Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

By then, even if the government sets the price of pork, it will not be of much use.

When demand exceeds supply, black market prices will rise sharply. More pork will then flow into the black market, further leading to a shortage of pork in the hands of the supply and marketing cooperatives, exacerbating the severe shortage of pork.

The instability of pork prices will also affect the changes in prices of other items.

"Is there anything else?" Wei Hongjun asked Luo Weilin.

Luo Weilin continued: "Another reason is that the purchase price of live pigs is too low. I and the food business

I've discussed this with the company, and I've also learned about the current situation of food trading companies. Since their establishment at all levels, they've become complex, with numerous links in the pipeline and a sprawling corporate structure. Too many people rely on pigs for their livelihoods. Besides provincial, prefectural, and county-level food trading companies, there are also purchasing stations, transfer stations, slaughterhouses, sales outlets, and even a purchasing and raising staff assigned to each township in key production areas. This whole chain of personnel creates a plethora of personnel, and management costs are prohibitive.

Only Luo Weilin dared to criticize the situation of food commercial companies in this way.

The Food Commercial Company is a member of the supply and marketing cooperative system and is currently under the sole responsibility of Mao Zemin.

Mao Zemin's unique status slowed his progress within the Party. However, as a veteran Party member since 1922, no one in the State Council dared to ignore him. Even the Premier and Chen Yun would not easily interfere with Mao Zemin's work.

Luo Weilin directly criticized the problems currently facing food trading companies. "Food trading companies are established with the mission of making a profit. However, live pigs are a bulky commodity, and transportation costs are high. Especially with the current shortage of transportation vehicles, each shipment is very expensive. Furthermore, pig mortality is inevitable during transportation. Therefore, food trading companies are unwilling to bear such losses. When extrapolating the price at the production site from the sales site, the purchase price of live pigs in remote areas is even lower."

“I have learned about the current pig purchase price.

The nominal purchase price for live pigs is 26.7 yuan per 20 jin (approximately 22 kg). However, because food companies include transportation costs in the purchase price, the actual purchase price, the actual amount that reaches farmers, is only around to yuan per jin (approximately kg). This price is extremely low. Many farmers raise pigs for a year, and the pigs they sell only weigh a little over jin (approximately kg), rarely reaching jin (approximately kg). In other words, after a year of raising pigs, the final price is only a little over yuan. This price is so low that farmers are simply unwilling to raise pigs.

"As I just mentioned, there are major issues with the disposal of pig manure by both individuals and cooperatives. Pig manure is currently the most important fertilizer in rural areas and a significant asset for farmers. However, cooperatives are taking it away for free or at low prices, which is a huge blow to pig farmers."

Wei Hongjun kept recording Luo Weilin's words.

There must be a reason for the rapid decline in pig numbers. If it were only a drop of one or two million, Wei Hongjun wouldn't have personally convened a meeting to discuss it. It's the 2000 million head drop in a single year that alarmed the central government.

If there were no major problems, the number of live pigs would not have dropped so quickly.

After Luo Weilin finished his report, Wei Hongjun had a rough idea of ​​what to do. But he still needed to get everyone's opinions on how to solve the problem.

Wei Hongjun then said, "I've summarized what Comrade Luo Weilin just said. The current decline in rural pig farmers is primarily due to three reasons. One is that within cooperatives, the specific ownership of pigs owned by farmers is unclear, leading to disagreements between the cooperatives and farmers, preventing them from sincerely collaborating to develop the rural pig farming industry. Therefore, this issue must be addressed first."

"The second issue is the lack of feed for pig farming. This problem mainly stems from the issue of unified purchase and marketing. Let's all discuss how we can solve the feed problem while supporting the national unified purchase and marketing policy."

"The last issue is the low price of pig farming. How can we slightly increase the price of pig farming without taking up too much of the fiscal budget?"

"Comrades, what we need to solve now is the problem of pig farming, but it is not just a pig farming problem. It is only because of the importance of pigs that we are discussing pig farming specifically. Solving the pig farming problem now is also solving the problem of developing sideline industries in the entire rural area in the future. We must solve all problems that arise from unified purchase and marketing and the promotion of cooperatives together."

"Everyone, please share your opinions. Comrade Deng Zhihui, please speak first."

Wei Hongjun first called out Deng Zhihui's name.

Because Deng Zhihui was one of the best rural cadres in the Central Committee, he also took notes, noting what Luo Weilin said, what Wei Hongjun said, and writing down his own thoughts besides.

Deng Zhihui strongly agreed with Wei Hongjun’s final summary.

So he said, "Comrade Wei Hongjun just summarized it very well. I will consider it based on the ideas summarized by Comrade Wei Hongjun. First, the issue of cooperatives. We develop mutual aid groups and cooperatives in order to develop the rural cooperative economy and collective economy, cooperate with the public economy in the city, and jointly develop the industrialization of New China. But ultimately, it is for the development of the rural economy. Therefore, the more we develop mutual aid groups and cooperatives, the more we must protect the interests of members. To achieve both public and private benefits, the collective economy must develop, and every member must also benefit. Only with the development of the collective economy can rural areas accumulate wealth and develop education and medical care. Similarly, the lives of members must also improve so that they can feel the development of socialist rural areas."

"So, first we must define the ownership rights between the cooperative and the pig farmers. A cooperative is a cooperative, a rural cooperative production unit. However, the pigs in the hands of the pig farmers are means of subsistence belonging to the members and are personal assets, not cooperative assets. Therefore, the pig manure in the hands of the pig farmers is also personal assets, not cooperative assets. This applies not only to pig farmers, but also to members raising sheep and chickens. Only livestock that assist in farming, such as oxen, horses, and oxen, are considered rural means of production."

"Also, there's definitely room for cooperation between cooperatives and pig farmers. The cooperatives have a certain amount of concentrated feed, while pig farmers have essential fertilizers like pig manure, which is essential in rural areas. Both sides can cooperate in this regard."

"Our first priority is to reassure pig farmers. We must make it clear that the pigs in their hands are not means of production, but rather their personal assets. We must reassure them that the pigs they hold will not be publicly owned. Only by making this clear to them can we ensure they can raise pigs with confidence."

Deng Zhihui has been working in rural areas for many years.

This immediately hits the nail on the head. One of the biggest reasons for the current decline in pig numbers is that pig farmers are unsure of what a cooperative is. They worry that their pigs will be confiscated and become cooperative property. Furthermore, during the implementation of the cooperative, many cooperative cadres themselves didn't clearly understand the difference between means of production and means of subsistence. This led to a somewhat rude work style among some cadres. As a result, many pig farmers, unsure whether their pigs are truly theirs, are reluctant to raise them, even resorting to slaughtering their own pigs.

The most reassuring thing is to have a tight stomach.

If not for this, the number of live pigs would not have dropped so much in 1951.

Wei Hongjun said to Li Shaocheng, "Comrade Shaocheng, your Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for this matter. The promotion of cooperatives cannot be achieved by simply issuing orders and organizing farmers to work together. We must explain rural policies and cooperative policies in detail to rural cadres. We must make it clear to our cooperative cadres that the public ownership of cooperatives is the means of production needed for rural production, not the means of subsistence for members. Your Ministry of Agriculture must open some schools to regularly educate rural cadres and cooperative cadres on this matter. If our cooperative cadres can clearly distinguish between means of production and means of subsistence, then the ownership issues of live pigs that pig farmers are worried about will not arise."

"Yes."

Li Shaocheng nodded.

Wei Hongjun continued, "Also, this isn't just the responsibility of rural and cooperative cadres. Many of our departments are now in rural areas. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have staff going to the countryside. We need to carry out comprehensive propaganda in rural areas. Tell everyone in the countryside what means of production and what personal property are. Comrade Lai Ruoyu, you should contact the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education on this matter. Especially the literacy work teams, they are in rural areas all year round and have the most direct contact with farmers. Have them promote these policies to farmers on a regular basis so that farmers can understand what cooperatives are. The only way to cure the root cause is for farmers to understand it themselves."

"Yes."

Lai Ruoyu nodded.

Deng Zhihui interrupted, "Comrade Wei Hongjun, the military is now downsizing, and I think this is an opportunity for our Rural Work Committee. We could select a group of retired military personnel to study rural policies and how to do rural work. Then, we could assign them to various townships to oversee rural work."

"This is acceptable."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Training a cadre is not easy, but the military has a well-organized cadre system.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Comrade Luo Weilin, your Policy Research Office should prepare to train a group of rural cadres. I will contact the military."

"Yes."

Wei Hongjun turned around and said, "Comrade Deng Zhihui, please continue."

Deng Zhihui said, "As for the feed issue, I think there are three areas for solutions. First, unified purchase and marketing policies must be adjusted. Rural sideline businesses cannot be neglected, and unified purchase and marketing policies must take into account their development. Based on the conditions of different regions, especially in important pig-producing areas, we must reserve feed for livestock."

Deng Zhihui looked at Wei Hongjun and said firmly.

Although Li Shaocheng had said at the beginning that it would be difficult to adjust the unified purchase and sale policy, after all, it involved 70 billion yuan in funds, and it was not so easy to adjust.

But Deng Zhihui believed that Wei Hongjun had a way.

The two officials currently in charge of the national unified purchase and marketing system are Mao Zemin and Bo Shuchun, the Minister of Finance. Neither of them is the type of cadre to blindly push forward with their work. As long as Wei Hongjun is willing to persuade them, some adjustments can be made while maintaining the general direction. Wei Hongjun nodded and said, "In addition to handling rural affairs, our Rural Work Committee is also responsible for providing the central government with advice on rural issues. The current unified purchase and marketing system is seriously affecting the development of rural sideline businesses, so appropriate adjustments are necessary. I will handle this matter. Comrade Deng Zhihui, please continue."

"The second solution to the feed problem is urban-rural cooperation. Currently, the unified purchase and sale system primarily covers grain and some important crops. However, this does not mean that all rural agricultural products are included. So, the current situation is that rural areas have agricultural products that cities need, while some urban factories have pig feed, such as soybean cake, that rural areas need. Both sides can strengthen cooperation in this area, with cities exchanging some pig feed for rural agricultural products."

"This is a good approach. The rural and urban economies need to flow together to create more opportunities for cooperation. However, this work requires our frontline cadres to exercise their subjective initiative."

Why is the level of cadres important?

It is because of things like this that front-line cadres need to be able to discover them themselves.

Deng Zhihui continued, "The third solution is to find some alternatives to traditional feed. Unified purchase and marketing is a major policy, and even with some adjustments, the amount of grain that can remain in rural areas is still limited. Therefore, we must find some alternatives to traditional feed to make up for the shortage of concentrated feed."

"Yes. This requires the support of technical personnel. Comrade Zhao Dezun, please contact the technical department on this matter."

"Yes."

Zhao Dezun nodded.

Seeing that Wei Hongjun had made his arrangements, Deng Zhihui continued, "Then there's the issue of pig prices. To motivate farmers to raise pigs, it all comes down to the price of pigs. Only when pig prices rise and there's enough profit will farmers raise pigs. However, I have limited information on this, so I don't have a solid plan yet. However, fiscal funds are currently tight, so using them for subsidies is difficult."

Wei Hongjun likes Deng Zhihui’s attitude of knowing if he knows and not knowing if he doesn’t know.

Wei Hongjun looked at Luo Weilin.

Luo Weilin seems inactive, but he is a cadre who likes to use his brain.

After observing Luo Weilin for so long, Wei Hongjun couldn't believe he hadn't considered these issues. "Secretary Wei, raising pig prices requires the cooperation of food commercial companies. I believe we can address this in three ways. First, reduce transportation costs. Currently, the biggest headache for food commercial companies is transporting pigs. This is especially true in rural areas where roads are difficult to navigate, and food commercial companies lack transportation tools. So every time they purchase pigs from the countryside and help them get them out, they incur significant transportation costs. But in reality, food commercial companies don't have to be responsible for transportation at all. Rural farmers are willing to work hard in exchange for money. Food commercial companies can directly outsource transportation to rural cooperatives at low prices, allowing them to find ways to get the pigs to the county seat."

"Reducing transportation costs is one way."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

If a food commercial company were to go to the countryside to transport the pigs, it would cost ten yuan per trip, but if they were willing to pay, they could ask the rural cooperative to help with the transportation for five yuan.

This will reduce costs and the extra money can be used to subsidize pig farmers.

And the cooperative itself can also make money.

"Second: Raise the price of pork in the market. Currently, the national price of pork is around 43 cents. With our staff transitioning from a supply system to a wage system, price adjustments are necessary. We can adjust the price of pork in about 20 major cities to around 50 cents, which would increase annual revenue by around 150 million yuan. We can use this money to subsidize farmers and increase the purchase price."

"Will raising pork prices cause fluctuations in other commodity prices?"

"It shouldn't be a major problem. With this wage reform, price fluctuations for many items are inevitable. Furthermore, with the advancement of industrialization in recent years, our workforce has grown significantly. This means that more and more families can afford pork. So a slight price increase won't be a big problem."

Deng Zhihui spoke.

The growth of urban populations in recent years has been significant. Take, for example, the Baotou Steel complex that Wei Hongjun just visited. The factory workforce alone is over 10,000. Adding in the workers in the surrounding supporting facilities, the total number reaches approximately 30,000. And that's even after Baotou Steel completed its No. 1 blast furnace.

As Baotou Steel builds more blast furnaces and open-hearth furnaces, the workforce will increase even more. Historically, the Baotou Iron and Steel Complex, including miners, employed over 80,000 people. And that's just the workers surrounding Baotou Steel. With so many other factories under construction in Baotou, the workforce is staggering.

With wage reforms underway, more and more people are earning wages, and with so many people earning wages, they can certainly afford to consume pork.

"What about third?"

"The third is to reduce the slaughter tax. The current local slaughter tax is 13%, which is too high. If the slaughter tax can be reduced and the funds are used to purchase live pigs, it will also significantly increase the price of live pigs.

“How much can the current slaughter tax be?”

"We understand that the total amount of local slaughter taxes is currently around 6.4 million yuan."

"so much?"

Wei Hongjun didn't expect the slaughter tax to be so high.

The slaughter tax is not a central tax, but a local tax.

Taxes. These funds are added to local finances.

Wei Hongjun thought for a moment and asked, "How much do you think is appropriate to reduce it?"

"We've done the math and believe a 5% increase is ideal. This would allow food companies to generate an additional 2.4 million to 2.6 million RMB in profits. Adding together the profits from raising meat prices and reducing the slaughter tax, we could invest around 4 million RMB in pig procurement. If this is achieved, the current pork price could be raised by around 30 to RMB per jin (approximately kg), bringing the purchase price to over RMB."

This is why Wei Hongjun admires Luo Weilin and appoints him as the director of the Policy Research Office.

Look at how every step has been thought of. He even helped to think of things for the food business company.

Deng Zhihui couldn't help but glance at Luo Weilin. Deng Zhihui sighed inwardly, as expected, Wei Hongjun, a cadre who emerged from the land reform, was not only outstanding himself, but also had so many capable cadres under him.

Deng Zhihui had already recognized Chen Tao, who was in charge of land reform in Guangdong, as an exceptional cadre. He possessed excellent vision, outstanding ability, and tremendous determination. It went without saying that Li Shaocheng, the Minister of Agriculture, was such a remarkable cadre. He had never expected such an outstanding cadre to be hidden within the Rural Work Committee.

He looks very young, less than forty years old.

It should be said that the rural cadres who came from Wei Hongjun's side were basically so young, all around 40 years old, which was the prime of their life.

"Comrade Deng Zhihui, what do you think of Comrade Luo Weilin's ideas?"

"It is feasible. But it must get the approval of the central government." Deng Zhihui nodded.

Luo Weilin's words are very practical. Although the local government will lose hundreds of millions of RMB in tax revenue, compared to those local government taxes, increasing the number of pigs is the most important period.

"What do you think?"

“I think it’s doable.”

Li Shaocheng nodded.

The others nodded in support. Wei Hongjun said, "Then I'll talk to Comrade Mao Zemin and Comrade Bo Shuchun about this matter and ask the food commercial company to cooperate with us."

Unified purchase and sale is a major national policy.