Kuomintang takes the lead in a plan to enlarge farms for mechanization and modern management while retaining the private ownership system
Five far-reaching resolutions were brought forth for implementation at the Second Plenary Session of the 10th Central Committee of the Kuomintang (the Republic of China's Nationalist Party) March 29-April 2. One of these, the 1,600-word "Outline for Current Rural Economic Construction," is expected to provide guidelines for Taiwan's second revolutionary land reform. The others were concerned with party renovation, administrative and judicial reform, more effective employment guidance and enforcement of the National Code of Life.
Observers compared the spirit at the five-day meeting with that manifested during the Kuomintang's self-reformation period in the early 1950s. More than 2,000 party members attended the sessions or worked on party recommendations that will provide the raw material of new laws and administrative actions. The proposals for major changes in the rural economy add up to a dramatic new expression of the Three Principles of the People (independence, democracy and social welfare) enunciated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the father of the Republic, in establishing the Republic of China's ruling party.
Founded on November 24 of 1894 as Hsing Chung Hui or the Society for Rebuilding China, the Kuomintang has been the dominant political force in shaping China's modern history. Dr. Sun's program required the party to carry out the National Revolution in three stages: a military period to unify China, political tutelage under the party to prepare the people to exercise political rights and establishment of constitutional government.
President Chiang Kai-shek addressed the Kuomintang Central Committee in his capacity as Director-General. He cited the need for further reforms to modernize the agricultural system.(File photo).
The Kuomintang overthrew the Ch'ing dynasty (Manchus) in 1911, founded Asia's first republic the following year and defeated the warlords and unified the country in the Northward Expedition of 1926-1928. Political tutelage that followed had to be extended be cause of the Japanese invasion, The party led the nation to victory in the eight-year War of Resistance and abolished the unequal treaties imposed by foreign powers.
The constitutional government installed in 1947-1948 was boycotted by the Communists who, armed by the Russians with Japanese weapons captured in Manchuria, undertook nationwide rebellion. The Kuomintang accompanied the government to Taiwan in 1949.
As proclaimed by President Chiang Kai-shek in 'his capacity as the party's Tsung-tsai (Director General), the Kuomintang is now a "revolutionary political party" shouldering a twofold task: as a revolutionary party, to overthrow Communist rule on the Chinese mainland and, as the ruling political party, to promote constitutional government. Efforts to move in these directions have made Taiwan one of the world's strongest anti-Communist bastions and an economic showcase among the developing nations.
The party has had 10 national congresses and an emergency session in the last 46 years-1924, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1935, 1938 (emergency), 1945, 1952, 1957, 1963 and 1969. A new slate of Central Committee members is elected at each congress to handle party affairs at the highest level. These members hold annual plenary sessions. Standing members meet weekly with the Director-General presiding.
The 10th National Congress convened from March 29 (Youth and Martyrs' Day) to April 9 in 1969. On its agenda were revision of the constitution, preparation of a platform, drafting of party affairs guidelines and examination and improvement of party administration. Elected to the 10th Central Committee were 99 members and 51 alternates. The First Plenary Session met to make plans for implementation of 10th Congress resolutions. Groups were set up to supervise activities. Timetables were laid down.
In his New Year's message this year, President Chiang urged his fellow countrymen to "undertake fresh renovations and make further progress in spirit, life, action and concept, and in politics, economics, education, culture and other endeavors." This was the inspiration for the "Outline for Current Rural Economic Construction" adopted by the Kuomintang three months later. The projected program is as revolutionary as the land reform of two decades ago. That reform was based on belief that the nation would prosper only when its farmers had their own land and the right to till it in their own way. These actions were taken:
-Ownership of farmlands was concentrated in the hands of those who till it.
-Distribution, utilization and management of farmlands were placed in the hands of farmers in accordance with the spirit of self-government.
-Farm income after taxes was channeled into the farmer's hands.
Kuomintang plenary sessions are conducted in the auditorium of the Chungshan Building at Yangmingshan near Taipei. (File photo).
Land reform was carried out peacefully and step by step. Both the compulsory purchase of land and the resale were effected through the government without direct contact between landlords and tenants. This prevented abuses and disputes. Care was taken to see that buyers were the original tillers.
These were the steps in reform:
1. Reduction of rent from 50-70 per cent to 37.5 per cent of the annual main crop yield (in 1949).
2. Sale of nearly 100,000 hectares of government-owned farmland to tillers (experimentally in 1948 and on a large scale from 1951).
3. Land-to-the-tiller program (from 1953 to 1962), including:
-Purchase of excess farmlands from landlords.
-Retention by landlords of a limited portion of their tenanted lands.
-Resale by the government of compulsorily purchased lands to incumbent cultivators (payment in 20 installments over a period of 10 years).
Two decades ago the government sought balanced development of agriculture and industry. As a result of land reform and follow-up measures to improve methods of cultivation, agricultural output increased and rural areas prospered. Nurtured by agriculture, industry also grew rapidly and 20 years later had managed to forge far ahead.
In the 16 years from 1953 to 1968, industry grew by 6.9 times, averaging a gain of 13.8 per cent annually. Agricultural production was up by only 1 time in the same period. While average per capita income for the non-agricultural sector rose by 4.9 times in terms of current prices-from NT$2,175 (US$54.38) in 1952 to NT$12,788 (US$319.70) in 1968-that of the agricultural sector increased by only 3.3 times-from NT$1,243 (US$31.08) to NT$5,314 (US$132.85). Per capita income in the agricultural sector was only 57 per cent of the industrial average in 1952 and had dropped to 41 per cent in 1968.
Price factors have not favored the agricultural population. Farmers are earning more but their cost of production has risen at an even faster rate. Farm family income increased by 84 per cent from 1962 to 1968,but the cost of production (not counting self-provided labor) rose by about 100 per cent.
Prices of farm products rose about 200 per cent from 1952 to 1968. That didn't help the farmers much, however, because prices of implements, seeds, fertilizers and insecticides increased by as much as 190 per cent. In the industrial sector, price hikes have been at a slower rate but the profit margin has widened. Product prices rose by 165 per cent in the 1952-1968 period. Costs were up by only 114 per cent.
Canned and other processed foods made up a large share of the US$305 million in farm products exported last year. (File photo).
Farming was largely for purposes of self-support in 1952. Only 30 per cent of crop production went to market. The marketed proportion was 64 per cent in 1967 but cash expenditures for farm operation had risen from 60 to 77 per cent in the 1952-1967 period.
Farmers are better off than in the past but they have not advanced as fast as those working in industry and services.
Agricultural production grew by an annual average of 4.6 per cent in the 1953-1960 period and at 5.9 per cent in the succeeding eight years. The 1968 growth of 6.1 per cent was broken down into farming, 4.9 per cent; forestry, 5 per cent; fishery, 20.4 per cent; and livestock, 5.7 per cent.
Taiwan's cultivated land increased by 3 per cent (876,100 to 899,926 hectares) between 1952 and 1968. Agricultural population climbed by nearly 41 per cent from 4,257,700 to 5,999,000, cutting the per capita farming area from 0.21 hectare (0.52 acre) to 0.15 hectare (0.37 acre).
The number of farm families increased at an even faster rate-up nearly 44 per cent from 679,750 to 977,114. This cut the average land holding per family from 1.29 hectares (3.19 acres) to 0.92 hectare (2.17 acres). The number of persons actually working on farms did not increase so fast. The gain from 1,792,000 to 2,144,000 was about 20 per cent. The per worker area declined 14 per cent from 0.49 hectare (1.21 acres) to 0.42 hectare (1.04 acres).
The number of owner-tillers has been increasing while that of tenants has dropped sharply as follows:
Year Full Owners Part Owners Tenants
1952 38% 26% 36%
1956 60 23 17
1960 64 22 14
1964 67 20 13
1968 68 20 12
However, full ownership isn't so meaningful because plots often are subdivided to accommodate heirs. This problem and that of agriculture's imbalance with industry have received increasingly close attention in the last year or so.
In 1969, Wang Tso-yung, chief of the Industrial Studies Section of ECAFE's Division of Industrial and Natural Resources, wrote an article recommending a "second land reform" for Taiwan. The China Times of Taipei published the article in its December 17 issue and supported Wang's view editorially.
Wang said the land reform of the early 1950s was carried out against this background:
1. The economy was primarily agricultural. To help tenant farmers acquire land narrowed the gap between rich and poor.
2. There were more than enough people on the farms. Intensive labor was economical and mandatory.
3. Job opportunities in non-agricultural sectors were limited. Wages were low and there was little income differential between farmers and workers.
4. Farm output was primarily for farm consumption.
5. Living standards were low. Rice production was emphasized to provide enough food for everybody.
6. Farm implements were simple.
Two decades later, Wang said, the situation had changed as follows:
1. Taiwan is more industrial than agricultural. Farmland is losing importance as a source of wealth.
2. Ratio of agricultural to urban population is decreasing. Emphasis must be placed on per capita productivity.
3. Labor-intensive farming is no longer economical or profitable. Mechanization is in order but not possible on small, irregular farm plots.
5. More farm production goes to market. Farms should be managed as efficiently as factories and businesses.
6. People are no longer content with a rice diet.
Demand is shifting to meat and fish, dairy products, vegetables and fruit.
Wang Tso-yung proposed 11 measures to achieve these goals:
-Increased productivity.
-Agricultural reform with priority for the farmer's interest.
-Commercialized farming.
-Larger plots.
-Modernized concepts and techniques.
Most of the suggestions of Wang Tso-yung are found in the Kuomintang Central Committee's resolution on the rural economy, which seeks to:
1. Lower production costs, stabilize prices and increase profits through better management.
2. Enlarge the size of farms, promote mechanization and accelerate modernization.
3. Improve the structure of production, develop resources and use scientific techniques to raise productivity.
Mechanization of farms has been supported for the last several years but tractor-power tiller count is only 25,000. (File photo).
Most of these measures already are being enforced to some extent. Farm modernization is not new. Efforts long have been exerted to make farming more scientific. The government started promoting mechanization as early as in 1953.
Advocacy of bigger plots is new. This does not refer to the cultivation of marginal lands or to the land consolidation program that was started in 1961 to bring together scattered small plots and increase farm efficiency. The new proposal is to eliminate some of the existing footpaths serving as boundaries and combine small private farms into larger production units better adapted to mechanization. Specific measures call for:
-Stipulation of a minimum size for farms, prohibition of further division of farmlands and provision of incentives for inheritance of or sale of farms to one individual.
-Replotting of farms so land, irrigation systems and roads will meet the needs of modern management.
-Grouping of household farms into districts for efficient, businesslike management.
Individual titles are not to be affected. Replotting will facilitate mechanization, economize on use of chemicals and improve irrigation. Farmers will con tribute labor in accordance with their degree of owner ship and share crops and cash income in accordance with the land, cash and labor supplied.
A similar approach to farming is practiced by a large number of sugar cane farmers under contract to the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, the Republic of China's largest enterprise.
Government-owned TSC has more than two- dozen mills processing nearly A million tons of sugar annually. Taisugar has its own farms but relies on some 200,000 contract farmers for two-thirds of its cane. To help these farmers increase production, TSC started extension classes in 1962. Farmers meet for two hours every week and exchange views with TSC-trained experts. There are now more than 4,000 classes attended by from 20 to 30 farmers each. Class members have re ported production increases averaging 15 per cent.
Many of these farmers have organized themselves into "collective management groups" to share labor and make use of TSC machines. Most groups have been persuaded to remove farm boundaries, thereby increasing output by as much as 25 per cent. About 2,000 groups are sharing labor in some degree.
Kuomintang and government officials are aware that some farmers will resist change. Enlargement of farm units will not automatically lead to mechanization. Financial assistance will be needed in many cases. Experts are working on details. These encouraging developments have been noted since the KMT meeting of March 29-April 2:
-The Taiwan Provincial Government is investing NT$34 million (US$850,000) this year in the establishment of 75 mechanized farming teams in 25 of Taiwan's 132 townships and counties. The teams will help farmers with tilling, planting, spraying, irrigation and harvesting. This and other programs will raise the number of farm machines from the present 25,000 to at least 150,000 in four years.
-Tax and other benefits will be made available to farm implement makers.
-Loans totaling up to NT$2 billion (US$50 million) will be extended farmers for purchase of machinery in the next four years. Additionally, NT$100 million (US$2.5 million) will be spent to promote mechanization.
-The land consolidation program will be continued. The goal is 750,000 hectares-83 per cent of the total cultivated area-by the end of 1977. This program will facilitate the pooling of labor and collective use of machinery.
-Steps are already under way to cut the price of fertilizer.
-A scientific agricultural development program is being carried out in three four-year stages at a cost of NT$1,924 million (US$48.1 million). The first stage was begun last year and will cost NT$659 million (US$16,475,000). Farming, livestock production, fishery and forestry are covered.
The underlying spirit of Taiwan land reform-old or new-is jen or benevolence. In his address at the closing ceremony of the Kuomintang meeting April 2, President Chiang said jen must be at the heart of all party activities. This is one of the essential differences between the land reform programs of the Republic of China and the land expropriation that the Chinese Communists carried out on the mainland. The Communists liquidated the landlord class, killing millions in the process, and then usurped the land in the name of the regime and herded the peasants into communes and production brigades and teams. Jen was ignored.
Taiwan's new program is cooperative, not communal. Farmers will keep the title to their lands and derive their full measure of profit from ownership, labor and investment. The new approach to land management will permit farm modernization and mechanization, increase production and raise the farmers' standard of living without paying the price of government dictation, the socialization of holdings or the loss of jen.