THE STATE, CAPITAL AND PEASANTRY IN THE AGRARIAN TRANSITION OF CHINA: THE CASE OF GUANGXI SUGARCANE SECTOR SUGARCANE GUANGXI OF CASE THE CHINA: OF TRANSITION AGRARIAN THE IN PEASANTRY AND CAPITAL STATE, THE THE STATE, CAPITAL AND PEASANTRY IN THE AGRARIAN TRANSITION OF CHINA: THE CASE OF GUANGXI SUGARCANE SECTOR JIN ZHANG JIN ZHANG Propositions 1. China’s oversea expansion is related to market share, not resource extraction (this thesis). 2. Agro-technologies benefit agro-companies but hurt peasants (this thesis). 3. China’s food self-sufficiency is economically inefficient. 4. Privatization leads to poverty. 5. Skewed sex ratio has little impact on gender inequality. 6. Doing a PhD lowers job security. Propositions belonging to the thesis entitled: “The State, Capital and Peasantry in the Agrarian Transition of China: the Case of Guangxi Sugarcane Sector” Jin Zhang Wageningen, 8th April 2019 The State, Capital and Peasantry in the Agrarian Transition of China: The Case of Guangxi Sugarcane Sector Jin Zhang Thesis committee Promotor Prof. Dr J.D. van der Ploeg Emeritus Professor of Transition Processes in Europe Wageningen University & Research Prof. Dr S.M. Borras Professor of Rural Development, Environment and Population Studies International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague Co-promotors Prof. Dr Huifang Wu Professor of Sociology China Agricultural University, Beijing, China Other members Prof. Dr W.J.M. Heijman, Wageningen University & Research Dr N.B.M. Heerink, Wageningen University & Research Prof. Dr Jingzhong Ye, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Dr Heather X.Q. Zhang, University of Leeds, UK This research was conducted under the auspices of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences. The State, Capital and Peasantry in the Agrarian Transition of China: The Case of Guangxi Sugarcane Sector Jin Zhang Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus, Prof. Dr A.P.J. Mol, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Monday 8 April 2019 at 4 p.m. in the Aula. Jin Zhang The State, Capital and Peasantry in the Agrarian Transition of China: The Case of Guangxi Sugarcane Sector 162 pages. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands (2019) With references, with summary in English ISBN: 978-94-6343-425-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18174/471122 To my beloved parents 此书献给我挚爱的父亲和母亲 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 1.2 Research context ........................................................................................................3 1.3 Research questions .....................................................................................................5 1.4 Conceptualizing the research ......................................................................................6 1.5 The analytical framework and methodology ............................................................. 10 1.6 Organization of the dissertation ................................................................................ 16 2．Getting the Data Right: Main Trends in China’s Agriculture and Food Sector ................. 19 2.1 Introduction: getting the data right ........................................................................... 20 2.2 Agricultural production modalities and the agrarian transition in China .................... 22 2.3 Changes in agricultural production factors and China’s role in the global food market ............................................................................................................................... 28 2.4 Agricultural structural change in China .................................................................... 34 2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 38 3. Agrarian Change and the Pursuit of Self-supplied Food Security in China ..................... 39 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 40 3.2 The new socio-economic challenges to China’s food security strategy ..................... 41 3.3 The historical transition of agriculture and food governance in China: The sugarcane case ......................................................................................................................... 45 3.4 A reflection on the agricultural production path and agrarian class dynamics ............ 51 3.5 Conclusions and discussion ...................................................................................... 57 4. Three Strategies of Capital Accumulation in China’s sugarcane sector: A Technological- Political-Financial Accumulation Synergy ..................................................................... 59 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 60 4.2 Recent changes in Dongmen Town’s sugarcane production sector ............................ 62 4.3 Agro-technification: cost-shifting and the redistribution of harvests ......................... 64 4.4 Food politicization: the state and agro-food capital nexus ......................................... 68 4.5 Land swindle: land consolidation activities for obtaining agricultural resources ....... 73 4.6 Conclusions: an accumulation synergy and the food security issue ........................... 76 5. Repeasantisation despite Labour Commodification: the Case of Seasonal Migrant Cane Cutters in China ............................................................................................................. 79 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 80 5.2 The history and geography of sugarcane production region and seasonal cane-cutters’ migration ................................................................................................................ 83 5.3 The newly emerged labour market and labour relations in Fusui .............................. 89 5.4 Interdependency between rural communities and the new threat ............................... 94 5.5 Conclusion: the endurance of peasantry ................................................................... 98 6. Rural land institutions in China: present and future developments ................................ 101 6.1 Introduction: the theoretical debate on rural land institutions in China .................... 102 6.2 Continued and increased land conflicts among individual households .................... 108 6.3 Toward corporate farming: the “double constraint” and the economic-environmental crisis ..................................................................................................................... 110 6.4 The trial of agricultural cooperatives: an alternative way under the current land system? ............................................................................................................................. 115 6.5 Conclusion: reflection on the land policy design in China ...................................... 119 7. Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 121 7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 121 7.2 The main research findings .................................................................................... 122 7.3 Contribution to scientific debates ........................................................................... 124 7.4 Policy implications................................................................................................. 128 7.5 Limitations and future research .............................................................................. 130 References .......................................................................................................................... 135 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 153 1. Introduction 1.1 Introduction China has made great advances in domestic agricultural production and rural income since the Rural Reform in the early 1980s, when the Household Responsibility System – as the institutional foundation for family-based farming – was established to replace the People’s Communal System (Van der Ploeg and Ye 2016: 1-4). The gross output value of agriculture, including farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, increased from 192.26 billion CNY to 9699.53 billion CNY between 1980 and 2013. In the farming sector alone, the gross output value rose from 145.41 billion CNY in 1980 to 5149.74 CNY in 2013 (data from National Bureau of Statistics of China). Regarding rural poverty, the official report indicates that the poverty-stricken population in rural China reduced by 700 million from 1978 to 2014, with poverty incidence decreasing by 90.3 % (Zhang 2015). Nevertheless, new challenges to the domestic food supply have emerged in recent decades. Population growth and a shift to a more “affluent” diet1 pose new questions for food demand