Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

The Qiantang Village Cooperative now has over 120 households and a population of 867. At the time of liberation, the village had only about 500 mu (approximately 170 acres) of arable land. After liberation, the cooperative was established, and two ponds were dug, adding approximately 140 mu (approximately acres) of irrigated land and increasing grain production. Land reclamation efforts also expanded the village to over mu (approximately acres).

But compared with the population, arable land is still seriously insufficient.

So the Qiantang Village cooperative began developing side businesses, including planting fruit trees on the hillside, digging ponds for fish farming, and every household raising pigs. But Qiantang Village still couldn't truly escape poverty.

"Sixth Uncle, the current situation in our village is that there is a serious surplus of labor. In fact, three or four people do the work of one person and share one person's work points. If this continues, no matter how hard we work, our Qiantang Village will not be able to develop. But we also have an advantage, that is, we have a large population, and this is an advantage. We must give full play to our advantages. It is a waste for so many strong laborers to farm. We can set up a special purchasing team in the cooperative to go to other cooperatives to purchase agricultural and sideline products. Now many rural cooperatives are difficult to access, so the county and township supply and marketing cooperatives will not send people there. But our people can go. We will go to their cooperatives to purchase agricultural and sideline products, and then we will sell them in the market."

Li Shi really learned a lot in the army.

Especially Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei.

That business was doing very well.

Moreover, during the Liberation War, the slogan of Wei Hongjun, who was in charge of rural work, was that agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery should be developed comprehensively in rural areas. Therefore, when Li Shi heard that rural cooperatives were allowed to set up supply and marketing cooperatives, he immediately thought of the advantages of their cooperatives.

That's because there are too many people.

There were many cooperatives around their Qiantang Village Cooperative, making it difficult to find them, so it was difficult to find agricultural and sideline products from their village. Because the state-owned supply and marketing cooperatives would not go to them just for a few agricultural and sideline products, they were not the state-mandated agricultural products such as grain, oil, and live pigs.

But just because the National Supply and Marketing Cooperative doesn't think highly of it doesn't mean Li Shi doesn't think highly of it.

Because those rural cooperatives are all located at the foot of the mountains, they actually have a lot of agricultural and sideline products.

"Uncle Six, Uncle Niu San, think about it. Right now, we buy three eggs for ten cents. If we take them to the county or township, we can sell them for fifteen cents, if not twenty. If we buy a hundred eggs, we can make ten to fifteen yuan. We have a lot of people, so if we divide them up and set up a cooperative, we can buy dozens or even hundreds of eggs from the twenty or thirty cooperatives that buy agricultural and sideline products. We can collect thousands of eggs at a time, and make a profit of over a hundred yuan."

"It's the same with vegetables. Ordinary vegetables sell for two or three cents a pound, but in the county or township, they can be sold for one or two cents a pound. Our cooperative doesn't produce much, but if there are several, a dozen, or even dozens of cooperatives, then we can have a lot."

"Besides, our village has another advantage."

When Li Shiyi said this, both Old Man Li and Old Man Niu were very excited.

A profit of over a hundred yuan?

So Old Man Li immediately asked: "What advantage?"

"Arithmetic. During our village's literacy campaign, we've been teaching arithmetic. Many young people in our village can do simple arithmetic. This is a huge advantage for us in purchasing and selling agricultural and sideline products."

"Shitou, I understand what you're saying. But actually doing it might cost nearly 100 yuan. Going to other cooperatives to buy agricultural and sideline products requires at least a wheelbarrow. And how do you make sure the eggs don't break on the way? You need to be prepared."

Old Man Li was once the deputy captain and then captain of the militia and worked in logistics for the troops.

So I am familiar with these.

"Uncle Six, everyone in our village is very experienced in this area. Back then, when we delivered supplies to the army, everyone did a great job. Uncle Six, Uncle Niu San, our cooperative has too many people, so we must develop more side businesses. Our village has too little arable land, and if we only farm, we'll never escape poverty. Now is a good opportunity."

Old man Li smoked his cigarette for a while and then said, "xxxxxx, damn, done."

949 Plans for the next year

"We got the news from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Since the central government allowed rural cooperatives in nine provinces to independently establish supply and marketing cooperatives, there are now approximately 9 supply and marketing cooperatives registered with local administrations for industry and commerce. Overall, rural cooperatives are still quite cautious. Many prefer to sell their agricultural and sideline products to supply and marketing cooperatives rather than setting up their own."

As the year drew to a close, various central ministries and commissions were reviewing their work for 1954. 1954 was already the third year of the First Five-Year Plan. By this time, it was becoming increasingly clear whether the First Five-Year Plan would be completed. Consequently, some ministries and commissions began to adjust their original plans based on current circumstances.

Wei Hongjun also convened a meeting of the Rural Work Department.

One is to summarize the work in 1954, and the other is to formulate a work plan for 1955.

Zhang Linchi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Rural Affairs, reported on the current situation of the free market for agricultural and sideline products.

Deng Zhihui said, "There's nothing wrong with being cautious. Many rural areas in our country don't have enough savings to take risks. If a supply and marketing cooperative fails, it will take several years to recover. Most rural areas should still focus on growing grain while developing side businesses. It's best not to have too many supply and marketing cooperatives that develop from rural cooperatives. Of course, we don't artificially control the number of supply and marketing cooperatives."

Deng Zhihui answered cautiously.

The free market for agricultural and sideline products has been liberalized, but not completely.

There are still many rules and regulations. Not to mention the registration fees, the cost of setting up a stall at the free market, and other preparations, it costs about 100 yuan. This is not something that ordinary rural cooperatives can afford.

Wei Hongjun asked, "Have the rough figures for the free market for agricultural and sideline products for the four months of August, September, October, and November been released?"

August 1954 marked the official opening of the free market for agricultural and sideline products. It was the month the free market for agricultural and sideline products was reopened after the state implemented unified purchase and marketing. Wei Hongjun looked at data, not words like "good" or "bad."

"Have."

Zhang Linchi said: "According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, in the nine provinces that have opened up the free market for agricultural and sideline products, the market size of agricultural and sideline products in counties and townships in the past four months has been around 14 billion yuan."

"What exactly?"

"Agricultural and sideline products from rural land account for about 10 billion RMB, and other rural handicrafts account for about 4 million RMB. Woven baskets are particularly popular in the market."

Wei Hongjun listened to Zhang Linchi's report, began to look through the materials in his hand, and then made lines on them.

Also jot down your own thoughts.

In addition to agricultural and sideline products grown on the land, there are also many handicraft products in rural areas. At present, China's light industrial products are still in serious shortage, and urban residents need many handicraft products to replace them.

It's like weaving a basket.

In the 21st century, everyone would buy everything in plastic bags, eliminating the need for baskets. However, China's petroleum industry is still nascent, so how could it possibly create so many plastic products on the market? Therefore, many urban households buy woven baskets from the countryside.

Wei Hongjun has always known that the market for rural handicraft products is quite large. Of course, the rural handicraft products mentioned here do not necessarily refer to handicraft products from rural areas, but also include handicraft products from towns and villages.

Wei Hongjun hadn't anticipated the enormous market for rural handicrafts following the liberalization of the agricultural and sideline product market. The county and township markets in nine provinces generated 4 million RMB in just four months. That's over a billion RMB annually. And that's just the grassroots free market; many rural handicrafts are sold to major cities, and some are even exported. Adding it all up, the annual output value of rural handicrafts in these nine provinces is undoubtedly over 20 billion RMB.

This indirectly shows that urban purchasing power has increased since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Wei Hongjun's record is about how to support the development of sideline industries in rural handicrafts.

After everyone digested the information, Zhang Linchi continued, "The Ministry of Commerce has exchanged data with the National Supply and Marketing Cooperative and local governments. After the free market for agricultural and sideline products was liberalized, sales of rural daily industrial products by the National Supply and Marketing Cooperative in counties and townships across nine provinces increased by 9% compared to the same period last year. Products with increases exceeding 19% ​​include iron pots, hoes, buckets, water wheels, rice threshers, and so on, with iron pots and hoes seeing increases of over 20%."

Everyone's faces became more serious after listening to the report.

The increase in sales of supply and marketing cooperatives is a positive development for national industrialization. This is because the prices of these industrial products are artificially raised by the government. Therefore, increased sales of supply and marketing cooperatives will increase their profits, national fiscal revenue, and state investment in industry. This will also increase profits for the industrial sector, allowing it to profit and develop independently. This is the government's expectation for the industrial sector.

But everyone's first reaction wasn't joy, but sadness. The sudden popularity of these products showed that rural areas desperately needed them. Many of these items were essential for rural production and life. But why hadn't they been so popular before? Why had sales of these products at the supply and marketing cooperatives been so sluggish? It was because rural areas lacked money.

Therefore, after the free market for agricultural and sideline products was opened, rural income only increased slightly.

But it immediately made these products popular.

This is a meeting of the Rural Work Department, and we all work in rural areas. Seeing the situation now, how can anyone be happy?

After a while, Wei Hongjun said, "This shows that our rural areas are a market with great potential. As long as we continue to improve the rural economy, it will be able to be integrated into our socialist industrialization. The products produced by our factories will be able to flow into the countryside. This will improve rural living standards, increase our factory income, and create more profits for the country."

Rural areas are really a big market.

A large market with a population of 500 million.

If a farmer's annual income increases by one yuan, the entire rural area will gain 500 million yuan. If it increases by ten yuan, that's 50 billion yuan. And this money will definitely be recovered by the state through the purchase of industrial products.

This is a virtuous economic cycle.

But how to make rural areas prosperous is a big problem. "Yes. And this shows that our free market for agricultural and sideline products is very effective." Deng Zhihui nodded.

Wei Hongjun said, "Since the free market for agricultural and sideline products is very effective, we should gradually promote it nationwide. However, these data alone are not enough. Comrade Luo Weilin, your Policy Research Office needs to constantly monitor the status of the free market for agricultural and sideline products. This includes the status of county and township supply and marketing cooperatives, the supply and marketing cooperatives established by rural cooperatives, and the opinions of various cooperatives on newly emerging supply and marketing cooperatives, etc."

"Yes."

"Comrades Lai Ruoyu and Zhao Dezun, you two should discuss with the Ministry of Commerce how to open up the free market next year. We can't just liberalize everything just because we saw good results this year. We need to do it in a gradual manner, just like we did with the nine provinces. First, establish supply and marketing cooperatives in cities, counties, and townships. These will take over the purchase and sale of agricultural and sideline products from the national supply and marketing cooperatives, and then gradually open up the free market for agricultural and sideline products."

"Correct."

Deng Zhihui nodded.

道:“我的建议是1955年3月份之前,农副产品自由市场的开放再增加五六个省份。然后看看情况怎么样。到1955年7，8月份的时候,再增加一些省份。大约利用一年半到两年时间，全国完全放开农副产品自由市场。让农副产品自由市场的开放,和目前农村合作社发展协调起来。让农副产品自由市场和国家供销社、国家商业公司成为农村合作经济和城市公有经济之间的桥梁。让农村合作经济和城市公有经济紧密的结合起来。”

The country has always emphasized that the rural and urban economies should be circulated and that the rural cooperative economy should be integrated into urban industrialization.

But before, it was more of a one-way street. The state used unified purchase and marketing to forcibly pull the rural economy into national industrialization. Now, Deng Zhihui is suggesting that the rural cooperative economy should be independently and proactively integrated into national industrialization.

In addition to the mandatory unified purchase and sale, another channel is the free market for agricultural and sideline products.

Through these two channels, rural products can be sold to cities. At the same time, supply and marketing cooperatives and state-owned commercial companies can be used to sell urban industrial products to rural areas, thus completing an economic integration and cycle.

"Comrade Deng Zhihui is right. No matter how impatient the outside world becomes, we in the Rural Work Department must maintain stability. We must not get carried away and think that just because rural development is good now, we want to achieve everything all at once. This is a leftist and adventurous idea. Only when our Rural Work Department maintains stability can we stabilize the countryside. Therefore, my view is similar to Comrade Deng Zhihui's. I propose that we complete the opening of the nation's own market for agricultural and sideline products within two years, until 1956."

Wei Hongjun supports Deng Zhihui's view.

China's rural areas are currently undergoing major changes.

On one hand, there are developing cooperatives, and on the other, there's a free market for agricultural and sideline products. These two must develop together; neither can be relaxed. Just because the free market for agricultural and sideline products is currently developing well in nine provinces and cities, we shouldn't simply expand it nationwide. That won't work.

The original reason for selecting nine provinces and municipalities to open up a free market for agricultural and sideline products was that each had its own strengths. The next step must be steady, proceeding step by step.

After Wei Hongjun finished speaking, Li Shaocheng, Lai Ruoyu, Zhao Dezun and others also put forward their own ideas.

Improve how to open a free market for agricultural and sideline products throughout China within the next two years.

Of course, this matter wouldn't be resolved solely by the Rural Work Department; it would need to be discussed with the Ministry of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives. However, once the Rural Work Department had made its decision, discussing it with them would make things much easier.

After discussing the free market for agricultural and sideline products, Li Shaocheng said: "Last year, seed research institutes across the country made great breakthroughs in seed research. The biggest breakthroughs were made in Northeast China and Guangdong. After more than seven years of research, Northeast China has launched a batch of rice and corn seeds suitable for planting in Northeast China. In 1954, the promotion of improved seeds was carried out in North China and Henan Provinces. 87 mu of rice, 374 million mu of winter wheat, 292 million mu of spring wheat, and 468 million mu of corn were promoted. Among them, corn

After the large-scale planting of rice, the yield increased the fastest. After the improved corn seeds were planted in the mountainous areas of Shanxi, the average yield per mu exceeded 279 kilograms, which was higher than the original yield of corn in the mountainous areas of Shanxi.

The yield per mu has tripled, increasing by a full 200 kilograms per mu. Henan Province saw the largest increase in yield per mu, with 68 mu of improved corn seeds planted in Henan Province achieving an average yield of 584 kilograms per mu, an increase of over 400 kilograms per mu. The highest yield per mu reached 711 kilograms, breaking my country's record for corn yield per mu.

"711 jin? That's not a false report."

Wei Hongjun is very sensitive about grain production and is afraid of false reporting.

Wei Hongjun came from a combat background. The most taboo on the battlefield is to falsify battle results, as this can easily lead higher-ups to misjudge the battlefield situation. The same goes for grain. Falsifying per-acre yields can easily lead to the central government's misjudgment of agricultural output.

Li Shaocheng said: "After receiving the report, I ordered the local authorities to stop harvesting corn. Then I took the staff from the Ministry of Agriculture with me. We directly participated in the corn harvest in the surrounding areas. Although we didn't see the 711 kilograms per mu yield again, the yield of corn in the surrounding areas generally reached around 650 kilograms per mu. So we judged that the 711 kilograms per mu yield was possible."

Wei Hongjun was silent.

After thinking for a while, he said, "This can be recorded. But since it hasn't been officially confirmed, don't report this data. What's the highest yield per mu after you go down there?"

"One acre of land produced 686 kilograms per acre."

"Then let's use this data. Comrade Deng Zhihui, what do you think?" "I agree."

Both of them were quite cautious when it came to grain yield per mu, preferring to report it lower than higher.

Even with the 686 kilograms, Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui were both very happy. They both understood that this year was the first year of widespread adoption of improved varieties. Many people were unfamiliar with their cultivation. They had no experience with how much organic fertilizer these varieties required, or how closely they should be planted. Once they became familiar with these varieties, yields per mu would likely increase.

Corn grits are a coarse grain, much cheaper than rice and wheat. Several cents per jin (approximately 3g) is cheaper. So, when the state implemented unified purchase and marketing, corn cost around 4 or cents per jin (approximately g). With the increase in corn production, this hasn't just been a small increase; it's doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled. Even small cooperatives can see their income increase by or yuan with increased grain production. Larger cooperatives with large arable land can see their annual revenue increase by over yuan. While still not a huge sum, it's still a significant boost to rural cooperatives.

"According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, the promotion of improved varieties has resulted in an additional 34 billion jin (approximately billion kg) of grain production nationwide this year."

“What about the plan for 1955?”

“1955年农业部的计划是，水稻良种推广面积664万亩、冬小麦推广面积1700万亩，春小麦推广面积1200万亩，玉米推广面积2200万亩到2500万亩。如果东北那边种植玉米顺利，那么玉米良种推广面积能够达到3000万亩左右。计划1955年因为良种推广新增粮食产量140亿斤。”

Wei Hongjun looked at Deng Zhihui.

Deng Zhihui nodded.

He said, "In addition to promoting improved varieties, the next step is to develop plans for the construction of various water conservancy facilities. While the liberalization of the agricultural and sideline product market has alleviated the situation in rural my country with a large population and limited land, it hasn't solved the fundamental problem. Rural labor remains surplus. Therefore, we need to develop different plans for the construction of water conservancy facilities based on the specific conditions of each region. Only by combining improved varieties with fertile land, and developing the fertilizer industry simultaneously, can we truly increase grain production and completely resolve rural economic issues. Currently, we lack construction machinery, so we can only rely on manpower. We need to develop different plans based on the different regions and manpower conditions."

"Ah."