Although small private plots were permitted, most of the land was owned collectively by the cooperative. Some possibility for expansion existed in thinly populated parts of the country, especially in the northeast, but the growing season there was short and the process of land reclamation prolonged and costly. The total production of foodgrains was 50.15 crore (501.5 million) tons. Soybeans have been a major foreign exchange earner for most of last century. Next, farm families were progressively organized into cooperatives, collectives, and finally people's communes. Because of the intense pressure for results, the rapidity of the change, and the inexperience and resistance of many cadres and peasants, the Great Leap Forward soon ran into massive difficulties. (Xinhua/Mu Yu). During the turmoil and bad weather of 1959–61, many water conservancy works were washed out by floods or otherwise destroyed, considerably reducing the irrigated acreage. The hardship of farmers has been largely eased and outdated agricultural tools such as plows and sickles have started to become memories. Soil erosion, soil pollution and loss of agricultural biodiversity are widespread. "The days of toiling on the land have gone. The area plowed and planted by machine decreased in this period, but peasant use of tractors and trucks to transport goods soared dramatically. Higher domestic consumption has also led to a decline in beef and pork exports, which currently stand at 76,000 tons and 152,000 tons respectively. According to them, the basic aspect of scientific development is to “put people first.” The main slogan for reducing the rural urban gap is “Make rural urban.” As a part of China’s ‘New Country-side Program,' agricultural taxes have been abolished. Despite this, mid-1980s observers opined that prospects were good for an overall rise in rural prosperity. Applications of fertilisers and pesticides are among the highest in the world. "The traditional harvester collected corn and transported them to a storage house for further separation work. The country's agricultural capital stock had been built up in large part by land modification. 010020070750000000000000011100001370543691, Technology reshaping agriculture in China. The sex ratio at birth is 120.22 male children for every 100 female children. Concern over these problems has spurred the recent development or resurgence of sustainable agriculture in China. In 2007, the urban per capita disposable income was 13,786 Yuan, while that of rural China was 4,140 Yuan. Around 1 percent of seeds was lost during the process," said Zhang Zhifeng, Party chief of the village. I share an immense curiosity about China’s development with many others in India. Disruption of agricultural activity and transportation produced food shortages. However, the common estimate for the number of Chinese who starved, or were worked or beaten to death 1958–1962, agreed by several historians is around 45 million. China has been one of the world's largest rice exporters, which had been annually shipping out about 1 million tons. The other problem is of poverty eradication. Even so since 1949 China has lost one fifth of its arable land. More than 20 million rural party members staffed posts and headed committees that supervised all aspects of rural life. A cooperative in Minyue Village, Songyuan City, started using an advanced corn harvester this year, which can cut the plant and separate the seeds from the cob while processing and spreading the corn stover over the field. At the same time it was also seen that through the use of biogas technique, the use of fertiliser and electricity in rural areas could be reduced by 42 percent and 37 percent respectively. Water scarcity affects many parts of the country, as shown by plummeting water tables in northern China. Per capita consumption of grains, fibers, edible oil, sugar, fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products remained low. The rural marketing system changed substantially in the post-Mao period. Baogan permitted families to raise income through hard work, good management, wise use of technology, and reduction of production costs. By the end of 1984, approximately 98 percent of the old production teams had adopted the contract responsibility system, and all but 249 communes had been dissolved, their governmental functions passed on to 91,000 township and town governments. The second system of milk production is the National Milk farms. Although the area under cultivation for tobacco and tea is not known, the total production for these two commodities was 2.39 million and 1.14 million tons respectively. Locally the unit of land area is “mu” which is 1/15th of one hectare. Lack of access and use of modern technology and the rising cost of feedgrains pose problems for the small milk producers. [CDATA[ To maximize year-round use of the land, two or more crops are planted each year where possible. Collectivization of agriculture, which was accomplished in several stages, began about 1952. The Chinese government has also decided to implement the following measures in the social sectors: *Ensuring affordable health facilities in rural areas *To lay more emphasis on disease prevention measures *To bring into the ambit of insurance local elderly people with government subsidisation *Ensuring alternative livelihood beforehand for persons whose land is to be acquired for any purpose *Improving the various social security allowances *Ensuring homes, health care, food, clothing and cost of burial for those people who have lost capacity to work and do not have any kin to take care of them. Quantities imported varied considerably depending on internal supply conditions and prices in international markets. Sugar imports to China came primarily from Australia, Cuba, the Philippines, and Thailand. In the 1980s consumers became more conscious of fat content, and breeders and raisers were shifting to the production of leaner hogs. The winter wheat crop accounts for nearly 90 percent of China's total production. In the year 2000, China conducted two path-breaking experiments on recycling waste as organic fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers, however, have been used more widely since the 1960s. Whereas the commune system integrated politics, administration, and economics into one unit, the new system was designed to have separate institutions handle specific functions. Production of mixed and compound feed grew rapidly, reaching more than 12 million tons in 1985. The reorganization of rural institutions weakened administrative measures necessary to make large- scale waterworks function. China's farmers have long used techniques such as fertilization and irrigation to increase the productivity of their scarce land. China's officials used this export surplus as an important source for financing the importation of high-priority industrial items. Fertilizer Use: The use of fertilizer and micro-nutrients is based upon soil testing. Egg output, especially, increased rapidly in the 1980s. Villages competed to have these facilities located within their boundaries, not only to have more convenient access to their services but also to take advantage of the employment opportunities they afforded. Another 25,400 hectares of cultivable land has been used for environmental conservation purposes. By the 1980s China had improved its agricultural resources, but important obstacles remained. In the period of the Four Modernizations, rural electric power consumption rose by 179 percent, from 18.3 billion kilowatt-hours in 1975 to 51.2 billion kilowatt-hours in 1985. In the late 1980s, China remained a predominantly agricultural country. Up to 1984 sorghum, millet, and corn exports usually totaled only several hundred thousand tons but reached a peak of over 5 million tons in 1985. Finally, the maintenance and operation of public works, such as irrigation systems, power plants, schools, and clinics, generally still was regarded as the responsibility of the collective administrations. Most timber, therefore, comes from northeast China and the less densely populated parts of the northwest and southwest. Facilities were rebuilt in the early 1960s. 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