Reporter's investigation: The rapid increase in the cost of growing grain is a new "invisible burden" for farmers.

"Looking Hope": Increased "Invisible Burden" of Farmers' Production

Agricultural production costs have risen sharply, squeezing farmers’ returns; irrational fluctuations in agricultural product prices have led to “stagflation after harvest” and “deep fall after prices soar”, which will continue to affect the continued increase in farmers’ income and the stability of agricultural supplies. Hidden danger.

"To lower the cost of agricultural resources is also to reduce the burden on peasants." Learned that the reporter of the "Xiaowang" Newsweek wanted to understand the burden of farmers, Liu Xueyou, a large grain producer from Zhangzhuang Village, Pengdian Township, Henan Province, spoke out. He said that the excessive increase in the cost of growing grain is a new “invisible burden” for farmers and increasingly affects farmers’ enthusiasm for growing grain.

“When the agricultural tax was just canceled, the peasants' enthusiasm for growing grain was particularly high, and many of the wastelands were opened. But now, the enthusiasm for going out to work is significantly higher than for farming.” He told reporters that the structural changes in the source of peasant family income in Zhangzhuang Village are very different. Can explain the problem, "in the past 60% of crop income, labor income accounted for 40%; but now farming income can only account for 20%, working income accounted for 80%."

The sudden increase in the price of a single agricultural product, the sudden and violent fluctuations, and frequent occurrences also make farmers have a hard time. Wang Haiqing, a pig farmer in Sheshan Town, Shanggao County, Jiangxi Province, has been raising pigs since 2003. It has been around for 10 years now, and the breeding scale has grown from a dozen head stocking sows to nearly 100. The key reason he believes he can develop is not "decision science," but "firm determination." When it was difficult, he had continued to maintain farming by selling valuable furniture and jewelry.

At present, it is during spring farming season that our correspondents recently interviewed major agricultural provinces such as Henan, Jiangxi, and Liaoning and found that the prices of agricultural products have continued to rise, agricultural products have skyrocketed and plummeted, and the risk of market intensification has become a “noisy thing” that farmers generally reflect. In the new period, the burden of farmers’ productive burdens shifted from direct burdens to invisible burdens and became an unfavorable factor affecting the enthusiasm of farmers for breeding and breeding. Experts interviewed suggested that, through increasing financial subsidies to support, support for large-scale production, and improve agricultural production risk protection mechanisms to reduce the burden of agricultural production, increase farmers' income and ensure the stability of supply of agricultural products.

Rising agricultural capital prices squeeze farmers’ income

He Hongwei, a 42-year-old peasant in Hecun Township, Lancao County, Henan Province, planted 4 mu of land and raised 3 sows, maintaining a typical small farm production and management. With intensive cultivation, the annual income is about 20,000 yuan. This is a family of four. The main source of household income. He calculated an account for the reporter: One mu of land can grow wheat and corn one season in a year. After deducting the costs of fertilizer, seeds, and watering, the income is 750 yuan/mu, plus various kinds of farmers such as direct subsidies for growing grain. The total subsidies are 93.8 yuan/mu, and the post-income is about 840 yuan/mu.

However, such income conditions have become more and more difficult to maintain. “The rapid increase in the prices of agricultural materials in the past two years has offset the benefits of the state's preferential agricultural subsidies policy for farmers.” Wang Hongwei casually cites a few examples. The price of diesel is now 7.84 yuan per liter, 5 yuan per liter five years ago. The price of electricity rose, and the land cost per acre was higher by 10 yuan; at present, corn seed is 60 yuan/bag, only 35 yuan/bag three years ago; urea was 80 yuan/bag last year, and now it rose to 100 yuan/bag...

According to the Jiangxi provincial price and cost survey, the Investigating and Examining Bureau conducted a survey of 261 grain farmers in the province. In 2011, when the overall climate conditions were good, the average planting cost of stubble rice per plant was 717.71 yuan, up 13.01% year-on-year. At the same time, the average price of early indica rice was at the same time. The year-on-year increase was 15.49%. Late rice increased by 11.51% year-on-year, and rice prices rose by an average of 13.5%. This also means that the gains brought about by the rise in food prices are basically “engulfed” by rising production costs.

Researchers Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Wang Xinzhi, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Economics of the Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, analyzed that under the pressure of inflation, this round of rising prices of agricultural materials has not yet come to an end. After the adjustment of diesel prices, on the one hand, the comprehensive mechanization level for agricultural cultivation in China is close to 54.5%. The rise in diesel prices will directly reflect the planting cost; at the same time, the rise in oil prices will be further transmitted to fertilizer prices and transportation prices, and the state will grant farmers The diesel subsidies can hardly cover the pressure of agricultural capital costs brought about by rising oil prices. In this context, the trend of increasing production costs by peasants and squeezing profits may further increase.

Increased risk of stagnation

The reporter’s survey found that the price of agricultural products in China as a whole fluctuates and tends to slow down, but it also shows new features: the price of single agricultural products in sub-species and sub-regions has skyrocketed and plummeted, and has undergone frequent and violent fluctuations; prices of various agricultural products have been rising one after another and taking turns. Taking pigs as an example, in recent years, the "pig cycle" frequency has been significantly shortened to about 3 years, and the amplitude has further increased. The recent round of "pigs cycle" from the high of 7.57:1 pig food price ratio in September last year to the breakeven point of pig food ratio 6:1, only 6 months.

Professor Tan Xiaowen of the School of Economics and Management of South China Agricultural University analyzed that the production of agricultural products is cyclical and seasonal. On the one hand, the average daily demand of urban residents, “a catty of vegetables, four grains, and two meat,” has changed little; on the other hand, agricultural production The degree of response of the farmers to the prices of agricultural products is greater than that of consumers. As a result, the volatility of the agricultural products market is characterized by a divergent pattern. In the absence of effective market regulation, the price fluctuations tend to increase.

The price of live pigs is a concentrated reflection of the fluctuation of the farm product market. In recent years, the phenomenon of soaring prices of farm products has been rising and falling. In 2010, the prices of small agricultural products such as garlic, ginger and mung beans “have skyrocketed”; since 2011, bananas in Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Chinese cabbage in Shandong, and red dates in Shanxi have frequently encountered slow sales and “dive” prices; since 2012 , Scallion, corn prices have risen sharply, and waves have risen again.

The sale price of agricultural products is as unstable as roller coasters, increasing farmers' risk burden. Zhu Qichen, director of the Institute of Farmers' Problems at the China Agricultural University, said that peasants are a weak link in the industry chain and can't afford price plunging. Farmers suffer heavy losses. It is difficult for peasants to have stable and expected benefits through agricultural operations, which is not conducive to agricultural modernization. Large-scale development can also easily affect the enthusiasm of farmers.

Xu Yuhai, party committee member of the New County County Agriculture Bureau in Jiangxi Province, said that for most farmers, these risks not only bring economic pressure, but also a heavy psychological burden. Now feed, artificial, and environmental costs are rising fast, and it is increasingly difficult for farmers to engage in large-scale farming. "It's like picking the shoulder poles. At the end of the day, the costs are getting heavier and heavier, and the ones that are picking are getting more and more risky. According to this trend, if one day can't pick it up, can you pick it up?"

Reducing the burden of production requires multiple measures

Experts interviewed believe that in 2011, China’s rural residents’ net income per capita actually grew by 11.4%, which was faster than that of urban residents in two consecutive years. However, the cost of agricultural production has risen sharply and the irrational volatility of agricultural product prices has continued to be a hidden problem that has affected the continued increase of farmers' income and the stability of agricultural product supply. Several experts interviewed suggested that more measures should be taken to reduce the burden on farmers’ production.

First, we will further increase fiscal transfer payments, strengthen the construction of agricultural and rural infrastructure, and greatly increase subsidies to farmers. In developed countries, 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of agricultural products comes from government subsidies. Taking rice as an example, China currently subsidizes more than 100 yuan per mu of land, which is about one-fifth of the cost of grain production, and has a large room for improvement. At the same time, judging from the experience of various countries, agriculture must be viewed as a public product, and financial transfer payments should be further strengthened. The implementation of favorable policies such as farmland water conservancy and agricultural science and technology in the No. 1 document of the Central Committee should be carried out at the grass-roots level through infrastructure. Improvements have brought down the cost of agricultural production. That is, through the "one supplement and one drop," farmers' productive burdens will be reduced.

Second, it provides institutional environment support for the realization of moderate scale operations for agricultural production. Large-scale industrialization is the fundamental way out for modern agriculture. However, to achieve large-scale operations, a series of systems are needed to follow, including: deepening the reform of the land system and promoting the orderly circulation of land; optimizing agricultural subsidy policies, rewarding and guiding farmers to large-scale farming Development; Supporting follow-up financial services, giving more advantages in the form of mortgages and interest subsidies, providing loan support for large breeders; strengthening the monitoring of agricultural capital price markets, monitoring agricultural product information, improving market regulation, and creating a stable agricultural product Market trading environment.

Thirdly, for certain agricultural products with high market risk or natural risks, targeted risk protection mechanisms have been established. For example, agricultural insurance not only helps to spread risks and achieve economies of scale, but it is also a means of transferring wealth and stabilizing farmers' income expectations. At present, the "real scale" of China's agricultural insurance subsidies is less than one-tenth of the "ideal scale." While expanding the scope of agricultural insurance coverage, coverage and the size of subsidies, it is recommended that the relevant laws be adopted to regulate the market, and an effective mechanism for spreading catastrophic risks should be established to promote the healthy development of agricultural insurance.

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