Chapter 32 2. Unequal treaties: "Scissors" has become "torches"

Yang Dinghai, a national model worker and number one grain leader in northern Jiangsu, contracted 1,700 mu of land. He didn't expect that at the end of the year, he would pay 80 yuan for every mu of land he planted, and he lost 130,000 yuan in one year of farming.He said: "The benefits obtained from the reforms in the past few years have been fully posted in the past few years." Farmers in China not only bear increasing apportionments and burdens, but also bear the unequal treaties of price scissors for industrial and agricultural products.Fair trade is a basic principle of a market economy. However, in today's rural areas, only industrial products can engage in a "market economy" and prices are skyrocketing, while agricultural products can only engage in "planned prices", which are repeatedly suppressed.The scissors gap in the prices of industrial and agricultural products has been increasing year after year, so some people say that it is not a "scissors gap" but a "torches gap".

Generally speaking, the contribution of agriculture to the national economy is manifested in the provision of national food and industrial raw materials. However, China's agriculture has another special contribution, that is, it provides the raw material for the initial development of China's industry, which has almost no foundation. accumulation.Only by understanding this point can we truly understand why "agriculture is the foundation" has always been the "bible" for economic development in China. This special contribution of China's agriculture is realized through the scissors difference in the prices of industrial and agricultural products.That is to say, by artificially making the price of industrial products higher than the value, and the price of agricultural products lower than the value, the agricultural labor surplus is transferred to the industrial sector in the mutual exchange, thereby accelerating the development of industry.In layman's terms, it is a kind of unequal exchange, which is to obtain industrial development by letting farmers sell agricultural products at low prices and buy industrial products at high prices.In the process, farmers have contributed a lot of money to the country invisibly.This kind of funds is obtained neither through taxes nor fees, but through the "scissors difference" in the prices of industrial and agricultural products. Therefore, except for a very small number of economists and policy makers, workers, cadres, and urban residents do not know I don't know, even farmers are kept in the dark.In Stalin's words, the so-called "scissors gap" means that farmers should pay "tribute tax" for the country's industrialization.At the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, we learned this trick from the big brother of the Soviet Union. For decades, the scissors gap between industrial and agricultural products has always existed in the relationship between the two major categories of industry and agriculture. The reform and opening up did not significantly reduce the scissors gap. It expanded even more.

Relevant studies have shown that in the nearly 40 years from 1952 to 1990, the country drew about 1 trillion yuan of funds from agriculture through the price scissors of industrial and agricultural products, taxation and savings, accounting for 22.4% of the total accumulation of national income. 25 billion yuan. On average, each agricultural laborer provided free funds for industrialization each year and accumulated up to 266 yuan (in 1990), which was equivalent to 38.8% of the per capita net income of farmers in that year. According to relevant data, since 1989, the price scissors gap of industrial and agricultural products has increased by 16.5%.Its absolute value has been increasing year by year, reaching 120 billion yuan in the 1950s and 1960s, reaching 70 billion yuan in the 1970s, and reaching 200 billion yuan in 1991. From 1979 to 1985, the absolute amount of the scissors gap increased at an average annual rate of 9.5%, and from 1986 to 1991 it accelerated to 16.9%.The per capita scissors burden of farmers increased by 42 yuan in 1985 compared with 1978, and in 1991 increased by 125 yuan compared with 1985, reaching 217 yuan.

From this we can see that China's economy has long been in the stage of agriculture nurturing industry, and hundreds of millions of farmers have made great contributions to industry and urban construction.Since my country's industrial production efficiency has not yet reached the ideal state, in my country, not only the industry's "feedback" of agriculture that should have started long ago has not been realized, but the "nurturing" of agriculture to industry is still continuing. Experts estimate that, The current contribution of agriculture is still more than 100 billion yuan per year.

It is a common practice in the industrialization process of underdeveloped countries that agriculture feeds industry, and it was absolutely necessary for China to do so under the historical conditions at that time.But the current situation has undergone major changes. First, the structure of industrial and agricultural output value has changed. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, industrial and agricultural output value accounted for about 30% and 70% respectively. Now it has changed dramatically to industry accounting for 70% and agriculture only accounting for more than 20%. According to the experience of developed countries in the world, when the ratio of industrial and agricultural output value in a country reaches 7:3, the industry should turn to support agriculture; second, the income gap between urban and rural residents is widening, reaching 2.46:1 in 1997, exceeding the 1978 reform eve Third, in the process of transition from planned economy to market economy, the weak position of agriculture needs to be changed.Therefore, economic experts at home and abroad all agree that China should timely and gradually transform from agriculture feeding industry to industry feeding back agriculture.The internationally accepted practice is to implement the price support policy for agricultural products and at the same time subsidize the prices of agricultural production inputs.Although the current national financial resources are limited, we have to consider this and implement it step by step.And if we continue to maintain industrial development at the expense of agriculture, this will not only be detrimental to agriculture, but also detrimental to the improvement of the overall efficiency and level of urban industry and even the national economy.

It should be said that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to the price scissors of industrial and agricultural products.Chairman Mao has repeatedly stated that farmers should not be treated badly.But in view of the economic conditions at that time, the state simply could not spend too much money to change this unreasonable situation.After the reform and opening up, with the success of China's economic reform, narrowing the scissors gap between industrial and agricultural products has become an important policy of the Chinese government to protect the interests of farmers and promote agricultural development.In the first year after the reform and opening up, the state raised the purchase price of grain, and then raised it five or six times in succession, especially in 1994 when it raised the purchase price of grain by 40%, and again in 1996 by 42%. The price increase has nearly doubled the comprehensive average price of grain.This not only greatly improves farmers' agricultural production income, but also greatly stimulates farmers' production enthusiasm and promotes the development of agricultural production, especially grain production.Over the past 20 years of reform and opening up, China's total annual grain output has increased by more than 20 million tons, largely due to the increase in grain prices.

However, why is the price of grain raised again and again, but the scissors gap between industrial and agricultural products has not narrowed significantly, but has a tendency to expand?The farmers explained the reasons in a few jingles: "The price of grain has risen by a small amount, the price of chemical fertilizers has risen by a large amount, and farmers' income has no sweetness." rising speed.Most of the benefits of rising grain prices have been offset by increased agricultural production costs. The period from 1978 to 1984 is recognized as the period with the best price comparison of grain and fertilizer. After 1985, the price ratio of grain and fertilizer showed a gradual recovery trend on the whole. In the 8 years from 1985 to 1992, in 5 years, the increase rate of chemical fertilizer prices was higher than that of food prices.Among them, in 1990 and 1991, the price of chemical fertilizer continued to rise under the circumstance of falling food price. In 1993 and 1994, the price ratio of grain and fertilizer improved.But in 1995, fertilizer prices rose again higher than grain prices.

Gao Lianzhen, deputy to the People's Congress of Hubei Province and secretary of the Party branch of Qingwangli Village in Zhongxiang County, made a calculation: his village can increase its income by 200,000 yuan a year due to the increase in grain prices, and it will cost an extra 250,000 yuan due to the increase in the price of agricultural production materials. Not to mention that the benefits brought by the price are offset, but also 50,000 yuan will be subsidized. In Heilongjiang Province, one of the most important commercial grain bases in China, since 1994, the prices of chemical fertilizers, diesel oil, and agricultural film have continued to rise, and the average cost of farming for local farmers has increased by 267 yuan per household. Farmers in the province have paid an extra 1.3 billion yuan each year due to the increase in the price of production materials. .The 1.3 billion is actually the tribute tax paid by farmers in Heilongjiang for the industrial sector, which is the 1.3 billion lost by the scissors.The situation in other provinces of the country is similar. A considerable number of farmers have to reduce the planting area or reduce the investment in arable land because they cannot afford the high prices of production materials, which has an extremely adverse impact on the development of agriculture.

Farmers in Taigu County, Shanxi reported that the amount of urea they exchanged with 50 kilograms of wheat was 46.6 kilograms in 1987 and only 40.9 kilograms in 1994.Based on this calculation, the scissors gap has expanded by 17 percentage points. Farmers in Zhuba Township, Hongze County, Jiangsu Province, they harvest 250 kilograms per mu of wheat and 400 kilograms per mu of rice, but the cost per mu is more than 100 yuan. To post upside down. Someone calculated an account: For a family of 3, with 1 mu of land per person, the income from growing grain is only 540 yuan.One bag of chemical fertilizer is used for each mu of land, and 180 yuan is needed for 3 mu of land. Adding drainage and irrigation fees, pesticide fees, agricultural taxes, etc. will cost more than 100 yuan, and then bear the various apportionments of counties and towns, and it will be in the hands of farmers. The annual income is only one or two hundred yuan.The small vegetable vendors in the city earn only 10 yuan a day, and their monthly income is more than 300 yuan, which is equivalent to the income of a farmer for a year.

Because grain and other agricultural products are closely related to people's daily life, people pay special attention to the price of grain and other agricultural products. There is an uproar after a slight adjustment, but it is common for agricultural production materials to produce grain and other agricultural products to increase in price.In the past, some farmers posted couplets saying "I will not sell cheap grain, and I will not buy high-priced chemical fertilizers" to express their resistance to this kind of inequality, but in fact it is impossible, because the reality is that cheap grain It's not necessarily that anyone wants it, and it's not necessarily that high-priced fertilizers can be bought.So far, farmers have worked so hard to collect a load of grain, but they can still only exchange for a mid-range cigarette and half a pack of low-quality chemical fertilizers.Although the state has raised the prices of agricultural and sideline products several times, it is good not to mention them. The price increase of agricultural and sideline products has not yet been implemented, but the prices of means of production have begun to turn somersaults.According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the price ratio between grain and ammonium bicarbonate, diesel oil, and cotton cloth was 1:1.59:0.5:0.66 in 1982, and dropped to 1:1.16:0.31:0.51 in 1993, and the price difference expanded by 27%, 39.2%, and 22.7%. .

In 1994, the government stipulated that the ex-factory price of urea should not exceed 1,100 yuan per ton, but the urea bought by farmers was as high as 1,700 yuan per ton, which was more than 50% higher than the ex-factory price. In 1995, the price of agricultural materials rose sharply, an increase of 27.4%, nearly 6 percentage points higher than that of the previous year, of which the price of chemical fertilizers increased by more than 30%. Gansu needs 90,000 tons of agricultural diesel oil and 1.45 million tons of chemical fertilizers every year. According to market prices, only two factors of price increases for diesel and chemical fertilizers will increase farmers’ expenditure by 468 million yuan, or 26 yuan per capita. In addition, the price increase of plastic film and hydropower Factors, the per capita burden exceeds the sum of the per capita extra-tax burden of the previous year. As the "Economic Daily" editorial on March 1, 1995 said: "The basic position of agriculture has been weakened amidst the sound of strengthening, the income of farmers has been reduced amidst clamor, and the price of agricultural production materials has been raised amidst the sound of price limits." Among all agricultural products, grain is the one with the lowest price comparison.According to statistics from relevant departments, the net output value per mu of land is 159 yuan for grain, 1,169 yuan for apples, 1,313 yuan for oranges, and 339 yuan for cotton.According to a survey in Shaanxi, from 1985 to 1997, the purchase price of grain increased by 2.28 times, far lower than that of other agricultural products.For example, 2.28 times for live pigs and 5.76 times for fresh vegetables. Compared with before the reform, the income of farmers in our country has indeed increased greatly. In 1978, the per capita net income of farmers across the country was only 133.57 yuan, but in 1997 this indicator had increased to 2090.10 yuan, an increase of 14.65 times in 19 years.The growth of farmers' income plays a decisive role in realizing the goal of a well-off life for farmers, the rapid growth of agriculture and rural economy, and the entire national economy. However, we are not yet ready to celebrate, because there are still a series of worrisome problems behind the increase in farmers' income. First, the regional differences in farmers' income are quite disparate. The more agriculturally developed or dominated by agricultural production, the lower the farmers' income.Taking 1997 as an example, there were only 14 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) that reached or exceeded the national average income level of farmers, while 17 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) were lower than the national average level. The 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) are all lower than the national average; the ratio of the highest per capita net income of farmers to the lowest province (autonomous region and municipality) is 4.45:1.Most of the areas with high farmers' income are areas with relatively developed township enterprises, while most of the areas dominated by agricultural production have seen relatively limited increases in farmers' income.This means that the distribution of benefits still has the phenomenon of emphasizing industry over agriculture, and the status of agriculture has not been effectively improved. Second, the growth rate of farmers' income has dropped significantly in the past two years, and has been hovering or even falling back. From 1979 to 1984, the joint production contract system was implemented in rural areas, and agricultural production increased greatly. The per capita income of farmers increased from 160 yuan in 1979 to 355 yuan in 1984. After deducting the price factor, the average annual growth rate was 15.1%. From 1985 to 1988, The planting industry appeared to be hesitant, but the township enterprises developed rapidly. The income of farmers continued to grow steadily. After deducting the price factor, the per capita income of farmers increased from 355 yuan in 1984 to 545 yuan in 1988, with an average increase of 5%. From 1989 to 1991, it was During the period when national agricultural output increased but agricultural income increased slowly, although the per capita income of farmers increased from 602 yuan in 1989 to 702 yuan in 1991, the average increase in per capita income of farmers in the three years was only 0.7%, and some years still had negative growth, such as 1989 1.6% lower than in 1988. From 1992 to 1997, although the per capita income of farmers increased from 921 yuan in 1993 to 2,090 yuan in 1997, after deducting the price factor, it actually increased by 30% compared with 1992, with an average annual average of 5.4%, but in 1993 it only increased by 3.2%. In 1996, it reached 9%. In 1997, it was only 4.6%. In 1998, it is expected to be only 4%. This is another drop of 0.6 percentage points, becoming the lowest year in the past five years. Another problem that cannot be ignored is that the income gap between urban and rural residents has gradually narrowed for a period of time, and it is showing a trend of widening again. The per capita net income in rural areas rose from 191 yuan in 1980 to 1,578 yuan in 1995, with an average growth rate of 15.1%, while the per capita production income of urban households rose from 439 yuan to 3,893 yuan in the same period, with an average annual growth rate of 15.7%.Especially during the Seventh Five-Year Plan and the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, the gap between the rising speed of farmers’ living standards and that of urban residents widened. From 1986 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1995, the average growth rates of the per capita living expenses of rural residents were 3.7% and 3.7% respectively. 4.5%, compared with 5.9% and 7.7% for urban residents in the same period.From the perspective of the absolute value of the income of rural residents and urban residents, in 1991 the income of rural residents was 701 yuan, while that of urban residents was 1,570 yuan, a difference of 869 yuan; in 1993, the income of rural residents was 921 yuan, while that of urban residents was 2,337 yuan, a difference of 1,416 yuan ; In 1997, rural residents were 2,090 yuan, while urban residents were 5,160 yuan, a difference of 3,070 yuan; in 1998, rural residents were 2,150 yuan, and urban residents were 5,454 yuan, a difference of 3,304 yuan.The ratio of per capita income of urban and rural residents was 2.57:1 in 1978; it shrank to 2.3:1 in 1980; it shrank to 1.86:1 in 1984; it expanded to 2.46:1 in 1997, and expanded to 2.53 in 1998: 1. Close to the level before the reform and opening up. The income gap between urban and rural areas is formed because of the price scissors policy of industrial and agricultural products we mentioned above and the development model of supporting agriculture and labor. It is also due to the urban-rural segregation system based on the household registration system formed in my country since the late 1950s. The result of dividing urban and rural residents into two social groups with extremely unequal development opportunities and social status. Not only the per capita income gap between urban and rural residents is getting bigger and bigger, but also, the consumption level of rural residents is lower than their net income level, and the consumption level of urban residents is higher than their living expenses income level, which means that under the market economy system, urban residents enjoy The consumption paid by the state is still higher than that of farmers, that is to say, urban residents still enjoy much more favorable state support policies and consumption subsidies than rural residents. In absolute terms, the living income of urban residents is less than their consumption level, and the gap between the two shows an expanding trend: in 1981, the difference between urban residents’ living income and consumption level was 98.3 yuan, and it rose to 897.06 yuan in 1995; In terms of income ratio, the proportion of urban residents whose consumption level is higher than their income is on the rise.There are two main reasons for this. The first is that urban residents not only bear part of their own consumption with their own income, but also a considerable part of their consumption is paid by the state or the collective. This is an important reason why the consumption level of urban residents is higher than their income level. One; secondly, the errors in statistics of urban residents' living expenses income due to various reasons have reduced the urban residents' living expenses income, which is another reason why urban residents' consumption level is higher than their income level.However, the consumption level of rural residents does not exceed their net income, indicating that the consumption of rural residents comes entirely or mainly from their own net income, and they do not enjoy or only enjoy a small part of the consumption paid by the state collectively. From 1981 to 1995, the difference between the consumption level and consumption expenditure of urban residents rose from 105 yuan to 1252.4 yuan, that is, the consumption level of urban residents paid by the state or collective rose from 105 yuan in 1981 to 1252.4 yuan in 1995. The average annual increase was 81.9 yuan; while the difference between the consumption level and consumption expenditure of rural residents increased from 8.2 yuan in 1981 to 84.6 yuan in 1995, that is, the consumption paid by the state or collective for rural residents increased from 8.2 yuan in 1981 , rose to 84.6 yuan in 1995, with an average annual increase of 5.5 yuan.It shows that since the reform and opening up, although the consumption paid by the state or collectives enjoyed by rural residents has increased, the growth has been extremely slow, lagging far behind that of urban residents.Moreover, in 1983 and 1990, rural consumption expenditures were greater than their consumption levels, indicating that not only did rural residents not enjoy the consumption paid by the state or collectives in these two years, but they spent more than they should have enjoyed, and the interests of farmers were still affected. deprived to varying degrees. From the perspective of changing trends, in 1981, the consumption expenditure of urban residents accounted for 81.3% of their consumption level, and the consumption paid by the state accounted for 18.7% of their consumption level; by 1995, the proportion of urban residents' consumption expenditure in their consumption level decreased to 73.9%, while the proportion of consumption paid by the state in their consumption level rose to 26.1%, an increase of 7.4 percentage points. During the same period, the proportion of rural residents’ consumption expenditure in their consumption level dropped from 95.9% to 93.9%. Spending on payments rose from 4.1 percent to 6.1 percent, an increase of only two percentage points.This shows that since the reform and opening up, although the consumption paid by the state collective payment enjoyed by urban and rural residents has been increasing, the growth rate of the consumption paid by the state paid by urban residents is much faster than that of farmers. It can be seen from this that the state's burden on urban residents has not declined since the reform and opening up, but has continued to rise.Facts show that in the process of national income redistribution in my country, the degree of inclination towards urban residents has not been reduced since the reform and opening up, but has continued to expand, which is inconsistent with the original intention of the national policy since the reform and opening up. Since the reform and opening up, the state has always advocated that the distribution of national income should be tilted towards agriculture, and that in the process of redistribution of national income, attention should be paid to appropriately increasing farmers' income, reducing farmers' burdens, and narrowing the urban-rural gap. A lot of work still needs to be done.In the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, we relied on scissors to implement the strategy of agricultural accumulation and development of industry. However, the reform has been carried out to this day, and industrialization has also established a certain foundation. At the expense of agriculture and farmers’ interests, farmers and the rural economy are placed on a par with other social classes, Injustices at different starting lines in other industries should not continue. Farmers' income is a big issue that concerns the overall situation.my country has a population of more than 1.2 billion, and more than 900 million people live in rural areas.If the income of farmers cannot increase, it will be difficult to truly open up the domestic market.At present, the Asian financial turmoil is still developing, and its final result is still difficult to fully predict.In order to maintain the sustainable and healthy development of our country's economy in this unfavorable international economic environment, we must strive to open up the domestic market and actively expand domestic demand, and the greatest potential is in the countryside.The rural population accounts for more than 70% of my country's total population. If the rural market can really be opened up, the products of many domestic manufacturers will not have to worry about having no market.But the problem is precisely that the income level of most farmers is low and they do not have much real purchasing power. Therefore, the expansion of the domestic market has encountered obstacles that are difficult to overcome.According to statistics, in the past three years, rural areas accounted for only 43-44% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in my country, and in 1998 this proportion dropped to below 40%.The purchase amount of consumer goods of the rural population is less than 1/3 of that of an urban resident.This not only shows that the rural market has great potential, but also shows that increasing farmers' income is indeed a major task for maintaining national economic growth.