On Several Problems in the Current Situation with Regard to the Requisition and Procurement of Agricultural and Sideline Products

Since the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party, there has emerged in our country an unprecedentedly favorable situation of flourishing development in the area of agricultural production. In 1979-1981, gross agricultural output increased at an average annual rate of 5.6 percent, which is greatly in excess of the average annual increase rate of 4.3 percent for 1950-1978. In the wake of this development, there has also been a remarkable enhancement of the commodity rate of agricultural products. In 1979-1981, the national gross requisitioning and procurement amount of agricultural and sideline products increased at an average annual rate of 19.6 percent. Furthermore, the ratio of the amount of requisition and procurement of agricultural sideline products to the gross agricultural production value has consistently risen, from the 38.2 percent of 1978 to 45 percent in 1979, 51.7 percent in 1980, and 55.5 percent in 1981. These major annual increases in the requisition and procurement of agricultural and sideline products not only have ensured the supply of industrial raw materials and the people's means of consumption and eased the tension that has long existed between agricultural development and the people's needs, but have also increased accumulation of communes and production brigades and teams, and peasants' income, thus promoting further development in agricultural production.