Research On Farmland System Transformation And Performance Issues In XPCC

After the third plenary session of the eleventh central committee, with themarket economic system reform, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps(Corps) gradually adopts a new approach to transform the farmland systemunder the influence of the changes in rural area land system, The new methodgives priority to transformation in agricultural production and operation and thereform of agricultural land property right, and little by little separatesmanagement right from its ownership in some areas, and gradually extends theautonomy of the production and management, until finally Corps establishes itsbasic management system, the household contract management---"landcontractual management, clear property rights to the homes, centralizedpurchasing agricultural materials, and purchasing and supplying according toproduct order". Rather than the original, pure transformation in theagricultural production methods, the significance of farmland system changes inCorps lies in the production, distribution, exchange, consumption and otheraspects, and in the main adjustments achieved in economic system reform, whichgreatly liberates and develops its productivity, and ultimately triggers the rapideconomic growth sustaining over thirty years in Corps. The new system givesexcellent performance. Since it resumed in1982, Corps, after30years ofconstruction, has now become a united body which combines the party,government, and military enterprise as one that undertakes the three industriesand social developments.Since the eleventh five-year plan, under the kind concern of the PartyCentral Committee and the State Council, with scientific outlook on developmentin all fields, Corps strengthens the scientific and technological progress,accelerates the transformation of agricultural development mode, and promotesthe construction of the "three bases" by seizing the opportunity, and forgingahead. Thus, its level of agricultural industrialization, scale, specialization and standardization has further been enhanced. Consequently Corps is at the leadingplace in the country in contribution rate of agricultural science and technology,in agricultural mechanization and in the new water-saving irrigation. Itsagricultural economy has maintained a comprehensive, sustained, rapid growth,which has laid a solid foundation for promoting the modernization of agriculture,making agriculture in Corps stand at a new historical starting point.However, with the continuous and better development of market economy,household contract management system has gradually suffered its drawbacks,and there exists the contradiction between the household contract responsibilitysystem and farm organization with complete function of production organization.The advantages of collectivization in Corps have not been brought into full play,which constitutes a bottleneck restricting the agricultural industrialization andmodernization in Corps. On the one hand, household contract responsibilitysystem needs improving and perfecting, farmers’ agricultural production andmanagement autonomy wants expanding, which is bound to lead to a conflictbetween decentralization of production and scale operation and mechanizationof agriculture in Corps. On the other hand, the business entities’ planning inorganizing agricultural production in the farms deprive the family managementand production of their autonomy in production and management, whichreduces worker’ enthusiasm for production, resulting in a poor systemperformance. Therefore, in terms of the market economy and the special systemin Corps, what kind of farmland system is effective enough to be able to bothgenerate the enthusiasm of the production and management, and to make thesystem supplier obtain the expected return, so as to make Corps to take a lead inthe northwest in realizing its agricultural modernization and in achieving thegoal of building a comparatively well-off society. This requires us to make astudy of the farmland system transformation in line with its time sequence inCorps and to observe its performance arrangement with each round of reform,and to research into its motivation and path, which touches upon the history,politics, economy, culture and system environment of Corps. Meanwhile, identifying the farm workers and orientating the function of farms become thekey factors affecting the farmland system transformation.The problems of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" in Corps make upthe foundation of its mission in completing reclamation and guarding the frontier.While, the "the three rural issues" is ultimately the land problem. And the key toland problem lies in its system, namely the farmland system innovation is the keyto solving the problem of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". The economy inCorps is dominated by agriculture, so land system innovation has become thekey to the future economic development in Corps. In fact, it is shown in thehistorical facts of China’s economy growth that, national economy, regardless ofits rapid growth, stagnation or hovering, is inevitably the reflection ofagricultural growth and stagnation. And the growth of China’s agriculture doesbenefit from the revolutionary transformation of farmland system. With regardto Corps, although there exists difference between the changes of farmlandmanagement and the transformation in local rural places, and even these twopractices do not synchronized with each other, Corps experiences the changesfrom a military operation to the collective management, and to the setting up ofthe basic family management system, then to the establishment of the basicmanagement system of state farms, including the issues of "1+3" and "1+3" fileadditional documents. In the course of its transformation, Corps is searching fora better performance arrangement. China has undertaken more than30years’reform, the process of which has proved that system is important. Although thereare various understandings about "system" among scholars in institutionaleconomics, a consensus has been reached, that is: system is of great significance.Since it involves numerous problems in social, political and economicdevelopment, farmland system becomes the hot topic and cutting-edge issue incurrent theoretical research field.Starting with the time sequence of farmland system transformation, thepresent study tries to analyze the process of farmland system changes, itsmotivation, subjects and affecting factors, by adopting statistical and empirical research method that combines the qualitative and quantitative analysis,employing the basic theory and analytical framework of the new institutionaleconomics, with farmland system in Corps (system of agricultural productionand operation, and system of farmland property rights) as its subjects. On thebasis of this, first of all, the paper analyzes the performance and effect of itsfarmland production management system, with the new institutional economicsas its standard. In the second place, with property right economics as itstheoretical framework, the study probes into the performance of the farmlandproperty right system in Corps from the perspective of the integrity,completeness, and residual rights of the property. Thirdly, basing on thediscussion above, the paper summarizes and analyzes the advantages anddisadvantages of the current land management system, and then provides someorientation and suggestions in policies for the reform of farmland system inCorps. Finally, the paper summarizes the main conclusion of the study, andoffers several positive directions for future research. The main contents of thestudy include,1) elaborating the background, significance, and aims of the study;2) sorting out the basic theories concerning farmland system, systemtransformation, system performance and property right, and defining somerelated concepts, the research scope, and its subjects;3) analyzing the farmlandsystem transformation and its affecting factors by using the new institutionaleconomics and some relevant theories;4) making qualitative analysis of theperformance of farmland system transform in Corps, and carrying out empiricalresearch by carrying out quantitative analysis of the data;5) studying therelationship between farmland property right in Corps and its agriculturaleconomic growth from the perspective of the integrity, completeness, andresidual right of the property right, and trying to figure out the investment ofagriculture, technology and labor forces on agriculture growth;6) exploring thecurrent basic system of farmland management, analyzing its existing problems,and providing with some measures for improvement and future direction ofinnovation;7) making a summary of the study, with its conclusion reached and suggestions made, for the purpose of providing policy basis for the reform offarmland system of Corps.This paper mainly observes and analyzes the historical background andinfluential factors of the farmland management system transformation of Corpsfrom long span of historical process. Then the study elaborates the path andmotivation of the farmland system transformation in different periods, analyzingthe main factors behind the transformation and the relation between the changesand agricultural performance. Moreover, the research explores the majorproblems existed in the current basic management system in state farm, anddiscusses some reform measures for the purposes of providing a theoretical basisand policy suggestions for the innovation of the farmland system and for theeconomic system reform in Corps in the future.The study shows that farmland system transformation in Corps, comparedwith that in the local rural areas, is a complex process, which is affected by manyfactors, especially its special system and the multiple missions it undertakes. As aconsequence, much consideration should be given to the benefits of social,ecological and stability of its border areas, while pursuing the economic effect inthe course of farmland system transformation. On the one hand, it is vital togenerate the enthusiasm of the workers to develop agricultural industry and toboost the income of the workers. On the other hand, it is necessary to develop thestrength of the state farm, with its economic strength enhanced in order toprovide a sound basis for Corps to achieve its multiple objectives. In fact,affected by land system reform in local rural areas, and by the urban enterpriseadministration reformation, farmland system transformation in Corps hasmainly undergone a top-down mandatory change, with the inducedtransformation adopted as a supplementary approach, due to the unwillingnessof the workers. After the reform and opening up, farmland systemtransformation, embodying significant systematic performance, has experiencedthree climaxes, which has greatly promoted the agricultural industry in Corps,and has laid a solid foundation for the agricultural modernization in Corps. Indeed, the current basic management system in the state farm in Corps is theoutcome of its quest for agricultural land system achievement and for fulfillingthe multiple objectives. And what lies behind the system is to trigger theenthusiasm of the business entities of both the workers and the state farm, and tomake full use of the combination of "centralization" and "decentralization".However, constrained by the limited rational economic people in practice, thesystem turns out to be of much "centralization" and less "decentralization",which reduces and restricts the worker’ autonomy in production and operation,and stifles their initiative to produce and operate. While with system of much"decentralization"and less "centralization"on the other side, the enthusiasmof the business entity, the state farm, is greatly affected, which makes itimpossible to take the advantage of its large-scale and centralized operation. As aresult, the direction of the innovation of farmland system transformation inCorps is to increase "decentralization", that is, to speed up the innovation ofagricultural land property rights system, to clarify further the farmlandproperty rights, and to explore the reformation in farmland circulation, usufruct,as well as the rights to dispose and lease farmland, so as to expand thefamily-operation autonomy. Conversely, with regard to promoting"centralization", that is, to foster production and operation system innovation,by adopting the market-oriented policy, catering to the workers in the state farm,giving consideration to the purchasing and supplying of the means of productionduring the whole course of its production. Likewise, depending on the leadingagricultural enterprises in Corps, establish a tie between the technical training,technical services, and agricultural products processing, encouragingmegamergers or alliance of powerful enterprises, and establishing thecorresponding services company for the purpose of taking the advantages of theintensification in Corps to realize its agricultural modernization.