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Trends in the Value of Agricultural Output, 1978–86*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Robert Michael Field
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Extract

The gross value of agricultural output in the People's Republic of China increased as much in the eight years from 1978 to 1986 as it did in the 21 years from 1957 to 1978. In per capita terms, the average annual rate of growth rose from 0·4 per cent to 4·8 per cent, the most rapid growth for any comparable period since 1949. How was this dramatic turnaround achieved?

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 116 , December 1988 , pp. 556 - 591
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1988

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References

1. During the height of the Leap Forward, the communes diverted a great deal of effort to projects that were useless, such as deep ploughing (that is, turning soil by hand to a depth of six feet) or digging poorly designed irrigation ditches. Following the collapse of the Leap in 1960, the worst excesses were corrected.

2. The implicit price at which commodities are sold to the state is, of course, the weighted average of list price, above-quota price, and negotiated price.

3. Of these, 210,000 were actually sold at negotiated prices.

4. The average price was raised both by increasing the list price and the proportion purchased at above-quota list price.

5. The regions are made up of the following provinces:

North-east: Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning;

North: Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Tianjin;

North-west: Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang;

Centre: Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shanghai, Zhejiang;

South: Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi;

South-west: Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan.

6. The areas that were transferred to Inner Mongolia are as follows:

From Liaoning: Zhaowuda League;

From Jilin: Zhelimu League; Keerqinyouyiqian Banner; Tuquan County;

From Heilongjiang: Hulunbeier League; Elunchun Autonomous Banner; Molidawa

Autonomous Banner;

From Gansu: Ejina Banner; Alashanyou Banner;

From Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region: Alashanzuo Banner.

7. It would also be interesting to examine gross value per agricultural worker, but I could not find consistent data on the number of agricultural workers by province or region.

8. These targets include the value of gathering and hunting as well as the value of crops, forestry, animal husbandry and fishing.

1. They had been 30% higher in 1978.

2. Rural industry is divided into township (formerly commune) and village industry. Township industry had always been important enough to be included in industry.

3. SSB, Statistical Materials 1949–84, p. 107.Google Scholar

4. E.g., the same figures for the gross value of agricultural output in current prices for the years 1982 and earlier have been carried in the statistical yearbooks for 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987 despite the fact that revised data have appeared in other SSB publications.

5. Occasionally unrevised original data are published after revised data have become available. For example, the 1982 figure for village and below-village industry in SSB, Thriving Agriculture, p. 145.Google Scholar It is original even though it was published a year after a revised figure appeared in Statistical Materials 1949–84, p. 107.Google Scholar

6. ZGTJNJ 1983, p. 13.Google Scholar

7. ZGNCTJNJ 1985, p. 21.Google Scholar

1. Data on the value of output produced in urban areas are not available in current prices.