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Grain in Fujian: Intra-provincial Patterns of Production and Trade, 1952–1988

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Thomas P. Lyons
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Extract

Over the past 20 years, studies of grain production and use in China have figured prominently in debates concerning economic efficiency, income disparities and the contours of the Maoist development strategy. Virtually all analysts now agree that grain production in China exhibited a strong tendency toward provincial self-sufficiency and that the inter-provincial grain trade declined during the Maoist era (from the 1950s to 1978), that provincial self-sufficiency obstructed efficient allocation of agricultural resources and contributed to the persistence of poverty, and that the tendency toward selfsufficiency is attributable partly to a policy of “grain first,” which promoted concentration upon grain production in every province regardless of comparative advantage. Recent studies point to significant changes in the pattern of grain production and trade since 1978 and trace these changes to relaxation of “grain first” and introduction of institutional reforms affecting the grain sector.

Type
Research Note
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 129 , March 1992 , pp. 184 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1992

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References

1. For notes on boundaries, initial and terminal periods, sources and abbreviations, see the Appendix.

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13. In this section, total output is the sum of reported output in all counties.

14. Concerning grain bases, see Section VI, below.

15. Figure 4 includes Fujian's five cities. During 1987/88, these cities accounted for 10% of Fujian's population but for only 3.3% of grain output. With the cities included, the index of dissimilarity between grain output and population increases to 15% in 1976–78 and to 20.5% in 1987/88 (as compared to 13.4 and 18.0% in Table 3).

16. See e.g. Lyons, Thomas P., Economic Integration and Planning in Maoist China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987).Google Scholar

17. The Xiamen deficit is calculated using data in XMJJTQ, p. 114Google Scholar. The other four cities must be treated as a composite unit in 1952/57; as a group, they were selfsufficient in grain. This surprising result probably derives partly from using mid-1980s administrative boundaries since, on these boundaries, the “cities” were largely rural and agricultural in the 1950s. The overall patterns and trends described below would not be fundamentally altered by admitting 1952/57 deficits of up to 100 kilograms per capita in Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.

18. Evidence in Section VI indicates that the hypothetical surplus threshold of 400 kilograms per capita is reasonably close to the actual experience of grain-surplus counties. The excess of inflows is probably attributable to urban grain supplies that exceed the minimum necessary supply used in this section.

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23. E.g. FJJJGL, p. 20Google Scholar; FJRB, 5 09 1986, p. 4Google Scholar; FJJJNJ85, pp. 83, 85 and 96Google Scholar. For sown area, FJTJNJ89, p. 97.Google Scholar

24. FJJJNJ85, p. 244Google Scholar; FJFJ, p. 79Google Scholar; and Sun, , pp. 417 and 462.Google Scholar

25. Concerning procurement in western counties, see Tables 8 and 9, below.

26. Guocheng, Chen, “Liangshi diaoyun,” p. 48.Google Scholar

27. FJFJ, p. 95Google Scholar; FJTJNJ87, p. 282.Google Scholar

28. For procurement province-wide, ZGNCJJ85, p. 129.Google Scholar

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30. FJRB, 15 01 1987, p. 1.Google Scholar

31. FJJJNJ86, p. 108Google Scholar; FJRB, 18 03 1986, p. 1Google Scholar; FJRB, 24 12 1988, p. 1Google Scholar. The contract procurement system implemented in 1985 gave grain farmers preferential access to fertilizers and other inputs, at highly subsidized prices. The contract system and its implementation in Fujian are surveyed in Lyons, Thomas P., “The grain trade of Fujian province, 1978–1988” (07 1990).Google Scholar

32. Guocheng, Chen, “Liangshi diaoyun,” p. 48.Google Scholar

33. FJJJGL, p. 227Google Scholar; FJJJNJ86, p. 298Google Scholar; FJJJNJ87, pp. 310 and 379Google Scholar; FJJJNJ88, pp. 249 and 309–310Google Scholar; FJRB, 4 02 1987, p. 2.Google Scholar

34. FJJJNJ88, pp. 308 and 612Google Scholar; XMTJNJ89, p. 151Google Scholar; FJRB, 14 02 1986, p. 1Google Scholar; and FJJJNJ88, p. 304Google Scholar. Volume (of all goods) on inland waterways reported declined after the early 1980s; however, reported volumes pertain to state transport departments only. Private transport has boomed.

35. FJRB, 9 12 1986, p. 1Google Scholar; FJRB, 20 09 1986, p. 2Google Scholar; FJJJNJ87, pp. 285, 294 and 306Google Scholar. Total purchases and sales of grain in 1986 were 6.71 million tons, of which the state handled 5.04 million.

36. FJJJNJ89, p. 299Google Scholar; FJRB, 18 11 1986, p. 2Google Scholar; FJRB, 5 02 1986, p. 1Google Scholar; FJRB, 21 12 1986, p. 1.Google Scholar

37. For inter-provincial data, Lyons, , Economic Integration, pp. 45 and 49.Google Scholar

38. E.g. Lyons, , Economic Integration, and works cited therein.Google Scholar

39. Total output in 1986 was 7.51 million tons, original weight; Figure 1. Agricultural uses (consumption, feed, seed and other uses) totalled 7.67 million tons, original weight; FJJJNJ87, p. 305Google Scholar. Purchases from agriculture were 1.64 million tons, trade weight; FJTJNJ87, p. 282Google Scholar. Sales to agriculture, including disaster and poverty relief, were about 1.76 million tons, trade weight, i.e. 0.75 ×(7.67 – 7.51) + 1.64.

40. Feitian, Chen and Huakai, Jiang, “Liangshi jingji jiegou,” pp. 32–33.Google Scholar

41. E.g. FJJJNJ86, p. 295.Google Scholar

42. FJTJNJ88, pp. 154–55Google Scholar; and FJRB, 26 02 1988, p. 1.Google Scholar