Agricultural Census Communique No. 3

National Bureau of Statistics of China 2002-03-31 10:26 Print| Large| Medium| Small

Communique on General Results of the Manual Tabulation

for the First National Agricultural Census

by the National Agricultural Census Office in China

No. 3

Rural Persons Engaged and Agricultural Machinery

The first National Agricultural Census conducted a complete enumeration on rural persons engaged, rural science and technology personnel and main agricultural machinery. By this census, there is a new understanding of the number, structure and migration among different regions of the national rural persons engaged, rural science and technology personnel and provision of agricultural machinery. Now the manual tabulation results related with this part are published as follows:

1. Rural persons engaged

Since the reform and the open-door policy were adopted, as the rural population increased, rural economy developed in an all-round way and industrial structure adjusted, persons in the rural households engaged in production activities have increased, the proportion of persons engaged in non-agricultural activities has been increased with widespread migration of rural labor force.

a. Number and industrial structure of rural persons engaged

The manual tabulation results of the national agricultural census shows: at the end of the year 1996, the national rural persons engaged was 560855.8 thousand. Based on the total number of rural households engaged in production activities, i.e., 214557.4 thousand, persons engaged per household were 2.61; of which, persons engaged in agriculture were 424411.9 thousand, and took 75.67%; persons engaged in non-agriculture were 136443.9 thousand and took 24.33%.

From the point of view which divided the country into three parts, the rural persons engaged in the east part were 224260.2 thousand and took 39.99% of the national total. The rural persons engaged in the middle part were 194344.5 thousand and took 34.65% of the national total. The rural persons engaged in the west part were 142251.1 thousand and took 25.36% of the national total. As the economy in the east part developed faster than in the middle and west parts, it showed that the proportion of persons engaged in non-agriculture in the east part was higher than in the middle and west parts.

Table 1: Industrial structure of rural persons engaged in the east, middle and west parts of China

	Persons engaged in agriculture (thousand)	Proportion to total persons engaged	Persons engaged in non-agriculture (thousand)	Proportion to total persons engaged
East part	149141.3	66.50	75118.9	33.50
Middle part	155246.1	79.88	39098.4	29.12
West part	120024.5	84.38	22226.6	15.62

b. Structure of sex and working age of rural persons engaged

Based on the information from the 40576 rural households randomly selected for the Post-Enumeration Survey in China, the rural persons engaged within the working ages took 88.89% of the total rural persons engaged, of which males were 47.33% and females 41.56%; the rural persons engaged under and over the working ages took 11.11% of the total rural persons engaged, of which, under the working ages (15 years old and under) were 1.25%, and over the working ages (males 60 years old and over and females 55 years old and over) were 9.86%. The persons out of the working ages were mainly engaged in assisting agricultural production.

c. Working places and flow of rural persons engaged

The working places of the present rural persons engaged were mainly the local communities, but the persons leaving their own townships and working within their counties, provinces and out of their own provinces took a certain percentage. The issue of rural employment was no longer restricted in the agriculture and rural areas. According to the manual tabulation results, of the national rural persons engaged, the persons engaged in their own townships were 488629.8 thousand, and took 87.12% of the total rural persons engaged; the persons engaged out of their own townships were 72226 thousand and took 12.88%; of which, persons leaving their own townships and working within their counties were 27354 thousand, persons working within their provinces were 21237 thousand, persons working out of their own provinces were 23635 thousand.

As to the different parts of the country, as the rural economy was comparatively developed in the east part, the number of rural persons working out of their own townships was large and the proportion of migrated persons was high; the number of migrated rural persons in the middle and west parts was small and the proportion of migrated persons was low (see table 2).

Table 2: Proportion of persons working within and out of their own townships (towns) in the east, middle and west parts

	Persons working in their own townships (thousand)	Proportion to total persons engaged (%)	Persons working out of their own townships (thousand)	Proportion to total persons engaged
East part	190215.4	84.82	34044.8	15.18
Middle part	170906.2	87.94	23438.3	12.06
West part	127508.2	89.64	14742.9	10.36

2. Agricultural science and technology personnel

With the development of the undertakings of prospering agriculture based on science and technology, an army of agricultural science and technology personnel and professionals has been created and trained in the rural areas. They made a due contribution to the sustainable and stable growth of agriculture. Based on the manual tabulation results, at the end of the year 1996, the total farm science and technology personnel in China was 2717 thousand and took 0.64% of the total persons working in agriculture, of which, in crop planting there were 204 thousand, in animal husbandry 382 thousand, in forestry 163 thousand, in fisheries 127 thousand. The farm professionals were 2410 thousand, on average there were 3.2 persons in each village board, of which, agricultural machinery operators were 858 thousand, water controllers were 552 thousand, electricity controllers were 1000 thousand.

In order to improve the level of science and technology, farmers actively attended various training courses. In the year of 1996, 22458 thousand farmers had been trained in agricultural technology, and accounted for 5.3% of the total persons engaged in agricultural activities. Of which, persons experienced technology training in crop planting were 12038 thousand, in fruit plantation and horticulture were 3595 thousand, in livestock and animal husbandry were 3127 thousand, in forestry 1134 thousand, in fisheries and culturing 513 thousand, and in agricultural machinery 2051 thousand.

In agricultural undertakings in rural areas there were a number of persons engaged in science and technology work. in the year of 1996, of the persons working in the various agricultural undertakings, there were 613 thousand persons with at least primary technical titles. This technical force played a main role in prospering agriculture based on science and technology.

3. Main agricultural machinery

The level of agricultural mechanization in the country has been promoted. Based on the manual tabulation results, at the end of 1996, the total number of five kinds of main agricultural machinery in rural areas in China (large-sized tractors, small-sized tractors, combines, motored threshers and agricultural transportation vehicles) was 24696.1 thousand sets. On average there were 44.03 sets owned by a thousand persons engaged. According to the types of the main agricultural machinery, large-sized tractors were 677.8 thousand sets, small-sized tractors 11795 thousand sets, combines 113.4 thousand sets, motored threshers 7521.5 sets, and agricultural transportation vehicles 4588.4 sets.

If looking at the different parts of the country, in the east part with less per capita possession of cultivated land, large amount of wet land and small size of parcels, there was a large number of small-sized agricultural machinery and implements equipped at a higher level. There was 12702.7 thousand sets of five main agricultural machines in this rural part. In the middle part with more per capita possession of cultivated land, large amount of dry land and large size of parcels, there was a large number of large- and small-sized agricultural machinery and implements equipped at a medium level. There was 9307.2 thousand sets of five kinds of main agricultural machines in this rural part. In the west part with mountain areas and slower development in rural economy compared with the east and middle parts, there was a small number of agricultural machinery and implements equipped at a lower level. There was 2686.2 thousand sets of five kinds of main agricultural machinery in this rural part (see table 3).

Table 3: Possession of five kinds of main agricultural machinery in the east, middle and west parts of China

	East part	Middle part	West part
Large-sized tractors (thousand)	264.0	288.7	125.1
Small-sized tractors (thousand)	5038.8	5178.8	1577.4
Combines (thousand)	66.7	35.8	10.9
Motored threshers (thousand)	4978.1	2060.9	482.5
Agricultural transportation vehicles (thousand)	2355.1	1743.0	490.3