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Fertiliser Application in Communist China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Jung-Chao Liu
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In recent years, Communist China has been advocating chemical fertiliser application as a means of raising land yield for grains and cotton in order to feed her growing population and to provide sufficient raw materials for light industry. Domestic production of chemical fertiliser increased fivefold during the First Five Year Plan period of 1953–57 and again expanded threefold during the Second Five Year Plan period of 1958–62. More than one half of the total consumption of chemical fertiliser has been imported mainly from Western European countries and Japan. The average rate of consumption per hectare is still low in comparison with other agriculturally advanced countries but the rate of increase has been impressive. On the other hand, such a drastic increase must be exerting great pressure on agricultural practice in China. What incentive, if any, does the government provide to encourage the application of chemical fertiliser? How high is the fertiliser price? How much can fanners expect to gain from an increase in fertiliser application? Does the government gain tax revenue from promoting fertiliser application?

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Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 24 , December 1965, pp. 28 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1965

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References

1 In addition to state investment shares of agriculture, there was a certain amount of self-financed investment in agriculture through producers' co-ops, collectives and communes.

2 Ta Kung Pao (Peking), 03 23, 1964Google Scholar; Kwang-ming Jih-pao (Kuang-ming Daily), March 23, 1964.

3 For example, in building the Kirin Fertiliser Company, Russia sent 9 experts and 130 technicians for three plants in Kirin and dismantled equipment from Russia to enable the completion of the Chinese factory on schedule in 1957. See “Su-Iien tui wo kuo hua-hsueh kung-yeh ti chu-to yuan-chu,” (“Active Russian Aid to Our Chemical Industry”), Hua-hsueh Kung-yeh (Chemical Industry), No. 11, 1957, pp. 3–5Google Scholar.

4 See Chao, Kang, “On the Reliability of Industrial Output Data of Communist China,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXII, No. 1, 11 1962, pp. 47–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 In the article published by Ku, W. L. and Chu, C. K., “Hua kung tsung chan-chih chih-piao tsun-tsai ti wen-ti,” (“Measuring Problems of the Value of Chemical Production”), Hua-hsueh Kung-yeh, No. 5, 1959, pp. 35–36Google Scholar, they claim that 46 per cent, are non-chemical fertiliser (such as bones) included in the 1958 production figure.

6 “Wei shih-hsien nung-yeh chi su kai-tsao ti wei-ta jen-wu erh fen tou” (“Straggle for the Improvement in Agricultural Technology”), Jen-min Jih-pao (People's Daily), November 2, 1959. Different estimates of investment are given in different sources.

7 People's Daily, September 9, 1958, February 27, 1959, and October 8, 1959.

8 “Article Explains Local Production of Chemical Fertiliser in China,” New China News Agency Release, February 27, 1959, translated in Survey of China Mainland Press (SCMP) (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate-General), No. 1966, 03 5, 1959, pp. 17–18Google Scholar.

9 For example, the Canton Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant was started in 1957 but was not completed until April 1963. See “Kuang-chou ta-hsing tan-fei ch'ang cheng-shihhsing ch'an wei nung-yeh ti kung-ta pi-yu chih tan-fei” (“Large Scale Canton Fertiliser Plant Formally Starts Production in Order to Provide a Large Amount of High Quality Nitrogenous Fertiliser”), People's Daily, May 18, 1964.

10 See MacDougall, C., “Eight Plants for Peking,” Far Eastern Economic Review, 01 23, 1964, pp. 155–158Google Scholar.

11 The Japanese removed a Communist Chinese flag from a trade exhibition in Nagasaki in 1958. Communist China took it as an offence to her national dignity.

12 Takita, K., “Contract with China,” Far Eastern Economic Review, 05 7, 1964, p. 310Google Scholar.

13 See Lamer, M., The World Fertiliser Economy (Palo Alto: Stanford Un., 1957), pp. 426–427Google Scholar.

14 Ibid. pp. 558–585.

15 The complete functional relationships between yield and fertiliser input are not estimated because most experiments do not provide a long enough series of fertiliser application. Moreover, the range of plant nutrients applied is so disconnected that the aggregation of sample observations becomes meaningless. For example, in one experiment results of applying 0 to 30 kg. nitrogen are recorded. In the other experiment 0 and 60 kg. of nitrogen are applied. Unless those two pieces of land are fairly homogeneous, the added effects calculated will be inconsistent.

16 Williams, M. S. and Couston, J. W., Crop Production Levels and Fertiliser Use (Rome: FAO, 1962), p. 20Google Scholar. Williams-Couston's function is by no means conclusive. Especially large variances are shown for countries consuming a small quantity of chemical fertiliser. See also criticisms raised in Hardt, R. M. and Mellor, J. W., “The Contrasting Response of Rice to Nitrogen: India and the United States,” Journal of Farm Economics, Vol. 46, No. 3, 02 1964, pp. 150–160CrossRefGoogle Scholar.