Trend and types of the scale farming operation in China Zuhui Huang, Shaosheng Jin, and etc. China Academy for Rural Development (CARD) of Zhejiang University, China For the topic of Agro-holdings and other types of mega-farming operations in developed and emerging economies, the pre-conference workshop of the International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE), on August 7-8, 2015, Milan, Italian
Motivation Agriculture in China is often characterized as a small-scale farming. In recent years, however, it has witnessed the widespread of increased scale (or large-scale) of farming operation. large-scale operation of vegetables and fruits
What is the nature of scale farming operation? How do Chinese farmers carry out the scale of farming operation? What is the future trend? large-scale operation of cereals
Objective To discuss the meaning of the moderate scale of farming operation. To analyze three types of the scale farming operations in China, by cases as follows: (1) the scale farming based on land; (2) the scale farming based on the professional service; (3) the scale farming based on the stereo-agriculture by changing farming system. To explore the trends of the scale farming operation in China.
3. 2. 1. Situation of the size structure of farming operation in China Meaning and types of the scale farming operation 4. Three types of the scale farming operation in China Conclusion and trend of the scale farming operation in China CONTENTS CONTENTS 5
1. Situation of the size structure of farming operation in China -- taking the crop farming as an example Average land for each farm household in relevant countries Ultra small size: Regions China (220 million farm household) Hectares 0.6 Japan 1.4 South Korea 1.2 the United States 195.2 Western European countries 18 to 69
Ultra small size:
Ultra small size:
Table 1 Average cultivated land of rural family by regions China (2008) Differences between regions of China 15 mu=1ha. Regions/Provinces Average cultivated land of rural households (mu*) Heilongjiang 40.18 Inner Mongolia 33.10 Jilin 23.11 Ningxia 21.54 Xinjiang 21.25 Gansu 18.03 Tibet 15.27 Yunnan 12.87 Hainan 12.36 Shanxi 11.99 Liaoning 11.59 Guizhou 11.01 Anhui 9.56 Shanxi 9.42 Hebei 8.94 Hubei 8.92 ** National average 8.74 Tianjin 8.49 Shandong 8.22 Henan 8.10 Jiangsu 7.51 Qinghai 7.41 Jiangxi 7.05 Guangxi 6.01 Hunan 6.01 Shanghai 5.36 Fujian 4.40 Sichuan 3.99 Chongqing 3.77 Guangdong 3.30 Zhejiang 2.28 Beijing 0.69 Data source: "China Environmental Statistics Yearbook" and the statistical yearbook of relevant regions 2009.
Figure 1: The average cultivated land of Chinese rural households by provinces in 2008 (unit: mu) Data source: "China Environmental Statistics Yearbook" and the statistical yearbook of relevant regions 2009.
2. Meaning and types of the scale farming operation Meaning of the scale farming operation The phenomenon of various scales in agriculture based on the farm household should be paid more attention, and the moderate scale should be pursued. In a sense, the moderate scale of agriculture base on farm household is determined by the concept of the comparative advantage or the opportunity cost in stead of the technology. It could be said therefore that the moderate scale of agricultural operation is a dynamic concept, and given technology, it will get increasing with the income growth engaged in the non agricultural sector. It should be also noted that there are multiple forms of agricultural scale operation, and the land scale operation is just one of them according to the concept of the moderate scale of agriculture.
Agricultural product types in terms of relevant input factors Land-intensive product: such as grain and other bulk agricultural product Capital-intensive product: such as the processed agricultural product and greenhouse agricultural product Labor-intensive product: mainly refer to vegetable, fruit, tea, and aquaculture product
Land-intensive products in Agriculture
Capital-intensive products In Agriculture
Capital-intensive products in agriculture
Labor-intensive products in agriculture
Decisive factors of the scale operation for different agricultural products Land-intensive product relation of the land and the capital Capital-intensive product variable cost Labor-intensive product relation of the fixed cost and relation of labor and capital
3. Three types of the scale farming operation in China The first type: the scale operation of land (1) Scale operation of the land based on the transfer of the land use right Net revenue Table 2: Operating size and revenue from sample households in 2012 (unit: RMB) Below 50 Mu % of total revenue 50-100 Mu % of total revenue 100-200 Mu %of total revenue Over 200 Mu %of total revenue planting 24772.50 71.89 22339.13 63.82 71773.80 97.85 626640.80 99.09 Livestock 7506.52 21.78 12502.20 35.72 1575.63 2.15 5768.25 0.91 Aquaculture 2166.66 6.29 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Forestry 11.90 0.03 160.16 0.46 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Total 34457.58 100.00 35001.49 100.00 73349.43 100.00 632409.05 100.00
Two features The revenue and the grain planting is closely related with the expansion of the planting scale (see table 2) The relation of the operating scale and the yield level per capita: at the beginning, it was up, and then began to fall with the expansion of the planting scale (see table 3). Table 3: Grain yield by different varieties from sample households in 2012 ( kg/mu ) Average Early rice Middle-sea son rice Late rice Spring wheat Winter wheat Soybean All sample 404.27 520.70 499.24 555.55 400.00 408.44 163.96 Below 50 Mu 380.65 482.47 487.66 515.77 401.19 355.41 159.85 50-100 Mu 410.58 528.93 509.61 555.36 397.56 430.33 172.01 100-200 Mu 419.16 545.26 489.31 601.56 404.76 419.79 148.14 Over 200 Mu 386.43 501.61 483.12 545.24 402.18 367.45 157.29
(2) Scale operation of the land based on the shares-cooperative of land The case of the Renfa cooperative Regard the land that farmers transferred as the share, and promise at least 350 yuan per mu (one share); Regard the land that farmers transferred as the investment as well; In the end of 2013, farmers obtained 900 yuan per mu, and only 300 yuan per mu compared with the past.
Mechanized agricultural operation in the Renfa cooperative
Farmers in the Renfa-Coop are happy to get the year-end earnings dividends
The second type: the scale operation based on the professional service There are mainly two forms of professional service in agriculture of China The technical service mainly for the labor intensive product. The mechanical service mainly for the land intensive product.
To take Shandong Province in China as an example There are more than 58% of the rural labor forces to go out to work, and about 1/3 of villages the rate of migrant labor is over 70%. Then they developed various of service-cooperatives and set up a complete service chain in agriculture.
Mechanical service-cooperative
Agricultural products direct-to-the supermarkets by the cooperative s service
The third type: the scale operation based on the stereo-agriculture by changing farming system To take Zhejiang Province of China as an example
Table 4: Farming system in Zhejiang Province Farming types Farming patterns Farming forms Chicken +potato paddy rice chicken Paddy-Chicken rotation mode Chicken + broad bean paddy rice chicken Chicken + barley paddy rice chicken chicken paddy rice chicken Duck raising in winter fallow field paddy rice + duck Mode of combination of yearly croppingpoultry farming duck Planting grass and raising duck paddy rice + duck 1, Combination of planting and-breeding 2, Combination of grain and cash crops 3, Combination of grain and fodder or animal husbandry 4, Compound management of forest land 5, Aquatic eco- breeding Cane shoot-laying duck rotation mode Grain-poultry-potato efficient mode Grain-poultry-vegetable efficient mode Mushroom paddy rice mode Mushroom-cash crop mode Rabbit-grain farming mode Sheep fodder-grain mode Bamboo shoots-chicken co-cultivation mode Mode of bamboo & bamboo shoot interplanted with glabra Clam eco-breeding mode River crab eco-breeding mode Seawater pond breeding mode Cane shoot + laying duck wheat japonica rice + duck Potato japonica rice + duck Mustard paddy rice + duck paddy rice + duck Paddy rice + duck paddy rice + duck Black fungus paddy rice + duck Black fungus paddy rice Taro paddy rice Bamboo shoots paddy rice Rabbit: ryegrass fresh soybean fresh corn Sheep: ryegrass/silkworm breeding and mulberry growing /ryegrass Sheep: ryegrass rosinweed paddy rice Sheep: ryegrass rosinweed ryegrass bamboo & bamboo shoot + chicken bamboo & bamboo shoot interplanted with glabra Clam: silver carp, crucian and black carp Clam: silver carp and crucian Crab: freshwater shrimp silver carp and soft-shelled turtle Crab: freshwater shrimp silver carp and mandarin fish Prawn: black sea bream and scallop
Combination of planting-breeding
Combination of grain and cash crop: Black fungus and paddy rice
Combination of grain-fodder and animal husbandry
Compound management of forest land
Aquatic eco- breeding
4. Conclusions and trend of the scale farming operation in China The size of farming based on household will get increasing but still relatively smaller. The lager size in terms of the professional service might be one approach to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese agriculture. It is also crucial that the climate condition and the resource endowment of the relevant region to influence on the scale type of farming operation except for the features of product.
Thank you for your attention!