Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Of course, China is unwilling to suffer such a loss.

Because China is not only suffering losses from the Soviet Union.

Eastern European countries all pegged their currencies to the ruble. The ruble's current overvaluation directly impacted trade between China, the Soviet Union, and Eastern European countries. Consequently, discussions between the two sides have begun. China's demand is for 100 rubles to equal 15 renminbi. The Soviet Union disagreed, arguing that this significantly undervalued the ruble's purchasing power. Instead, it proposed a price of 100 rubles to 30 renminbi.

Although it has not been confirmed yet, in foreign trade, 100 rubles can only be exchanged for about 30 yuan.

So while it's just pork exports, they can generate nearly 2 million rubles for China. That's why both sides plan to increase the import and export volume between China and Germany to over 5 million rubles. Historically, pork has been a top export item in China-Germany trade.

Of course this is a good thing.

After exporting pigs, more machinery and equipment could be imported from the German Democratic Republic.

Unfortunately, China's pig production encountered a huge problem in 1951 and declined sharply. After the founding of New China, the central government strongly supported the people in raising pigs.

Raising pigs had many benefits, especially the accumulation of pig manure for fertilizer. This led to the central government's call for "every household to raise pigs, build pig pens, and accumulate manure." To ensure proper fertilizer production, technicians were deployed in large numbers to rural areas, teaching people how to raise pigs, compost pig manure, and transform pigs into fertilizer.

A rough estimate in 1947 put the national pig population at around 4900 million. By 1948, China's pig production had reached 6000 million. By 1950, the number reached 9600 million, a remarkable year-on-year increase. Of course, the pig population in 1950 had already reached its current limit. Any more pigs would have been impossible to produce, and the country simply couldn't supply the feed.

But in 1951 the pig population suddenly dropped.

There are only about 7000 million, a loss of 2600 million. This is no small matter.

And after 1952, the situation showed no signs of improvement, with the number of pigs in rural areas showing no signs of increasing. That's why Wei Hongjun urgently convened this meeting. It was because the pig population was declining so rapidly.

If the reasons are not identified and measures are not taken, the number of live pigs this year may be less than 7000 million.

This is no small matter.

Especially as we prepare for large-scale exports, a decline in pig numbers will directly impact future exports. Furthermore, even beyond exports, domestic consumers still need pork. When pig production began to decline last year, Wei Hongjun already sent people to investigate the situation.

There must be a reason for the sudden drop in pig numbers.

The meeting was attended by central government officials responsible for rural affairs. The four deputy secretaries of the Rural Work Committee—Deng Zhihui, Li Shaocheng, Lai Ruoyu, and Zhao Dezun—were present, along with Zhang Linchi, secretary-general of the Rural Work Committee; Liu Ruilong, vice minister of agriculture; and Luo Weilin, director of the Rural Work Committee's Policy Research Office.

"Comrades, everyone is clear. Domestically, pork is in demand, and so is pork for export. However, the pig population declined so drastically last year, and there's no sign of a change this year. We can't just sit back and watch. We must identify and resolve the issue to ensure pork safety.

Comrade Luo Weilin, your Policy Research Office staff have been in the countryside all the time. Have you discovered anything?"

"Have."

Luo Weilin nodded immediately.

As director of the Policy Research Office of the Rural Work Committee, Luo Weilin spends most of the year traveling to various provinces, often spending time in rural areas, carefully investigating the development of rural areas across the country.

Record them and report to Wei Hongjun.

The decline in pig numbers was already a serious issue last year, so their Policy Research Office staff traveled to various locations to conduct research.

"Talk about it."

Luo Weilin said: "Based on our investigation, the biggest reason for the rapid decline in pig numbers in 1951 was the central government's unified purchase and marketing policy. It was because of the central government's implementation of the unified purchase and marketing policy last year that the current situation has arisen."

"Is there a problem with unified purchasing and sales?" Everyone became serious.

Unified Purchase and Marketing (UNPMM) is a key national policy implemented since 1951. In addition to collecting public grain from rural areas, the government also required the sale of surplus grain to the government, participating in the unified purchase and marketing system. The government only provided rural areas with food rations and seeds, purchasing all other grains. The previous meeting aimed to crack down on private merchant alliances that sought to purchase and sell grain through other channels, as they violated the unified purchase and marketing policy.

The purpose of unified purchase and sale is to transfer rural wealth to industrial construction.

"What about it?"

898 Increase the number of pigs

Wei Hongjun was very serious.

If there is a problem with unified purchase and sales, adjustments must be made.

After all, this is the first time that China has implemented unified purchasing and sales, so it is normal for problems to arise during work.

However, adjustments to the unified purchase and marketing policy were not something the Rural Work Committee could decide on alone. This required discussion and a decision with officials from the Finance and Economics Committee.

"After the nationwide unified purchase and sale policy was implemented in 1951, the first problem that arose was the impact on small workshops in rural areas. Especially those that used grain as their raw material, they had no choice but to close down because they had no grain."

When it comes to this, everyone understands what it means.

After the unified purchase and sale policy was implemented, there was no more surplus grain in the countryside. All that remained were food rations and seeds. Consequently, small workshops making things like flour and tofu could no longer survive.

Because there is no raw material.

Luo Weilin continued, "In the past, one of the important sources of feed for many pig farmers was the waste from these small workshops. Now that these small workshops are gone, many pig farmers have problems with their feed sources and have simply stopped raising pigs."　

“What do you think about this issue?”

"Secretary Wei, I'm afraid it will be difficult to change this in such a short period of time."

Li Shaocheng spoke.

He said: "According to statistics last year, our country's current public grain revenue in monetary terms is about 32 billion yuan. It accounts for about one-eighth of the current national fiscal revenue. After the unified purchase and marketing, the profit from it exceeds 70 billion yuan. It has effectively supplemented the current fiscal shortage problem in our country. Therefore, unified purchase and marketing is the current major policy of the central government, and it is unlikely to change too much. At this stage, all the funds in society must be gathered together to develop industry." Wei Hongjun looked at the other people.

Lai Ruoyu said with some embarrassment: "But many small workshops like these in rural areas can not only increase some farmers' income, but also improve the quality of life in rural areas. After all, these small workshops generally provide some processed products needed for rural life."

Li Shaocheng said, "Comrade Lai Ruoyu, we all know this. But there is no other way at this stage."

The profits involved are more than 70 billion.

It accounts for over a quarter of fiscal revenue. How could the government possibly give up such a significant amount of revenue? The Soviet Union's aid to build factories, large ones, required a one-time investment of hundreds of millions. It was common for some large factories to invest over several years in billions.

The fiscal deficit is so serious because these factories spend too much money.

Over 70 billion, and possibly even more in the future. This huge sum of money is what we need for industrial development.

Everyone sighed.

Deng Zhihui remained silent. He looked at Wei Hongjun. He had thought he would be able to do more work at the central level. However, under the slogan of "everything for industrialization", rural work also needed to cooperate.

They have little room for adjustment.

After a while, Wei Hongjun looked at Luo Weilin and said, "Continue."

"The second and most serious problem is that during the period of unified purchase and sale, only food grains and seeds were considered for the rural areas, but livestock feed was not considered. As a result, pig farmers lacked concentrated feed and were unable to raise pigs at all."

Pigs can't just eat grass.

It still needs to eat some concentrated feed so that it can be raised well.

In fact, it is still a quota issue.

The unified purchase and marketing system only considered rural food grains and seeds. Everything else had to be purchased, leaving no food for livestock. This was a major problem with the unified purchase and marketing system. It was too crude and did not take into account the actual conditions in the countryside.

"We can ignore small rural workshops, but we must consider the food that rural livestock need. Rural livestock also need some concentrated feed, so this must be adjusted."

Deng Zhihui spoke.

Unified purchase and sale must take into account the actual situation in rural areas.

Raising livestock in rural areas is a beneficial supplement to the rural economy and also to the national economy. In addition to growing crops, rural areas should also develop animal husbandry.

However, if there's no food left in the countryside for livestock, not only will the livestock industry not develop, even basic livestock farming won't be enough. Lai Ruoyu nodded and said, "Secretary Wei, Comrade Deng Zhihui is polite. Our rural areas have a large population and limited land. If we rely solely on farming, it will be difficult for rural residents to even get enough food and clothing. Not to mention the need to accumulate assets and become prosperous. Besides farming, other sideline businesses must be developed in our rural areas as well."

"Yes. Secretary Wei, I also think this aspect must be adjusted."

Zhao Dezun also spoke up: "Last year, when I was in Northeast China, the number of pigs in the region also dropped by more than 15%. Since we liberated Northeast China, this is the first time that there has been such a large-scale reduction in the number of pigs raised."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

But he did not express his opinion directly, and said to Luo Weilin: "Go on, what other reasons are there?"

Luo Weilin looked up at Wei Hongjun.

Then he said, "Another issue is the mutual aid groups and cooperatives. In particular, a number of problems have arisen during the promotion of cooperatives, which has also affected farmers' enthusiasm for pig farming."

The development of mutual aid groups and cooperatives has always been presided over and promoted by Wei Hongjun.

It's not just Wei Hongjun. Among the main cadres present, Li Shaocheng, the second deputy secretary of the Rural Work Committee, and Lai Ruoyu, the third deputy secretary, are all cadres who strongly support the development of cooperatives.

Of course, Luo Weilin was one of the earliest cadres in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Experimental Cooperative.

It could be said that if serious problems arose in mutual aid groups or cooperatives, these rural cadres would be implicated and politically affected. Therefore, Luo Weilin conducted meticulous research on the problems that arose in the cooperatives.

"Tell me more about it."

Wei Hongjun also took the problems of the cooperative seriously.

But I wasn't nervous or anything like that.

The development of new things is bound to bring about various problems. No new thing develops smoothly. Finding the root causes of problems and ultimately resolving them is the key to development. Fearing problems and being hesitant to act, or panicking and feeling helpless after they arise, are not the right approach to problem-solving.

"After establishing cooperatives in many rural areas, the ownership of livestock has become an issue. Our cooperatives are production units developed through the public ownership of rural means of production such as land, oxen, and farm tools. However, pigs, for example, are not means of production and therefore do not constitute cooperative assets. So, the current situation is that the cooperatives have become rural production units, while pig farming is private, which has created some conflicts with the cooperatives. Some cooperative cadres even do not consider pigs to be the personal property of their members. Therefore, without a comprehensive charter, the cooperatives exclude pig farmers, who are unable to obtain feed or dedicated breeding time from the cooperatives. Furthermore, some cooperatives purchase members' pig manure at low prices or use it on a debit basis, while others even take it away for free. This not only further reduces members' profits but also makes them lose confidence in pig farming. Some members are even dissatisfied with the cooperative cadres' actions and are beginning to resist the cooperative's development, which has a very negative impact."

The soil of "leftism" has always existed.

The same is true of cooperative cadres. They don't understand what a production cooperative is. They think a cooperative means everything in the village is publicly owned, and they work together and share the profits equally. This is a serious problem.

Wei Hongjun looked at Lai Ruoyu.

Lai Ruoyu shook his head and said, "We in Shanxi clearly distinguish between cooperatives and pig farming. Cooperatives are cooperatives, and farmers raising pigs is pig farming. We absolutely do not confuse the two, and we certainly do not treat members' pigs as cooperative property. Our cadres in Shanxi are very strict about this. Secretary Wei has emphasized this several times in Shanxi before, and we have always remembered it. However, I can't guarantee that this problem will not occur in individual places."

Currently, Shanxi's cooperatives are the most developed nationwide, and they maintain the clearest division between collective and individual assets.

Of the rural cadres trained by Wei Hongjun in Jin-Cha-Ji, one-third went to Shanxi. So while Shanxi's cooperatives weren't perfect, they were certainly at the forefront nationwide.

"Within the Central and Southern Bureau, aside from Henan, there aren't many problems in other areas. Because in the provinces under the Central and Southern Bureau, cooperatives are not widely used, and most rural areas are based on mutual aid groups."

Deng Zhihui also shook his head.

Li Shaocheng replied, "Secretary Wei, based on the data we have, the problems are currently more serious in the northwest, southwest, Shandong, Henan, and east China."

Luo Weilin and his team did conduct a very thorough investigation.

I have checked a lot of current pig problems.

To put it bluntly, the sudden drop in pig numbers stems primarily from newly introduced policies, such as unified purchase and marketing and the promotion of cooperatives. These policies, when implemented, ignored the specific conditions of rural areas.

A lot of it is just promotion.

Unexpectedly, the actual situation in rural areas is completely unacceptable to these new policies.

Zhang Linchi, secretary-general of the Rural Work Committee, said:

"Secretary Wei, if we can't resolve the pig population issue quickly, it will not only affect exports, but also, starting in the second half of this year, there will definitely be a shortage of pork in our market."

"Ah."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's economic development has been relatively fast in recent years.

People's living standards are also steadily improving, so the market demand for pork is very high. If the problem of declining pig population is not solved, there will soon be a shortage of pork in the market.