Trend in Rural China: Agricultural Industrial Organization, Technological Advancement, and the Transfer of Agricultural Surplus Labor

Author: Zuo Jiajun Ying, Fang Qiyun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: The transfer of agricultural surplus labor is a phenomenon common to the economic development processes of all countries and a global historical process. However, compared to other countries, China has a massive stock of agricultural surplus labor while its per capita agricultural resource endowment is very low. Moreover, with population growth, improved agricultural labor productivity, and a reduction in arable land resources, the issue of agricultural surplus labor will tend to worsen. Therefore, the task of transferring agricultural surplus labor in China is extremely challenging. How to properly address the employment issue of agricultural surplus labor is a very difficult problem that China will face for a considerable period in the future. This book focuses on the following aspects: (1) Different forms of agricultural industrial organization and their performance; (2) Different agricultural technology choices and their relationship with the transfer of agricultural surplus labor; (3) The interrelationships among different agricultural organizations, technological progress, and the transfer of agricultural surplus labor; (4) The connotation of China's agricultural surplus labor and its types of driving forces (5) The strategic choices of agricultural surplus labor transfer in relation to agricultural organization and technological progress.
Given the historical lessons from the industrialization processes of developing countries, it has been observed that research on the transfer of agricultural surplus labor has largely focused on the pull effect of non-agricultural industry development, neglecting the push and attraction effects of internal agricultural organization and technological progress. This has led to shortcomings in theoretical research and misguided policy measures, which are detrimental to the smooth progress of agricultural development and industrialization. This book argues: (1) The definition of China's agricultural surplus labor should be: agricultural laborers whose marginal return to farming within the household (income minus costs) is lower than the expected marginal return of rural non-agricultural and urban "peripheral" labor. This definition better reflects the characteristics of China's agricultural surplus labor. (2) Starting from the perspective of improving research on the transfer of agricultural surplus labor, while also addressing the issue of coordinated development between industry and agriculture during industrialization, this book dynamically studies the development relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors under China's economic conditions. It focuses on the evolution of agricultural industrial organization, technological progress, and their relationship with the transfer of agricultural surplus labor, specifically analyzing the potential promoting and hindering effects of these factors. Combined with short-term and long-term industrialization development, corresponding policy recommendations are proposed. (3) Given the current situation of significant urban employment pressure in China, this book proposes a dual-gradient cross-transfer model and points out that expanding the internal absorption capacity of agriculture through organizational innovation and technological progress is an effective measure for the shallow-level transfer of agricultural surplus labor at this stage. (4) It addresses the flaw in the study of agricultural surplus labor transfer, which tends to overemphasize external factors while neglecting internal ones. It breaks through the biases of Western development economics theories regarding the relationship between agriculture and employment, extending and deepening research on the transfer of agricultural surplus labor and further industrialization. This provides a reference for China to formulate appropriate agricultural industrial organization and technological policies.
The overall viewpoint of this book is that the process of agricultural labor transfer directly manifests as a continuous decline in the share of agricultural labor in the total labor force, ultimately leading to the dissolution of the dual economic structure and the realization of industrialization. We emphasize the improvement of agricultural organization and technological progress to enhance the depth and breadth of employment within the agricultural sector. This is not to keep agricultural surplus labor tied to the land but to create conditions for their higher-level and more effective transfer. We believe that in the coming period, accelerating the "second entrepreneurship" of rural enterprises and continuing to leverage their dominant role in absorbing agricultural labor remains an effective path for the transfer of China's agricultural surplus labor. We believe that the "urban agglomeration" model of agricultural surplus labor transfer is an inevitable trend in historical development. Therefore, based on China's national conditions, we propose that the transfer of China's agricultural surplus labor must follow a path centered on small towns as the main channel and supported by large and medium-sized cities. This can be achieved by concentrating the layout of rural enterprises to boost the employment capacity of small towns and by promoting the optimal allocation of agricultural labor resources through "urban-rural integration." Adopting a strategy that combines control and development to expand the population and labor capacity of large and medium-sized cities remains a strategic choice for the medium and long-term transfer of China's agricultural surplus labor.