Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Yield would be much higher measured in terms of cultivated area, because
the average multple-croppng rato s usually 1.5 to 1.6. The level of
labour ntensty has been one of the hghest among the world's major gran
producers (see Table A5.2). Due to the rapid increases in marginal costs,
further increases in yields, although possible, are not likely to increase
farmers' ncomes.
Agricultural labour intensity in China, measured by the number of
agricultural workers per hectare of arable land, is 59 per cent higher than
the world average, twice as high as for Japan, 20 times higher than the UK,
Germany, and France, 50 times higher than the US, and 100 times higher
than Australa and Canada (Table A5.2). The cultvated land area n Chna
was only 0.39 hectares per farmer in year 2000. Because of the limitation
of land area, the marginal product of labour diminished rapidly. The low
labour productvty of the agrcultural sector s manly the result of natural
lmtatons n the arable land areas and the huge agrcultural populaton.
Transfer of the agricultural labour force
A major challenge to Chna's agrcultural sector s how to shft a substantal
part of ts huge labour force to non agrcultural sectors. Because of rapd
rural industrialisation, led by the market-oriented reforms of the past 20
years, 100 million rural labourers moved from the agricultural sector to the
township and village enterprise (TVE) sector. Total TVE employment was
128 million in 2000. Rural-urban migration was strictly restricted during
the pre reform and early reform periods, but has increased rapidly since
the late 1980s, partly as a result of the relaxation of the policy and partly
as a result of employment pressures due to the slower growth of TVEs.
Most rural workers migrating to urban areas have done so without officially
changng ther household regstraton status to urban resdents. The number
of these people, so-called 'floating labour', is statistically unavailable. Based
on data from surveys, however, the author estimates that they were 14
mllon n 1990 and they totalled around 47 mllon n year 2000.
5
However, during the period between 1980 and 2000, the total rural
labour force increased from 318 to 499 million (they were re-estimated by
the author as 347 million and 519 million for 1980 and 2000, respectively),
6
as a result of natural populaton growth.
Therefore, in spite of the rapid
