L. D. BONEY

Doctor of Economics

Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Key words: Keywords: economic system, land system reform, family economy, peasant cooperation, agricultural enterprises, family farm, collective land ownership," division " of rights

In recent years, China's agricultural sector has undergone major changes in the structure of production, reducing the labor force, and reducing the income of the peasantry. One of the consequences of such changes was, inter alia, the curtailment of commodity production in a number of regions. Under these conditions, the leadership of the People's Republic of China has developed and begun to implement a large-scale program of modernization of agriculture and a consistent transition to a new model of management in the agrosphere.

Setting the task of creating a new type of economic system in which many new forms of economy should simultaneously develop (including family, collective, cooperative, enterprise-type economy), the decision of the 3rd plenum of the CPC Central Committee highlights the family economy, emphasizing the need to preserve the basic position of the family economy.

FAMILY ECONOMY

The concept of "family economy" (jiating jining) in the country's agriculture means the economy of a peasant family (yard), which is conducted by family members on the basis of the right of contract management on collective land. In 2012, there were more than 220 million such family contract farms in the village. yards.

Family farming as the main form of farming in the current two-stage economic system was restored in the first years of economic reform (1978-1983) as a result of the liquidation of the people's commune system. Chinese scientists consider the return to family farming as the main achievement of the economic reform in the countryside, which made it possible to achieve decisive success in raising agricultural production in those years, in solving the problem of meeting the basic food needs of the country's population in a short time.

The importance of maintaining the basic position of the family economy in the framework of new economic relations is explained by the leadership and scientists of China by the following factors:

- family farming is the most suitable and well-known traditional form of farming for farmers, it meets the specifics of the industry and the conditions of the Chinese village, the level of development of the productive forces of the agro-sphere, and the requirements of the market economy;

- family farming is the most widespread form of farming not only in Chinese, but also in world agriculture*, which has proved a great degree of flexibility and adaptability both to the conditions of traditional production and to the requirements of the development of modern agriculture;

- functioning in conjunction with the stage of a "single" collective farm (even if not developed everywhere), the family farm of the contract yard acts as the realization of collective ownership of land in the village; it forms the basis of the economic system in agriculture, which is considered the "cornerstone of the government's policy in the village";

- as a result of the "division of three rights", the family farm of the contract yard becomes a systematic basis for the formation of new forms of farming in the agrosphere, and therefore the new type of management system itself in the foreseeable future.

In the conditions of extremely uneven development of different regions, different forms and types of family farming co-exist simultaneously in China's agriculture today. Among them are such as: part-time farms and specialized commodity farms; small-scale and large-scale family farms; a traditional type of family farm (an ordinary self-supporting contract yard) and its modern type as a family farm. All of them operate on land, on the basis of collective ownership and contract relations, and are included in the category of "family economy". However, depending on their level of development, some of them belong to the traditional method of production, like an ordinary small-scale farm of a contract yard, while others belong to the traditional method of production.

Ending. For the beginning, see: Asia and Africa today. 2014, N 11.

* According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2014), the most recent survey conducted in 93 countries around the world showed that family farms account for more than 90% of the total number of all agricultural organizations, occupying most of the arable land in these countries (editor's note).

- to a transitional form-a specialized large yard (zhuangye dahu), and finally, the third - to modern agriculture, such as a family farm (jiaqing nongchang).

Today, the traditional type of contract farm with its small-scale production remains the predominant form of family farming. According to Chinese scientists, even with a significant reduction in the rural population by 2020, at least 400 million people will remain in the village, and family farms - up to 100-150 million yards, of which ordinary contract yards make up 70-80% of the total number of family farms (yards).. In the updated economic system, the bulk of "family farms" is likely to be made up of farms of ordinary traditional contract yards. Some of them, under the appropriate conditions, will gradually evolve and transform into family farms under the general cover of" family economy", and the management system will be transitional for a long time, combining different types and forms of family economy - traditional and modern production.

Differentiation and transformation of the family economy is a long process. It depends on the rate of migration of the agricultural population to the city and moving to other areas, on the possibilities of expanding urban employment, which is associated with the reform of the registration system, on the possibilities of developing the system of production and economic services in the agrosphere, the rate of mechanization of agriculture, as well as on the deepening of reforms in the

It should be emphasized that when Chinese scientists speak of family farming as a new form of management within the framework of modern agriculture, they undoubtedly mean the highest form of family farming - a family farm, which differs from the current ordinary contract yard in large-scale farming, the level of intensification, specialization, income, and commodity character of production. Han Jun, an authoritative Chinese scientist and Deputy head of the Center for Development Studies under the State Council of the People's Republic of China, draws attention to the fact that "the call to strengthen the basic position of the family economy does not mean to preserve the current way of managing" ¹, which is confirmed by the installation of the 3rd plenum: "...in the process of land circulation in the countryside, encourage the transfer of contract management rights to specialized large farms, family farms, peasant cooperatives and agricultural enterprises."

NEW FORMS OF FARMING AND THEIR JOINT DEVELOPMENT

The driving force behind the formation and development of new forms of farming is the circulation of agricultural land (contract management rights on land). The acceleration of land circulation in the countryside encourages the process of its concentration in the hands of enterprising peasants, the development of large-scale farming in the agrosphere.

At the end of 2011, the village had over 200 million households with arable land on the farm less than 10 mu (0.67 ha), or more than 85% of the total number of contract yards. The number of farms with arable land of more than 10 mu was 15%, with an area of arable land of 10-30 mu and 30-50 mu, respectively, 10.7% and 2.3%. 10 000 yards with arable land on a farm of 50-100 mu in size , and 53,200 yards with arable land of 100-200 mu (6,7-13,4 ha) ^.2

The main new forms of farming include specialized large farms, family farms, peasant cooperatives, agricultural enterprises (such as vertical cooperation (enterprise + yard or peasant cooperative, etc.). Other new structures are also emerging that specialize in providing production and other economic services in agriculture. They have different functions, mostly complementary, which contributes to their joint development and integration into a single economic system.

At the same time, there is an objective division of labor between them: family farms and specialized large yards are mainly engaged in field farming, providing the production of grain and other basic agricultural crops, as well as in animal husbandry. At the same time, both cooperatives and agricultural enterprises work in animal husbandry. Specialized peasant cooperatives have recently been active both in the 2nd and 3rd spheres of the rural economy (i.e., in industry, trade, and services), and in the 1st-in agricultural production, including grain.

In order to give a clearer description of the main types of economy that are currently developing in China, a brief summary of their economic and production essence is given below.

1) Specialized large yards are usually formed in the process of production and economic activity on the basis of division of labor and specialization, when separate large yards with a specialized large-scale economy, specializing in a certain type of product, are distinguished from traditional production.

The main criterion used to determine which specialized yards in crop production and animal husbandry can be considered large is the scale of farms. These criteria vary from district to district. In 2012, the national average arable area of such a yard was 30 mu (2 ha) or more. At the same time in prov. Heilongjiang it was at least 1000 mu (67 ha), prov. Shandong - from 300 mu (20 ha) and more. At the same time, for different crops - the criteria for the size of arable land are different ³.

Specialized large farms play an important role in the production of marketable grain and ensuring the country's food security, increasing the overall production potential of the industry, and improving the efficiency of land allocation. This type of family economy is an intermediate form and usually serves as the basis for the formation of family farms.

2) Family farm. A family farm reflects an increase in the status of the organization of production, compared to a specialized large yard. According to the main criteria of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, its characteristics are as follows:: 1) the main labor force - the labor of family members, the number of employees should not exceed the number of family members of the farm; 2) the land should be "knocked down" into a single plot, and the area of a single wedge of land should not be lower than the established number of mu; 3) income from agriculture - the main source of income of the farm; 4) the subject of a family farm must be a professional farmer; 5) maintaining a large-scale farm in agriculture, ensuring the intensification, specialization and growth of marketability of production.

The beginning of the emergence of family farms dates back to the 80s-90s of the last century, when the most enterprising peasants increased the size of their arable land by giving a contract or lease, turning ordinary contract farming into large specialized yards, and then into family farms.

Since the beginning of the new century in a number of districts (Ningbo, prov. Zhejiang; Songjiang District, Shanghai, prov. Jiangsu; Anbian City, prov. Jilin, etc.), active work was launched on the formation of new forms of farming and, above all, family farms.

At the end of 2012 (according to official data from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture), 877,000 family farms with arable land of 176 million mu (11.8 million ha) were registered in agriculture. The size of family farms averaged up to 200.2 mu (13.4 ha), including 861,000 farms in crop production and animal husbandry, or 98% of their total number.⁴

The main difference between the resulting family farms and traditional family farms - ordinary contract yards - is the scale of the farm (mainly the size of arable land), specialization, commodity production, modernization of production, and relatively high incomes.

In the more developed coastal areas, there are quite a lot of such modern family farms. So, in the southern part of the prov. Jiangsu, more than 90% of contract land is covered by large-scale farms5, and in Songjiang district (Shanghai), family farms of ^5-10 hectares (including part-time income) have an average annual income of 100 thousand yuan per yard.⁶

The main directions of the policy of supporting family farms in the regions are as follows:

1) creation of a system for registration and approval of official status. Although family farms are engaged in agricultural production, they are registered as "market entities" with the status of "individual industrial and commercial yards", "enterprises of individual independent capital", "limited liability companies", which plays an important role in improving their status in the market. For such registration, it is enough to indicate, for example, that the family farm is engaged in the production of products with a high share of added value or works in the export direction;

2) the planned and administrative way of concentrating land in the hands of family farms. In addition to the usual way of forming family farms in the process of open circulation of land, another one has emerged in the village. In economically developed areas, in particular in Songjiang District (Shanghai), when land is requisitioned or" ordered " after the demolition of an old village and reclamation of the land, the part of it that is returned for arable land is leased by local authorities to family farms and peasant cooperatives for the development of large-scale farming*. Since 2014 this additional path of development of large scale farming and family farms has become the official course of the central government ⁷;

3) increased emphasis in the distribution of financial subsidies to support family farms. Recently the center's agricultural subsidy policy has focused on the priority allocation of funds for the development of new forms of management ⁸;

4) development of a system of risk insurance services in agriculture, development of various types of socialized services that promote the healthy development of family farms, etc.

Special attention is paid to the scale of concentration of land for large-scale farming. The scale of farms should be neither small nor excessively large, but should correspond to the capabilities of local conditions and performance criteria in each district. On the basis of surveys and studying the results, the most appropriate sizes of effective large-scale farming of family farms are conditionally determined.

Thus, while the national average size of arable land for family farms is about 200 mu (13.4 ha), they vary greatly in some areas: for the area in Anhui Ave. -200 mu, near Shanghai-100-150 mu (6.7-10 ha), and in Chongqing -50 mu (3.35 ha), at the same time, for two grain crops per year, the most suitable scale of arable land for family farms is 50 mu, and for one crop - 100 mu ⁹.

Scientists have calculated that if a family farm is introduced as the main form of farming across the entire agricultural sector within a short time, with an average established effective size of arable land per farm, then a significant part of the agricultural labor force will remain unemployed. This cannot be allowed. When promoting the development of family farms, it is necessary to take into account the ratio of human and land resources. Therefore, the process of forming family farms can only be slow, uneven in different areas, and the size of a large-scale farm can be very small.-

* According to the new exchange rate (since 2004), when requisitioning arable land, local authorities are required to reimburse the seized land in the same amount at the expense of a subsequent round of requisition. Peasants from old villages are resettled in new, well-maintained, compacted urban-type settlements in the same area (apartments or cottages) in exchange for seized land (the right to use it under a residential building plus a private plot) and old housing (the right to own a residential structure) on the basis of a contract concluded with local authorities (often in an administrative manner). The latter are responsible not only for land requisition, but also for urban construction, including the construction of new settlements for displaced peasants in their own district, as well as for maintaining the size of arable land in their own district unchanged (editor's note).

the requirements must be "appropriate".

Family farms, due to their specialization and large-scale nature, are in dire need of various economic, technical, informational and other services. Peasant specialized cooperatives are the main subjects of various types of socialized services for new economic forms in the rural sphere. On this basis of complementary functions, there is a cooperation of these two forms of farms, the economic link "peasant cooperative + family farm". This bundle is increasingly acting as a new business model.

According to Chinese scientists, such a model, implemented on the basis of family farming, implements the economic form of vertical cooperation (nongye changye Hua) in crop production with a developed large-scale economy. It makes it possible to implement an innovative link between these two new forms of farming in a two-stage management system that corresponds to the direction of development of modern agriculture, and should become one of the main forms of farming in the future. ¹⁰

The family farm as a new form of management is considered by Chinese scientists as the main form of production in the country's agriculture in the future, mainly in the field of field agriculture, especially grain.

3) Peasant cooperatives. Another important new form of management is peasant specialized cooperatives. Although they were initially developed quite a long time ago, today this form of farming is given a special role in the development of large-scale farming in the countryside and stimulating the process of modernization in general.

Peasant cooperatives of a new type are considered as "driving belts" that tie the family economy of peasant contract yards and family farms to the market, increasing their level of organization. The 3rd plenum of the CPC Central Committee of the 18th convocation set the task: "to stimulate the development of various forms of peasant cooperative organizations of a new type", "to accelerate the pace of development of peasant cooperatives, unit cooperatives and other forms of cooperatives in every possible way, to increase their potential for leadership and competitiveness in the market"¹¹.

Having emerged in the 2nd and 3rd spheres of the rural economy, specialized peasant cooperatives have recently expanded to the 1st sphere (peasant land cooperatives). The scope of activity of new types of peasant cooperatives is also expanding dramatically.

Their main function is to actively serve the farms of contract farms and family farms: providing loans, information, mechanization of agricultural work, supply of means of production, sale of products, their primary processing, etc. In addition, it provides for the participation of peasant cooperatives in programs of "land regularization" in the countryside, in the integrated development of agriculture, in the construction of irrigation systems. field facilities, introduction of agricultural machinery and new agricultural technologies, professional training of rural personnel, advanced training of large-scale farms, etc. ¹²

In order to encourage the development of a cooperative economy in the countryside and to increase the number of specialized, modern farms, the State increases direct financial support to peasant cooperatives in various forms. Of particular importance is the permission of peasant cooperatives to develop credit activities in the countryside, ¹³ which means the actual restoration of an important channel of lending to rural producers, primarily to subjects of new economic forms.

The CPC Central Committee Document No. 1 (2013) refers to the special role of peasant specialized cooperatives in the development of a new content of the 2nd stage ("unified" or collective economy) of the current economic system in the country's agrosphere: "Peasant cooperatives are a new type of essential development of the collective economy in the countryside, they are an effective innovative form of social management in the countryside" ¹⁴.

Explaining the meaning and significance of the new role of peasant cooperatives of a new type, the well-known Chinese agricultural scientist Zhang Xiaoshan points out that "the 2nd stage of the traditional management system in the predominant part of the districts does not work, i.e. it does not bear the responsibilities of a "single" farm, in other words, it cannot fulfill its role." Therefore, " in the new conditions, it is necessary that specialized peasant cooperatives, representing real forms of the economy, take on this responsibility... Practice shows that specialized peasant households organized into specialized cooperatives have surpassed the framework of a territorial community and can perform the functions of a single level " ¹⁵.

According to another Chinese scholar, Dan Guoying (Institute of Rural Development),"it is necessary to use peasant specialized cooperation, first of all, in order to gradually replace the traditional collective economy in the countryside with it." ¹⁶

Recently, three types of new peasant cooperatives have emerged in some economically advanced areas, where new forms of farming have developed significantly, namely: specialized cooperation, land share cooperation, and community-territorial share cooperation (she-qu gufen hezoshe). The creation of these "three large cooperatives" is a real step towards the formation of a new type of agrosphere economic system.

Peasant specialized cooperatives effectively increase the degree of organization of peasants, land unit cooperatives through the" turnover "of contract management rights increase the element of "one" in the development of the rural economy. As Chinese scientists note, in fact, this is the improvement of the main economic system, where the "unified" and "dispersed" are linked in a new way; as for the appearance of pae-

This is the result of the search for new forms of implementation of the collective economy in the countryside 17.

There is another important aspect of the importance attached to the role of peasant specialized cooperatives in the development of modern agriculture. In their person, an effective form of economy appears that can counteract, or rather balance, the influx and pressure of urban capital into agriculture.¹⁸

In 2013, a course was set to create a large group of demonstration peasant cooperatives as part of an experiment to identify all possible advantages, functions and roles of these new forms of farming in the context of modernization of the agrosphere and a change in its development model. At the end of 2011, the number of peasant specialized cooperatives registered by the National Industrial and Commercial Administration was 521.7 thousand, with the actual number of peasant households being 41 million, or 16.4% of all peasant households in ^the country19. Recently, peasant specialized cooperatives have been growing particularly rapidly.

4) Farms of agricultural enterprises. Farms of agricultural enterprises are a type of agricultural vertical cooperation that links the "head" enterprise with a peasant farm or peasant cooperative. The "parent" enterprise is usually represented by industrial and commercial urban private capital. This form of economy began to develop in the 90s of the XX century. and in two decades it has received a great development.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture of China, in 2012 the total number of different forms of vertical cooperation was more than 280 thousand. For example, 40% of agricultural households participated in them. The number of "parent" enterprises is more than 110 thousand units; revenues from sales of products - 6 trillion yuan, the volume of agricultural products and products of its processing made up 1/3 of the total supply on the country's agricultural market. The average annual income of a peasant household is over 2,400 yuan ²⁰.

At the same time, serious negative aspects have emerged in the development of these associations. The expansion of the scale of economic and production activities was due to the concentration of large plots of contract land obtained for rent, and the development of large-scale farming-often due to violations of legal regulations. As a result, there were tendencies to abandon grain production, change the agricultural purpose of land, deprive farmers of the right to receive adequate profit from cooperation, etc. In recent years, the State has taken measures to restrict the activities of urban capital in the countryside in ways that are detrimental to public production, especially in relation to land resources. At the same time, it does not abandon the development of this form of economy, striving to direct it in the right direction and maximize the use of its powerful economic and financial potential.

Undoubtedly, the" leaders " of the updated basic economic system are family farms (family farms) and various forms of peasant cooperation. While peasant cooperatives of various forms are developing rapidly, the process of forming family farms, for objective reasons, is relatively slow. Therefore, as already mentioned above, for a long time the emerging system of farming of a new type will have a transitional character, combining elements of the new and old.

Today, China's agriculture industry is undergoing a unique experiment in converting small-scale traditional agriculture to a modern mode of production. Its main new subject should be a modern farm family economy in conjunction with various forms of peasant cooperation and farms with the participation of urban private capital on the basis of preserving and strengthening the right of collective ownership of land. This is a slow, but at the same time carefully planned process, stimulated and controlled by the authorities. At the same time, it is fully integrated into the expanding market space and is subject to market laws.

* * *

So far, China is only at the beginning of the road to modern agriculture. Nevertheless, the framework of a new model of agrosphere development is outlined, and the direction is set. It takes time and hard work. The famous Chinese scientist Hu Angang called the innovative formation of a new type of economic system in the agricultural sector of China entering the stage of a new leap in the village ²¹.

¹ http://rdi.cass.cn/show_News.asp?id/-35164

² Ibid.

³ http://rdi.cass.cn/show_News.asp7id/35251

⁴ Nuimiy zhibao. 28.02.2014.

⁵ Ibid., 05.11.2013.

⁶ Zhongguo liangshi jingji (Grain Economy of China). 2013. N 7. pp. 26-28.

⁷ Report on the work of the Government / / Russian News / cn/2014 - 03 - 14

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ http://rdi.cass.cn/show_News.asp?id/-35164

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ http://rdi.cass.cn/show_ News.asp?id/35075

¹² http://rdi.cass.cn/show_News.asp?id.3.3987

¹³ http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2013 - 11/15/content_2528179.htm

¹⁴ http://rdi.cass.en/show_News.asp7id.33987

¹⁵ http://rdi.cass.cn/show_News.asp?id.33725

¹⁶ dangguoyingblog/caixin.com/archives/54004/2013/03/12

¹⁷ Nongmin Daily. 05.11.2013.

¹⁸ http://rdi.cass.cn/show_News.asp?id.33987

¹⁹ Zhongguo nongcun jingji. 2012. N 7, p. 4.

²⁰ http://rdi.cass.cn/show_News.asp?id.33848.

²¹ Guoqing baogao (Report on the main situation of the country). Tsinghua University. 2013. N 48(16.12.2013).

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