Issues and Challenges in Agricultural Reform

Abstract

There have always been three challenges facing China’s agriculture: to raise food supply with a low per capita land endowment; to create employment opportunities and raise farm incomes; and to improve rural infrastructure for sustained development. Before the rural reforms beginning in the late 1970s, China’s development strategy focused on how to raise productivity through collectivisation. It was thought that the commune system would not only provide full employment in rural areas but also increase incentives for farmers to work. This would ensure rapid growth of farm incomes.