CCP'S AGRICULTURAL POLICY

L. A. VOLKOVA

Candidate of Economic Sciences

Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Keywords: China, agriculture, agrosphere reforms, contracting system

Despite the very difficult situation in some years during the entire 65-year history of the PRC (1949-2014), the Chinese village has always remained the cornerstone of the economy, maintaining social stability in the country. Thanks to the exceptional diligence of the Chinese peasantry, agricultural production was constantly increasing, which for many years, with the exception of the early 60s of the XX century, ensured the progressive development of the country's economy.

The production of grain-the main agricultural crop-in 2013 amounted to 601.94 million tons ¹ compared to the level of the 50s of the XX century-157 million tons (1953) and 185 million tons (1957) - 3.8 times and 3.25 times more, respectively. The country's population increased from 549 million in 1949 to 1 billion 350 million in 2013.

Despite the considerable economic difficulties of the recovery period (1950-1952) and the first five-year plan period (1953-1957), China generally managed to solve the food problem, albeit on the basis of a normalized supply of basic agricultural products to the population.

At all stages of economic and social development, the country's leadership focused on maintaining social stability in the countryside, because in the first years after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, the absolute majority of the population lived there. The main transformation in the countryside - land reform, which began in previously liberated areas before the proclamation of the PRC and continued during the reconstruction period (1950-1952), was supported by the absolute majority of the rural population. Some difficulties were encountered in determining the class affiliation of various groups of the peasantry, but they did not affect the successful completion of the reform.

Its economic effect was to endow more than 300 million peasants with land and distribute 46.6 million hectares of arable land among them2. The implementation of land reform ensured an increase in the production and income of peasants, and the country's leadership gained confidence in its policy for a number of subsequent years.

The next stage of transformation of the village was the formation of groups of mutual assistance in production. As a rule, these groups did not have clear organizational forms, were temporary in nature, and did not differ much from the forms of cooperation resorted to by peasants in old China. For example, the use of the work of a neighbor's buffalo in exchange for human work, assistance in plowing or harvesting with subsequent work on the site of the one who provided assistance, the provision of agricultural tools for the use of a certain time, etc.

In the mutual aid groups - temporary or permanent - the ownership of land, agricultural implements, and working cattle did not change at all. At the end of 1954, more than half of peasant households (58.3%) were members of various forms of mutual aid groups.³ Mutual aid groups, as a rule, were transformed into more organized agricultural production cooperatives of a lower type.

BEGINNING OF THE SOCIALIST TRANSFORMATION

In February 1953, the CPC Central Committee adopted a Resolution "On mutual labor assistance and cooperation in agricultural production", and at the end of the same year, a new Resolution of the CPC Central Committee "On the development of agricultural production cooperation"was adopted.

In the same year, the socialist transformation of agriculture was identified as one of the tasks of the CPC general line during the transition period: "In a fairly long period of time, the socialist industrialization of the country should be gradually realized, and socialist transformations should be gradually carried out in agriculture, handicraft industry, and in commercial and industrial enterprises that are in the hands of private capital."⁴. This general line was adopted by the National People's Congress in 1954 and is represented in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. The initial stage on the path of this transformation of agriculture was the lowest-level agricultural production cooperatives, which were created, as a rule, on the basis of permanent mutual assistance groups. The lowest type of cooperative consisted of an average of 30-40 households. In these cooperatives, the peasants conducted collective farming on the combined land and with the help of means of production, the ownership of which remained with their previous owners.

The economic expression of the separation of land use from land ownership was the payment of remuneration for land in the distribution of income in the cooperative. The methods of remuneration varied in different cooperatives, but their essence was reduced to two main ones: establishing a fixed ratio of remuneration for land and for labor spent on the cooperative's farm, or determining a fixed amount as a reward-

for the land. Each member of the cooperative had the right to leave a so-called household plot for personal use, the area of which, according to the draft Approximate Charter of an agricultural production cooperative, should not exceed 5% of the land belonging to each resident of the village.⁵

The initial stage of cooperation - the creation of lower-type cooperatives-took place, in general, gradually and on the basis of the voluntary nature of those who joined these cooperatives, which did not exclude the work of uniting peasants by representatives of the local administration and party organizations. By the end of 1954, there were already more than 114 thousand agricultural production cooperatives of the lowest type, which united 2% of the country's peasant farms. By the end of March of the following year, 14% of peasant households were already in such cooperatives.⁶

The first five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the People's Republic of China stipulated that by the end of 1957, one-third of all peasant farms should be involved in lower-type cooperatives.⁷ The formation of lower-level cooperatives, which took place gradually and mainly on the principle of voluntary activity, did not cause protests from the peasantry, and the situation of social stability remained in the villages.

The transition to the creation of agricultural production cooperatives of the highest type was carried out in parallel with the mechanization of agriculture. "A gradual transition from the lowest form of cooperation in combination with elementary improvements in agricultural technology to the highest form of cooperation in combination with agricultural mechanization and other agrotechnical improvements - this is the way to continuously raise agricultural production in our country," the text of the 1st five - year plan ⁸ said. Nevertheless, since the second half of 1955, there has been a sharp acceleration in the pace of cooperation, and cooperation tasks have been significantly increased. By mid-1956, 92% of all peasant farms were already part of agricultural cooperatives, and 63.2% - in cooperatives of the highest type. These cooperatives were fairly large economic units that united 150-200, and sometimes more, peasant households.⁹

"THE COMMUNIST PLAGUE"

Forced co-operation, poorly prepared in material and organizational terms, was not unconditionally supported by the peasants, in some areas it caused their protest: people demanded to leave the cooperatives, took their previously owned livestock and agricultural implements, divided crops and grain. This discontent was offset by the rise of the movement for the creation of people's communes during the implementation of the "three red banners" policy from mid-1958, which included the new general line, the "big leap" and people's communes.

The "communist plague" swept the country: the peasants were promised free food, free services of all kinds, and the use of all the property of the communes. Communes were created under the slogan "large and general", they really united all the means of production and household items. So-called labor armies were created, labor registration and control were not assumed, and free food was established, which was most attractive for the poor peasantry, which at that time was predominant.

The movement for the creation of communes coincided with the organization of the" great leap forward " in industry. The high grain harvest obtained in 1958, estimated in official sources at 250 million tons (according to other estimates-about 200 million tons) - 35.1% more than the level of 195710, supported the state of"communization euphoria". In August 1958, there were 8.7 thousand people's communes (30.4% - the share of participating peasant households), in December 1958, this share reached 99.1%, the number of communes - 26.6 thousand. On average, each commune had 4,637 households.¹¹

The actual disorganization of the economy in the communes, unfavorable weather conditions led to a decrease in harvest in 1959-1961 and the failure of the "three red banners" policy. This turned into an agricultural crisis in the early 60s of the XX century, the death of hundreds of thousands of people from starvation. The country partially compensated for the decline in agricultural production by importing food; in 1961-1963, 16.68 million tons of grain were imported.

In 1961-1962, the economic structure of communes was dismantled. The main self-supporting unit within communes is the production team, which is the size of 30-40 yards - corresponding to lower-type cooperatives. Members of the brigades were given back their homesteads, were no longer forbidden to engage in ancillary trades, and were allowed to trade in rural markets.¹² The official press of that time pointed out that "the system in which the self-supporting unit is the production team, which independently organizes production and distribution of income, fully corresponds to the level of development of the productive forces in the country and the level of consciousness of the members of communes" ¹³.

A NEW APPROACH

It is no exaggeration to say that a fateful stage for the countryside, agriculture and the whole country was the reform in the agricultural sector, which was initiated by the decision of the 3rd Plenum of the CPC Central Committee of the 11th convocation, held in December 1978. The Plenum put forward grandiose tasks of modernizing the country, which could not be solved without accelerating the development of agriculture. it seemed possible. The situation in this sector of the economy by the end of the 70s caused serious concern to the country's leadership: agricultural production and, above all, grain production did not meet the growing demand. The average annual growth rate for the period 1971-1977 - 2.36% - barely kept pace with the population growth (2% per year), despite the fact that the growth of gross agricultural output was about 3.5%. The country maintained a normalized supply of rice, vegetable oil, and sugar.

In the" Decision on certain issues of accelerating agricultural development " adopted by the plenum, the main guidelines for eco were defined-

economic structure of the village, implementation of technical re-equipment of agriculture, social policy guidelines are outlined. "In order to quickly change the current state of agricultural backwardness," the Decision said, " we must focus on implementing certain policies and measures in the next two or three years aimed at accelerating the development of agriculture, easing the burden on the peasants and increasing their incomes, and on this basis gradually modernize agriculture."¹⁴.

The "decision" outlined a program consisting of 25 points in the field of agrarian policy, the first place among which was assigned to the regulation of the still formally existing people's communes. First of all, it was recommended to strengthen the production teams economically.

Organizational and economic changes that were made in the village in accordance with party decisions after the 3rd plenum of the CPC Central Committee of the 11th convocation in 1981-1984 led to the approval of family farming on the basis of land contracts as the main form of farming in the village. Social adaptation of peasants to farming on the basis of a family contract was easy, since the transition to the form of farming that was closest to the material conditions of production was carried out, especially since assignment of tasks to the peasant household existed as a form of organizing production in many areas since the days of cooperation.

The land contract period, originally set at 3-5 years, was extended to 15 years in 1984 and 30 years in the 1990s. Changes in the land use system were legislated in the " Law of the People's Republic of China on Agriculture "(1986, 2004) and the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Rural Land Contracts" (2002). The peasant family received land for use from the collective farm of their village. It could be one or several sections. According to surveys, the national average land area per family in 1999 was 0.53 ha15. The nature of ownership of land transferred to a peasant family under a contract did not change. Land in the village was considered collective property. The subject of property rights could be: a collective economic organization of the village, or in case of its absence-a committee of villagers.

Structural reforms in the village have played a positive role in reviving its economy. The volume of agricultural production in 1985 - after 7 years from the beginning of the reform - increased by about 2.6 times, grain production increased by 24.4%, the average per capita indicator increased from 327 kg in 1978 to 361 kg in 1985. The problem of ensuring food security of the country remained burning: it was not possible to exceed or reach the production corresponding to the indicator of 400 kg of grain per capita.

The village received a significant boost in economic activity as a result of replacing centralized purchases and marketing of agricultural products with contractual purchases. Since 1985, grain and cotton purchases have been made under contracts concluded with direct producers. State-owned and cooperative trade enterprises were required to enter into a contract with farmers for the purchase of a certain amount of products before starting sowing operations.

In accordance with the document "Ten guidelines of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council of the People's Republic of China for further revitalizing the rural economy", it was established that 30% of the purchased grain volume is paid at the previous prices of centralized purchases, and 70% - at established over-planned prices. Grain remaining after the sale, in accordance with the contract, could be freely supplied to the market. The same guidelines were applied to cotton purchases. Farmers who signed a contract to sell grain and cotton were required to sell mineral fertilizers at fixed state prices and provide loans on preferential terms.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTRACTING SYSTEM

The economic reform in the countryside, which became the engine of reforming the economic system of the whole country, made the peasant family the main subject of land use. Farming on the basis of a family contract, being essentially small-scale production, had limited opportunities for large-scale modernization of the agricultural sector. The country's leadership determined the development of the contracting system in the direction of expanding the scale of land use.

Starting in the mid-80s of the 20th century, party and government documents for almost 35 years contained recommendations for supporting larger forms of farming: specialized households, associations of peasant households with each other, as well as with industrial and commercial enterprises, on the terms of making land as a share, as well as other forms consolidation of land plots. "Plan to increase grain production by 50 million tons (2009-2020)" contains a recommendation: guided by the law, on the basis of the principle of voluntariness and compensation, to encourage the transfer of contract management rights on land. In order to facilitate and guide this process, create a three-stage service system at the county, parish and village levels, and provide priority support to specialized households, large family farms, and specialized peasant cooperatives.¹⁶

The process of modernization of the organizational and economic structure took place more actively in the economically developed regions of the country - in the east and north-east. Expanding the scope of market regulation also made it easier to resolve organizational issues in these regions. In general, by the beginning of the XXI century, in terms of improving the level and quality of life of peasants, material and technical re-equipment of the industry, the village was increasingly lagging behind the city, and the unfavorable situation of many poor rural areas was slowly being overcome.

Recognition by the country's leadership of the fact that the agricultural sector is not able to solve the problems of agriculture based only on internal reserves,

This led the CCP to make some adjustments to its agricultural policy. The policy of coordinated economic and social development of the city and the countryside, of" reverse feeding "agriculture by the industry in order to "repay debts to the village", and of increasing its financial support - these are the main parameters of this adjustment. The need to take into account the interests of peasants in solving land issues and taxation was also an integral part of the management's guidelines.

An important incentive for the adjustment of agricultural policy in the direction of greater consideration of the interests of farmers was their performances in a number of districts. At the beginning of 2002, at a meeting of the CPC Central Committee on rural work, Deputy Chairman of the Communist Party of China. Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Wen Jiabao admitted that the party's policy is not carried out in the village, the Center does not control the situation, and in many rural areas there is a situation of readiness for rebellion. According to a report prepared by the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the Research Center of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, in 2000 the ratio of urban and rural incomes ranged from 5:1 to 60:1, depending on the district. It was emphasized that "as the disproportionate development of the Chinese economy continues, it becomes quite obvious that rural problems are explosive and can have an increasing impact on the overall situation in the country"¹⁷. In order to stabilize the situation, the country's leadership has taken extraordinary measures. The main ones are as follows: 1) the abolition of the agricultural tax (2006); 2) the introduction of additional surcharges to farmers who produce grain, for the purchase of improved elite seeds, for the purchase of agricultural machinery, tools and other means of production, bonuses to large counties specializing in the production of cereals, oilseeds and pigs; 3) the introduction of minimum purchase prices for the purchase of grain; 4) introduction of a contract system in forestry, assigning contracts for forest plots to peasant households; 5) reform of the system of vocational education in the countryside and exemption from payment for it; 6) introduction of a system of cooperative medicine in the countryside.

Measures to support agriculture, increase the level of modern scientific and technical equipment of the industry provided a noticeable increase in production and incomes of farmers, while reducing the number of people employed in this area of production to 33.6% in 2012 compared to 70.5% in 1978. Grain production over the 35-year period of farming on the basis of a family contract increased from 304.77 million tons per year. in 1978 to 601.94 million tons in 2013-almost twofold, grain production per person employed in agriculture increased from 1,076 tons in 1978 to 2,129 tons in 2012, grain yield increased from 25.3 centners / ha in 1978 to 53.8 centners / ha in 2013-in 2.1 times. The technical and technological characteristics of the industry have significantly improved. The share of effectively irrigated area has exceeded 40% of arable land, the capacity of agricultural equipment has increased, and the share of sown area processed by machinery is approaching an average of 70%¹⁸. The average per capita grain production rate of 412.82 kg (2012) is sufficient reason to consider the food problem largely solved. Nevertheless, the task of solving it in a country with a population exceeding 1 billion 350 million people is considered paramount. "It is necessary to accelerate the development of modern agriculture and increase the integrated production capacity of the industry," Party Chairman Hu Jintao said in a report to the XVIII CPC Congress, "in order to reliably ensure the state's food security and efficient supply of agricultural products." ¹⁹

The problem of lack of arable land resources is a serious limiting factor in the development of the village economy. The question of how, with 10% of the world's arable land and 6.5% of the world's water resources, to feed 20% of the world's population, has been facing the Chinese leadership for many years. This is reflected in the materials of the CPC congresses, plenums of the CPC Central Committee, sessions of the National People's Congress and the work of the Chinese Government. In March 2014, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, in a report on the work of the Government, again noted the need to "strictly maintain the red line of arable land area", defined at ¹²⁰ million ha20. Various ways of solving this problem are being sought, including with the involvement of the external economic factor. China, in the framework of the "go outside" doctrine (zou chu qu), practices long-term lease of arable land in other countries for the purpose of producing agricultural products with material and technical support and providing labor to the tenant country. The corresponding section of manufactured products is provided. This can be an auxiliary tool for solving the food problem.

CHALLENGES GENERATED BY ACHIEVEMENTS

The implementation of rural transformation and reform over the course of the PRC's 65-year existence has made it possible to transform agriculture to a large extent into a more modern industry. At the same time, the agricultural sector has accumulated a lot of very complex problems that require immediate, expensive measures to overcome them.

One of them, and the most difficult to overcome, was that compared to the needs of economic development and the needs of the population, China is insufficiently provided with arable land. Currently, the country has approximately 120 million hectares, while, according to Chinese scientists, it is necessary to have at least 140 million hectares in agricultural turnover.

The country's leadership is faced with the task of ensuring the economical and rational use of available space. In 2014, for the first time in many years, the use of arable land for State construction was reduced. The absolute value of the withdrawal left 610 thousand hectares, which is 16.5% less than in 2013. ²¹

Over the years, the country has made efforts to compensate for the lack of arable land by increasing the intensity of its use. Of course, this was a forced measure, due to the need to-

We can provide food and raw materials to a rapidly growing population and the needs of a developing industry. To achieve these goals, especially after the sharp decline in food production and famine in the early 60s, all the means available at that time were used: increasing the production and use of chemical fertilizers, reducing forests in some areas, draining swamps and small lakes in order to plow land for food production.

But at the same time, there was a rapid growth of small businesses - many tens of millions of them sprang up all over the country, which did not have any treatment facilities and effective environmental control over their activities. All this had a detrimental effect on the state of the country's natural ecosystem. By the beginning of the XXI century, the accumulated effect of soil, water and air pollution had brought the country to the brink of an ecological catastrophe.

The most significant damage to the natural environment in rural areas was caused by the use of chemical fertilizers, chemical means of controlling agricultural pests, the widespread use of polyethylene film, etc. The use of these means with the transition to family farming, and previously insufficiently controlled by local agronomic authorities, turned out to be almost without any supervision at all. The use of chemical fertilizers grew especially rapidly in the 2000s, which raised the question not only about the harm to the natural environment, but also about the safety for humans of products produced in these conditions.

In the late 1950s, 2.3 kg of mineral fertilizers were applied to 1 ha of arable land in China, in the late 70s-58.9 kg, in the early 90s-174.6 kg, in 2000 - 265.3 kg, in 2012 this figure reached 480 kg, i.e. In 2012, chemical fertilizers were applied to the soil 8 times more than in the late 70s, almost 3 times more than in the early 90s, and 80% more than in 2000, while the arable area remained almost unchanged. The amount of chemical fertilizers used in the industry exceeded by more than 2 times the norm of their use allowed in international practice - 225 kg per 1 ha of arable land22.

With 10% of the world's arable land, China uses 35% of the world's total pesticides and fertilizers. 65% of them are not absorbed by plant crops and remain in the soil, getting into water sources. Diagnostics of the soil condition based on 78 indicators indicates that in most regions the soil is classified as "heavily polluted", heavy metals were found on more than 20 million hectares, and 3.33 million hectares of arable land were recognized as not suitable for farming at all. ²³

In addition to fertilizers, soil contamination also occurs as a result of the annual ingress of approximately 500 thousand tons of polyethylene film, widely used by farmers, which remains in it for many years, in addition to 60-70% of the insecticides remaining in the soil.

In the "Document No. 1" published on January 19, 2014 (an annual list of priority tasks for the next 12 months issued by the CPC Central Committee), the Government's special attention is focused primarily on the problem of agricultural land degradation.

The World Bank estimates that over the past decade, environmental degradation has caused between 8 and 12% of GDP annually.²⁴ Periodically, mass riots caused by environmental problems break out in many regions of China, and their number increases annually ²⁵.

At the 3rd plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee held in Beijing in November 2013 and the 2nd session of the 12th National People's Congress held in March 2014, one of the main issues discussed was the environmental situation, which, according to the Chinese leadership, despite the measures taken, continues to worsen.

At the above-mentioned 3rd plenum of the CPC Central Committee of the 18th convocation, the issue of changing the status of the environmental protection apparatus at different levels, tightening environmental legislation, equalizing the interests of economic development and ecology, and changing the financing system was raised.²⁶ In the adopted "Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on some important issues of Comprehensive deepening of reforms" and documents of the 2nd session of the 12th National People's Congress, sections related to environmental protection and the use of natural resources are highlighted in separate paragraphs. The country's leadership recognized the existence of "outstanding colossal tasks in this area, as well as the need to improve the management system for the use of natural resources and property rights to them." ²⁷

"IT'S NOT BEER THAT KILLS PEOPLE..."

Another serious problem is both economic and purely environmental in nature. Moreover, it is so serious that failure to overcome it threatens with disastrous consequences not only for the current, but also for future generations. This problem is the reduction of water reserves and the deterioration of water quality*.

China is home to 20% of the world's population, accounting for only 6.5% of the world's water resources. They are very unevenly distributed: the northern, central and eastern regions of the country lack water not only for production, but also for personal consumption. In the central-southern part of the country - the basins of the Yangtze River and rivers south of the Yangtze - water reserves account for more than 80% of the country's total flow. In the basins of the Yellow River, Haihe and Huaihe rivers, the reserve of water resources is only 7.2% of the total volume of water reserves in the country. Although these areas account for 1/3 of total food production and about the same amount of GDP and population ²⁸.

A big problem for the country is the contamination of ground water and water in river basins by the effluents of many millions of small enterprises that do not have treatment facilities, excessive amounts of fertilizers applied to the fields, plastic film residues, and others. All this affects the health safety of the manufactured agricultural products-

* For more information, see the article by E. I. Kranina in the journal "Asia and Africa Today". 2015. N 3.

products. The water of 75% of rivers and lakes is so toxic that it is not even suitable for watering and breeding fish. In 90% of cases, contamination of various degrees of severity is observed in groundwaters, and in 60% it already poses a danger to human health.

Large losses in the agricultural sector occur from droughts, 20-30 million hectares suffer from them annually, which is 1/6 of all arable land. The development of industry and the agricultural sector, not to mention the domestic needs of the population, leads to the consumption of more and more water every year. Numerous plants and factories use it 4 times more per unit of product produced than the world average.

Every year in the early 2000s, China collected up to 12 million tons of grain contaminated with heavy metals. According to Chinese experts, more than 300 million farmers, or almost 1/5 of the country's population, consumed contaminated drinking water29.

The Chinese authorities pin their hopes for solving the problem of water supply on the construction of a canal under the South-North project. In December 2002, the State Council of the People's Republic of China approved a "Comprehensive plan for the transfer of water from the southern regions of the country to the northern ones." The main principles of work were defined: save water before transfer, eliminate pollution before starting water, and protect the environment before using water. According to the plan, the total volume of water transferred is 44.8 billion cubic meters, the water supply area is 1.45 million square kilometers, and the population that will be provided with water is 438 million people. The construction time of the canal is approximately 40-50 years. In December 2014, water was launched along the central branch of the canal from the Danjiangkou Reservoir (prov. Hubei, Yangtze River) to Beijing ³⁰.

A lot of work is being done to purify water in rivers and lakes, and the planting of forests cut down in the 1960s and 1970s is being restored.

In 2014, forest plantations were made on an area of 6.02 million hectares. The share of the country's territory occupied by forest in 2010 is 20.36%, and by 2020 the forest cover ratio should reach 24% (for comparison, the share of forests in 1949 was 8.6% of the territory of China).³¹.

CHANGING THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION

High rates of economic development of the country, rapid growth of industry, and in volosts and settlements, including light ones, led to a change in the social structure of the population.

China has transformed from a country with an absolute predominance of rural population to an industrially developed country with a predominant population of cities and towns - it was 749.16 million people in 2014, an increase of 18.05 million people over the year, and its share in the country's population is 54.77% ³².

The population of parishes and villages is characterized by a different trend: for many years this population has been decreasing, its share in the total population of the country has been decreasing. In 2010, the shares of rural and urban populations were almost equal: rural population - 50.32%, urban-49.68%. In 2011, the urban population - 690.8 million people, or 51.3% - exceeded the rural population for the first time in the country's history - 656.6 million people, or 48.7% ³³.

The departure from agriculture of a significant part of the young labor force to the city, the aging of the main army of rural producers, and the emptying of villages are recent trends in the Chinese countryside. Today, mostly old people, women and children work in Chinese fields. Female labor in agriculture has become predominant.

The outflow of labor from the countryside for temporary employment has always been a characteristic feature of labor relations. The trend of employment outside agriculture is increasing following the growth of industrial construction in urban and rural areas. The scale of movement of the village's labor force is impressive. In 2014, the number of peasants working in their places of residence, but not engaged in agriculture, was 105.74 million people, another 168.21 million people worked in other cities or towns, but did not have a permanent registration there. This group of peasants is defined in Chinese statistics as " both peasants and workers "(nongmin gong). The total number of these two groups is 273.95 million ³⁴.

As a rule, these peasants are the most able-bodied, sufficiently literate and probably have some specialty. They temporarily leave the village, return to peasant work on their own farm after the end of their term of work on the side, but try to gain a foothold in the village or in the city whenever possible. Some farmers manage to do this, and then they are counted among those who increase the population of cities and towns (in 2014-18.05 million people). Both groups undoubtedly weaken the rural labor resources, but so far this does not affect the indicators of economic development of agriculture, which cannot be ruled out in the future.

"WHO'S HAVING FUN TODAY..."

Measures to support agriculture, increase the level of modern scientific and technical equipment of the industry provided a noticeable increase not only in production, but also in the income of farmers. To a large extent, this is due to the outflow of labor from the village for temporary employment outside the village.

In the 2000s, there is a trend of faster growth in the share of income of peasants from the salary they receive for working in cities and towns in the average per capita income of a peasant family. If before that the share of income from farming by the family was predominant in the average per capita income of farmers, in 2013 the income in the form of wages has already reached 45.4%. This trend continued to grow in 2014-2015. In 2014, the net per capita income of farmers was 9,892 yuan per year, while the income of non-agricultural workers was 2,864 yuan per month.³⁵

Due to the growth of employment opportunities for farmers outside the agricultural sector, the process of their property stratification is actively taking place. While in the early 2000s, the income ratio of farmers in the high-income group and the low-income group was 3.5: 1, in 2012 the ratio was 8.2:1. ³⁶ In Chinese statistics, farmers with an average per capita income of less than 2,300 yuan per year are classified as poor. In 2014, their number was as follows:-

70.2 million people ³⁷. This is about 10 million fewer people than in the mid-90s of the XX century - 80 million people, when the "Program to Combat Rural Poverty" was adopted. Nevertheless, this is a significant share in the rural population - 11.3% and employed in rural areas-18.5% ³⁸. Traditionally, the income gap between the three major regions of the country - Eastern, Central and Western-persists, although it tends to decrease.

The new stable state of the economy, which the Chinese leadership has defined as the development goal for the coming years, implies, among other things, ensuring better growth of the rural economy, reducing the differences between the country's regions and between urban and rural areas.

In recent years, China has been paying more and more attention to the above-mentioned problems, which are now not only economic and environmental, but also social in nature.

COURSE FOR CREATING A NEW TYPE OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

With regard to the continuation of reforms in rural areas, the task is to accelerate the transformation of the model of economic development: the creation of a new type of economic system of the agricultural sector, ensuring sustainable growth of production, its specialization and efficiency, while expanding the scale of the economy and the ability to solve social problems. The solution of this problem does not receive the support of the rural population in all districts. The infringement of the interests of peasants due to the involvement of land in the sphere of market relations, the relocation of villagers to the so-called socialist villages, while depriving them of not only contract land, but also personal plots of land, led to their widespread protest actions. Such transformations were carried out on a large scale: in 2011-2012, approximately 80-100 natural villages disappeared in one day in the country. Ten years ago, there were 3.6 million natural villages in China, and in 2012, there were 2.7 million left.³⁹

Due to the transformation of villages and the development of non-agricultural production, small towns and cities are growing more intensively. In 2013, the level of urbanization was 53.73%⁴⁰, the permanent population of cities and towns (731.11 million people) already exceeds the permanent population of parishes and villages. The new type of urbanisation involves reforming the system of registration of a huge layer of the rural population - "both workers and peasants", whose number in 2013 is estimated to be the same as in 2014. it was 245 million people ⁴¹. It is planned to grant this category of employees more complete civil and social rights: completely abolish restrictions on registration in towns and small towns, partially abolish them in medium-sized cities, and only in exceptional cases lift restrictions in large cities. It is supposed to equalize rural residents with urban residents in the enjoyment of all social rights. Rural residents who move to cities and participate in health and social insurance programs in the village will participate in the same programs for the urban population.

There is no doubt that the standard of living of the peasantry has improved, although in 2013, the number of poor peasants in need of assistance to ensure a living wage (the average per capita annual income is 2,300 yuan; as of July 2015, 10 yuan was equal to $1.60) was 82.4 million people.⁴²

The village continues to move along the path of reforms, and the urgent task is considered to be the simultaneous implementation of its industrialization, modernization, informatization and urbanization, as emphasized in official documents, as it enters the crucial stage of fully building a medium-income society (2020) ^.43

¹ Calculated according to the People's Daily. 20.01.2014; The Great Decade. Statistical data on progress in the economic and cultural construction of the PRC. Beijing, 1950, p. 106.

² Economic successes of the People's Republic of China-1949-1953, Moscow, 1954, p. 160.

³ Ibid., p. 30.

⁴ People's China. 1954, N 8.

⁵ Model Charter of the Highest type Agricultural Cooperative of the People's Republic of China. Beijing, 1956.

⁶ Key indicators of development of national economy, people's Republic of China. M., 1958. S. 51.

⁷ Materials of the second session of the National People's Congress, Moscow, 1956, p. 440.

⁸ Ibid., p. 340.

⁹ Tongji gongzuo tongxun. 1956, N 15. P. 13.

¹⁰ The Great Decade, pp. 105, 106.

¹¹ Ibid., p. 36.

¹² Dagong bao. 10.04; 05.07.1963.

¹³ People's Daily. 11.06.1962.

¹⁴ Ibid. 06.10.1979.

^{Cai Fan} 15, Wang Dewen, Du Yang. Chinese Village: Reforms and changes. Analysis of 30 years of history and experience. Shanghai, 2008. p. 66.

¹⁶ Zhongguo renmin gonghego gouyuan gongbao (Bulletin of the State Council of the People's Republic of China). 2010, N 35. P. 22.

¹⁷ Zhengming, 2002, No. 2; Cited in: "China: Domestic Political and Social Problems". Express-informatsiya, Moscow, IDV RAS, 2006, No. 12.

¹⁸ Zhongguo tongji nianjian 2012. Beijing, 2012, p. 463.

¹⁹ People's Daily. 18.11.2012.

²⁰ Ibid. 25.11.2013.

²¹ Ibid. 26.02.2015.

²² Calculated according to the " Modern problems of the PRC. Analytics of Tsinghua University scientists". Express information of IDV RAS. Moscow, 2014.

²³ http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjfx/ztfx/jnggkf30n/t20131106_402514956.htm на стр. 12

²⁴ http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/sci/tech/newsid_1757000/1757433.stm на стр. 18

²⁵ http://www.epochtimes.ru/content/view/70248/4/

²⁶ http: russian. china.org.cn, 28.01.2014.

²⁷ People's Daily. 15.11.2013.

²⁸ Kitai Publ., 2015, No. 2, pp. 19-20.

²⁹ People's Republic of China. Politika, ekonomika, kul'tura, 2007. Moscow, 2008, pp. 175-176.

³⁰ China. 2015. N 2. pp. 21-22.

³¹ People's Republic of China. 2010-2011. Moscow, 2011. pp. 178,180.

³² People's Daily. 26.02.2015.

³³ People's Daily. 01.03.2011.

³⁴ People's Daily. 26.02.2015.

³⁵ Ibid.

³⁶ Calculated by: People's Daily. 04.02.2013; Blue Book on Social Problems in China. Beijing, 2012. p. 20.

³⁷ People's Daily. 26.02.2015.

³⁸ Nongmin Daily. 01.03.1994; People's Daily. 20.02.2015.

³⁹ China, 2013, No. 9.

⁴⁰ People's Daily. 20.01.2014.

⁴¹ Ibid.

⁴² Ibid.; 24.02.2014.

⁴³ Ibid., 18.11.2012; 24.02.2014.

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