Agriculture and Population in Relation to Economic Planning

Abstract

The. initial agrarian reform program of distribut ing land to the landless won over the poorer rural masses that form the main Chinese population. By staged evolution of co-operative organization, land has now become state property, making almost all Chinese landless in the strict sense. The consolidation of farm land into co-operatively managed units permits policy control, taxation, agricultural public works pro grams, agricultural management, and crop collection to be more effectively handled than was formerly the case. Long-range major improvement programs actually are expanding the farm landscape, developing irrigation, reducing floods, and improving yields. An integral feature of economic planning is a new major birth control program which is just beginning to take effect. The population total now stands close to 640,000,000, with an annual increase of about 11,000,000 and death rates comparable to those in advanced countries. The essentially in tensive agriculture is being further intensified. Some headway is being made and the Chinese population is a little better off in basic, essential needs than it formerly was. Mechanization and other features typical of agricultural improvement elsewhere are being pushed as long-term improvements which are just be ginning to show results.