Law was implemented, and in 1993, 1999 and 2008, with the approval of the State Council, three rounds of the Outline of the National Land Use Master Plan (1985-2000) (1997-2010) and (2006-2020) were successively issued, from the initial only "protection of the amount of cultivated land" to "maintaining the dynamic balance of the total amount of cultivated land, and the quantity and quality of cultivated land are comparable" and "strengthening, The overall quality of cultivated land has been improved in the transformation of low-yield agricultural land" and "the first responsible person responsibility system such as the governor of the province with the amount of cultivated land and the basic farmland protection area"; and then refine and improve "land use is adjusted from long-term planning to annual use management, and basic farmland protection is adjusted to permanent basic farmland." In addition, it is clearly proposed to adhere to the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land, and put forward more comprehensive requirements for "improving the level of farmland protection and comprehensively strengthening the construction and management of cultivated land quality". Farmland management has changed from quantitative protection to equal emphasis on quantity and quality, from experience guidance to outline planning, from administrative management to governance according to law, and a relatively complete framework of farmland quality protection mechanisms and policy systems have been established.
In terms of grain and peasant support and marketization, in terms of marketization and internationalization, the system of unified purchase and marketing of agricultural products has been gradually abolished, and the planned economy has been transformed into a market economy. In terms of unified purchasing, the scope of unified purchase of agricultural products was gradually reduced in 1983, and in 1993, the system of purchasing grain and other major agricultural products with tickets was abolished. In terms of unified marketing, the market and price of aquatic products and fruits were opened up in 1984, and by 2005, the purchase and sale of grain, prices and markets were fully liberalized, and a market system for agricultural products was basically established. In 2001, the mainland joined the World Trade Organization, and in 2004 it was transformed from a net exporter of agricultural products to a net importer, actively integrating into the international agricultural market. In terms of grain and peasant support, in 1996, the white paper "China's Grain Problem" proposed that China's basic policy to solve the problem of grain supply and demand is to "base on domestic resources and achieve basic self-sufficiency in grain.". From 2004 to 2012, the central government issued the "No. 1 Document" for 9 consecutive years, making overall arrangements for the work of "three rural areas"; adopted the principle of "industry feeding agriculture and cities supporting rural areas"; since 2004, it has successively implemented a number of grain and agricultural subsidy policies such as direct grain subsidies and price support, and in 2006 abolished agricultural taxes that have lasted for more than 2,000 years, implemented a series of policies to support agriculture and benefit farmers, and continuously improved the level of financial and financial support for agriculture.
During this period, grain production benefited from a series of reform and opening up measures implemented by agriculture and rural areas and grain support, agriculture formed a variety of business methods, the agricultural production structure was moderately adjusted, food diversification developed rapidly, and the people's quality of life was markedly improved. In 2012, China's total population grew to 1.359 billion people, the total grain output reached 612 million tons, the grain yield was 5353.12 kg / ha, the per capita grain share increased from more than 400 kg in 2008 to 452 kg in 2012, the annual disposable income of farmers was 7917 yuan, and the supply of grain and important agricultural products achieved a historic change from long-term shortage to basic balance in the total amount and more than a good year, which not only played an important role in ensuring food security and social stability. It has realized the transformation from insufficient food and clothing to basically solve the problem of food and clothing, taken solid steps towards building a well-off society in an all-round way, and effectively responded to the questions of the international community with the actual food security capacity for many years.
A new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics: innovate agricultural production relations, improve agricultural productivity, promote market-oriented internationalization, and lay the foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way
Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has successively issued the "No. 1 Document", deployed the key work of "three rural areas", always regarded food security as the top priority in governing the country, basically established the national food security strategy of "taking ourselves as the mainstay, basing ourselves on the country, ensuring production capacity, moderate imports, and scientific and technological support", clearly put forward the new food security concept of "basic self-sufficiency in grain and absolute security in rations", and further clarified the political responsibility of "the party and the government share the same responsibility" to ensure national food security.
In terms of agricultural production relations, in 2013, the Party Central Committee proposed to promote the "separation of three rights" of rural land on the basis of consolidating and improving the basic rural management system, and divide the peasants' land contract management right into the contract right and the management right, so as to realize the parallel separation of the contract right and the right to operate. The Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly demanded that the method of separating land ownership, contracting rights and management rights should be improved. The "Opinions on Improving the Method for the Separation of Rural Land Ownership Contracting Rights and Management Rights" issued in 2016 proposes to adhere to collective ownership, stabilize farmers' contracting rights, and revitalize land management rights, realize the sharing of land rights by farmers' collectives, contracted farmers, and new agricultural business entities, and innovate to answer questions such as "who will plant land and how to cultivate land", laying an institutional foundation for promoting the rational allocation of rural resource elements, guiding the circulation of land management rights, and developing various forms of moderate-scale operation. And it is clearly proposed that it will take about 5 years to basically complete the registration and issuance of the right to confirm the right to land contract management. The Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that the second round of land contracting should be extended for another 30 years after the expiration of the land contract, not only to ensure the long-term stability of the rural basic management system of collective ownership of land and household contract management, but also to make the rural basic management system more vigorous, and promote the circulation of land management rights and the diversification of agricultural management methods.
In terms of agricultural productivity, in the construction of cultivated land, we should persist in implementing the strategy of "hiding grain in the land," implement the strictest system of farmland protection, and from gradual implementation to the comprehensive implementation of the special protection system for permanent basic farmland, prevent the "non-farming" of cultivated land and curb the "non-grainization" of cultivated land, and clarify the priority of the use of cultivated land and permanent basic farmland; improve the system of balance of arable land occupation and compensation, and change from the method of occupation and compensation combining quality improvement and transformation with quantity supplementation to the establishment of a new mechanism for occupation and compensation based on quantity and production capacity as the core. From the perspective of sustainable utilization of cultivated land and other resources, the "Cultivated Land Grassland River and Lake Recuperation Plan (2016-2030)" was formulated, which put forward the stage goals and policy measures for the recuperation of cultivated land, emphasizing that the primary function of cultivated land is still the production of grain and agricultural products, and exploring the coordinated development of farmland protection and utilization through farmland conservation, returning farmland to forest and grassland, fallow farming, crop rotation, pollution prevention and control. In 2017, the fourth round of the National Land Planning Outline (2016-2030) was issued, which formulated the goals and specific tasks for the protection and quality construction of the mainland's arable land quantity in 2030, and further revised and improved the Land Management Law in 2020. In 2021, the "Implementation Regulations of the Land Administration Law" were promulgated, and the farmland was transformed from the dual protection of "quantity and quality" to the "trinity" comprehensive protection of quantity, quality and ecology, from "reusing light nutrients, separate treatment" to "combining use and nutrition, comprehensive treatment".
In terms of grain and peasant support and marketization, in terms of grain support, we have refined and improved a number of grain and peasant subsidy policies, adjusted and increased subsidies for cultivated land, accelerated agricultural modernization, persisted in implementing the strategy of "hiding grain in technology," promoted the progress of agricultural science and technology, promoted the self-reliance and self-reliance of seed industry science and technology, the independent and controllable of seed sources, and basically achieved full coverage of fine crops; equipped agriculture with modern means, and the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvest has increased rapidly; and cultivated new agricultural business entities such as family farms and farmers' professional cooperatives. Steadily promote the operation of appropriate scale of land; promote the organic connection between small farmers and modern agricultural development, improve the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of agricultural development; improve the agricultural socialization service system, improve the agricultural support and protection system; in the internationalization of marketization, build a modern circulation system, strengthen reserve emergency management; expand the transformation of agricultural opening from the opening of factors to the opening up of rules and systems, and make full use of the "two markets and two kinds of resources", optimize the import and export structure of agricultural products, and deepen international cooperation in agriculture. At the same time, it also promotes world food security.
Chinese use 7% of the world's arable land and 6% of the world's freshwater resources to solve the problem of feeding 18% of the world's population and make an important contribution to world food security. In 2021, China's total population is 1.412 billion people, the cultivated land area is 1.918 billion mu, and the first, second, and third grades of high-quality arable land is less than 1/3, but the total grain output has exceeded 650 million tons for 7 consecutive years, reaching 683 million tons; the per capita cultivated land is only 1.36 mu, about 1/3 of the world average, the grain yield reaches 5805 kg /ha, and the per capita grain share reaches 484 kg, which is higher than the world average for many years; the ration reserve has remained above 70% for a long time. It is much higher than the internationally recognized grain reserve rate (17%-18%). Compared with the beginning of the founding of New China, the Chinese in 2021 increased by 2.62 times, and grain output, grain yield and per capita grain share increased by 6.04 times, 5.61 times and 2.3 times respectively. In 2020, the per capita disposable income and consumption expenditure of rural residents reached 17,131 yuan and 13,713 yuan respectively, excluding the impact of price factors, an increase of more than 40 times and more than 30 times, respectively.
Based on china's national conditions, world conditions, agricultural conditions, and grain conditions, China's food security has made historic achievements from a large gap in food and clothing to insufficient food and clothing, to basically solving the problem of food and clothing, and then to an all-round guarantee of quantity, quality, and nutrition. The key to these achievements lies in properly handling the relationship between the state, farmers and land, respecting the initiative and independent choice of hundreds of millions of peasant entities, grasping the balance of long-term stability and development flexibility of cultivated land, stabilizing the relationship between rural land contracting, invigorating land management rights, promoting the sustainable use and sustainable development of cultivated land, making agricultural production relations more suitable for the development of agricultural productivity, and realizing the optimal allocation of land resources on a larger scale; handling well the relationship between agricultural reform, opening up, and safe development, and adhering to the direction of market-oriented reform. Promote the combination of a promising government and an effective market, improve the level of agricultural support at home, improve the comprehensive production capacity of grain, smooth the grain circulation system and make good use of the grain reserve system, establish a high-level food security system, and make good use of international resources in the international market abroad, which not only meets the growing demand for agricultural products at home, to a certain extent makes use of international cultivated land resources, reduces the pressure on domestic land resources, leaves room and room for improving the cultivated land system in the future, and also uses the large domestic agricultural product market to promote multilateralism. Bilateral economic and trade balance has responded to the uncertainty of international supply with the stability of stable domestic production and supply, and achieved a high-level dynamic balance in the supply of grain and other important agricultural products in the domestic and international markets.
Chinese firmly hold the rice bowl in their own hands, Chinese grain has not only become the "ballast stone" for rejuvenating the country and anbang, but also helped China win the unprecedented scale, the greatest intensity and the largest benefit in human history, and the largest number of people in the history of mankind, which has historically solved the problem of absolute poverty in rural areas, enabled hundreds of millions of rural residents to achieve comprehensive well-off at the same time, and laid the foundation for the synchronous march towards common prosperity. China has also actively implemented the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, carried out international food and agriculture trade, investment, technical cooperation and assistance, actively promoted the reform of global food and agriculture governance, and contributed Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions and Chinese strength to jointly promote global food security and solve world problems.
(The author is director and researcher of the Research Office of the Rural Economic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council)