This study divides the agricultural development of Communist China into stages based on policy cycles and economic fluctuations, and then investigates the problems of each of these stages.
First, the whole period of investigation is divided between the reigns of Mao Zedong (1952-1976) and Deng Xiaoping (1977-1988, including 1977-78 when Hua Guofeng was in power). The first period, under Mao, is then subdivided into three stages: that of the first five-year plan, that of the Great Leap Forward and economic adjustment from 1958-65, and that of the Cultural Revolution form 1966 to 1976.
For each of these periods, farm production, the living conditions of farmers, and social and economic structural changes are then examined. As is well known, although both Mao and Deng consistently supported communist ideology, dictatorship, and a socialist economic system, they adopted very different economic policies: the class struggle of Mao versus the economic reform of Deng. Our analysis reveals that there was negative growth in agricultural productivity during stages II and III, the latter part of Mao’s era, while during Deng’s period agricultural production showed positive growth.
Because of the dissolution of collectivization during Deng’s era, there were less irrigation projects completed then. As a result, the latter period showed a decrease in acreage of irrigation and an increase in acreage devastated by floods and drought.
While the period of both Mao and Deng had their respective merits and weakness with regard to agricultural development policies, the latter era, that of Deng Hsiao-ping, was superior to Mao’s in terms of accomplishments. Despite the fact that more substantial progress was made in the latter period compared to the former, one may imagine that the modernization of agriculture in Communist China will not be achieved in the foreseeable future.
