China fosters a new kind of professional farmer (3)

A NEW KIND OF FARMER

China is reviewing its options for addressing the rural labor shortage.

Some large companies based in major cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, have shown strong interest in starting businesses on farmland leased from farming collectives.

But these profit-oriented companies are not trustworthy in the eyes of rural farmers, said Li Liancheng, the national legislator from Henan.

"These companies seek to maximize profits. Planting crops makes meager profits. People doubt whether they would set their hearts on cultivating farmlands for long," said Li.

"I prefer to see scattered farmlands transferred to the hands of professional farmers for scaled production," said Li. "This also helps to ensure food safety at the very source."

Li's opinions have been echoed by other legislators and political advisors attending the ongoing annual NPC session and that of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body, in Beijing.

"The government should create a more favorable environment to guide farmers to evolve from old-fashioned field-tillers to a 'new type' of professional farmer. It will markedly resolve China's labor shortage problem in rural areas," said Zhang Xiaoshan, a national legislator as well as a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The "new type" of professional farmers, as Zhang put it, is able to meet the demands of modern production and operation in rural areas. They cultivate grains or cash crops on household farms, he explained.

"Unlike traditional farmers, the 'new type' of professional farmers go well beyond tilling farmlands. They are investors, managers and decision-makers," said Zhang.