China's restructuring plan to modernize farming

Agriculture is also one of the nine major industries that China is intent on restructuring -- as set out in guidelines released last week. China's top farming companies are expected to carve out more market share and increase production efficiency.

China's impressive growth in the agricultural sector has made a remarkable contribution in reducing poverty in the country. But this process has also been accompanied by a large decline in farming labour forces, as a result of urbanization and agricultural modernization. But less labour forces spells the need for higher production efficiency in China.

Professor Li Guoxiang has been following the agricultural development of China for years. He says the restructuring guidelines in the agriculture sector will help encourage market competition and strengthen competitiveness for China's agricultural companies.

Prof. Li Guoxiang, researcher of Rural Dev't Institute., CASS, said:"China has a large number of leading agricultural enterprises. But their market share and influence are limited. That's why the central government is pushing for a reshuffle, instead of making a fresh start all over again. We're hoping those enterprises will lead the development of the industry while boosting productivity in China's agriculture sector."

Yin Hang, Beijing, said:"China's Ministry of Agriculture said it has increased the imports of more farm produce to meet China's domestic demand. It's also planning to encourage more enterprises to make investment in the sector."

But experts say more market players are simply not enough to beef up the efficiency of the agriculture sector. China also needs to break up market barriers that have strangled the cooperation between leading enterprises at different places.

Prof. Li Guoxiang said:"Transregional development is necessary for the expansion of an agriculture enterprise in China. But China's leading enterprises are now developing within their own regions. So in order to boost the development of China's leading enterprises in the sector, we need not only policy guidelines, but also reforms. Reforms will provide a comfortable environment for enterprises in land use, planning, expansion and products sales."

The restructuring guideline constitutes parts of China's efforts made in recent years to step up its agricultural modernization.

Earlier this month, China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang stressed that China will still rely on reforms and innovation to keep and manage "the country's granaries" and further promote the modernization of the sector.