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Mr Sun told a visiting delegation of Zimbabwean journalists and information officers, that the foundation for any country in the world was agriculture and China — like Zimbabwe —had premised its economic success on the land reform programme, which it embarked on in 1978.
Zimbabwe, he said, needed to capacitate its new farmers by providing them with inputs and mechanising the sector to achieve maximum yields.
He said it was crucial for the country to give tenure to new farmers by providing them with long term leases against which they could borrow money from financial institutions and invest in their land.
New A2 farmers in Zimbabwe have already been provided with 99-year leases and the farm mechanisation programme launched by the Government ensured that the new farmers were adequately capacitated to work their land.
Mr Sun said the success of the land reform programme in China laid the foundation for the current economic boom as the country’s economic reforms had spread from the rural areas into the urban areas.
He said the crucial period was between 1985-1991 when China launched the second phase of its agricultural reforms. During this era, there were major changes of the land management systems from a planned economy to a free market one.
The Government was still in overall control of bulk supply and distribution of farm produce but farmers could keep some of their yields and sell it to sustain their families.
This spurred them to produce more. To date China produces 500 million tonnes of grain per year and manages to feed its population and export some of its produce.
“With a population of 1,3 billion, we cannot afford not to be self sufficient. China has to feed itself. We have the largest population in the world and cannot afford to import,” said Mr Sun.
Land reforms started in 1978 in China when it adopted the household contract responsibility system. Land was divided among farmers and under this arrangement each household was allocated a certain amount of output to contribute to the Government. Yields improved and Government was excited about this development and rewarded farmers with 15-30 year leases.
The reforms came about after the realisation by the Communist Government that the shortfalls in food then were being caused by the communal system of agriculture which resulted in poor yields as farmers were not motivated to produce.
In 1985, China introduced a dual-track system of buying agricultural products, replacing the allocated purchasing of agricultural products with contract buying.
Control over production and circulation of eggs, aquatic products, vegetable and meat was comprehensively lifted before 1992. Mr Sun said China had embarked on a new phase of agricultural reforms where taxes were abolished. Subsidies had been introduced. The tax on agriculture was abolished in 2005. In the next 15 years, the country would rely heavily on science and technology to increase yields, he said.
Online Reporter