ANALYSIS: ‘Forest to Farmland’ Signals China’s Return to a Planned Economy

Agricultural-management officials destroy crops. China's new "rural enforcers" have triggered public outrage. internet screenshot

A burgeoning movement to return forests to farmland and the sudden arrival of heavy-handed rural enforcers are at the center of recent dramatic events in China.

China is making a major push to expand its arable land. The movement reverses years of ecological “farmland to forest” policies and includes the establishment of a new “Rural Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Brigade.”  The agricultural management officers have quickly become unpopular for their thug-like tactics.

The drive to increase farmland and manage China’s rural areas reflects the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) intention to replace market-oriented and diversified agriculture with planned food production, say analysts. It also aims to regain the party’s centralized control over the countryside, which has been a “weak link” for years.

However, experts suggest that the drive to “reclaim” urban forests or landscapes and dictate what farmers may grow contradicts common sense and has devolved into a political movement.

Bulldozing ‘Park City’s’ Greenway

In what may be the most dramatic sign of the new policies, bulldozers have torn up the renowned 100 km (62 mile) green belt around the southwestern city of Chengdu. Landscapes are being replanted in wheat and corn; scenic lotus ponds that attracted thousands of summer visitors are being filled in.

The city of 20 million had planned the massive green belt—billed as the world’s largest greenway system—as part of a plan to turn Chengdu into a “park city.” The green belt, which cost 34.1 billion yuan (about $4.9 billion) was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023. It is now being “restored” as farmland.

As recently as last fall, Chengdu, a “city within a park,” was being touted as “a new model of urban development“ for its massive greenway.

However, the greenway’s construction company, Tianfu Greenway Group, announced on March 28 that it will now make every effort to restore and cultivate more than 16,000 acres of farmland throughout the city.

According to analysts, the large-scale ecological landscape was largely urban planning to boost property values and attract business to Chengdu. Germany-based ecological expert Wang Weiluo, writing in Yibao Online May 7, said that “the ecological isolation and protection zones in Chengdu play a crucial role in the overall urban planning, directly affecting the quality of life, residential environment, and property values in Chengdu.”  

A March 10, 2021 article in state media Xinhua News raved about the beauty and ecological value of the city’s transformation, with its “green heart,” “green lungs” and “green veins.” Chengdu was successfully “building landscapes to attract people.”

However, Wang pointed out that arable land in Sichuan, where Chengdu is located, has decreased by 22.2 percent over the past ten years, the largest reduction among China’s large provinces. Amid an ongoing national campaign against “non-agriculturization,” that makes Sichuan a prime target.

Looking to Political Gain

Wang said the lands used to build the Tianfu Greenway were most likely classified as permanent farmland in China’s second national land survey, carried out in 2007 to determine the status of land use. Therefore, they must technically be restored and cultivated.

Nonetheless, Wang opined, the recent land reclamation is not being done for the sake of China’s food security. Instead, it represents a show of force as part of a top-down effort.

Expanding cultivated land has become a political task for local governments, He Haibo, a professor at Hubei Normal University, wrote in Chinese media The Observer on May 11.

“Returning forest to farmland” violates common sense, He said, because the production of staple grains such as rice, wheat, and corn “depends on natural environmental conditions.” When farmers leave land uncultivated, it is frequently for practical reasons such as poor soil, lack of water, or susceptibility to flooding. As a result, even if it is reclaimed, it may not be profitable. Further, uprooting hundreds of acres of profitable crops like grapes, kiwis, or peaches, in order to grow staple crops goes against economic principles.

Li Yuanhua, a former professor at Beijing’s Capital Normal University, spoke to The Epoch Times on May 17 about the initiative, which has become a political movement, he said, with local officials not truly focused on agricultural production, but looking to political gain.

‘Nongguan’: Moving Towards a Planned Economy

As part of the forest-to-farmland push, the CCP has established a “Rural Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Brigade.”  

The new officers—over 82,000 of them nationwide—have raised the ire of farmers and netizens for their heavy-handed tactics. Popularly, they are called nongguan—literally, rural enforcers—a reference to the thug-like urban enforcers known as chengguan. Along with local officials, nongguan forcibly remove non-authorized plants, resorting to violence if farmers protest.

Although they are not technically police, nongguan have a broad array of powers and police-like authority. They are a key part of a top-down approach that relies on administrative orders from CCP authorities to direct all agriculture production.

The CCP’s top priority at present is the nation’s grain supply. At the end of March, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a directive making “stabilizing grain supply” a year-long priority for agricultural departments at all levels.

In Li’s opinion, China’s intentions with regard to Taiwan are inseparable from the forest to farmland emphasis. China wants to use force against Taiwan but fears international sanctions that could threaten its food security.

Official data indicate that China imported 160 million tons of grain in 2021, a record high. This has raised concerns among CCP authorities regarding the country’s food self-sufficiency if sanctions were to disrupt its food supply. Consequently, the regime is emphasizing grain supply stability and food security.

A Tighter Grip on China’s Countryside

Li told The Epoch Times that the CCP’s actions indicate a move toward the planned economy of the Cultural Revolution.

Although food-related issues are driving the CCP’s recent agricultural management initiative, strengthening control over rural China is also a factor.

In recent years, the CCP has tightened its grip on rural areas, enhancing governance structures at all levels down to the village chief. In February, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs proposed an expansion of the social credit system in rural areas, including more “social credit grocery stores,” which allow farmers to exchange social credit points for goods.

According to Li, China’s rural areas are a weak link in the CCP’s “stability maintenance.”

Among other factors, China’s labor market deteriorated sharply after the Chinese New Year. Many factories laid off workers or reduced wages due to a lack of orders and excess inventory.

For a regime that fears losing control over all else, the return home of a vast number of unemployed—and therefore discontented—migrant workers is bound to spark concern. By centralizing control over production and livelihood resources in the countryside, aided by its new rural enforcement force, the CCP also hopes to restore its collective control, Li theorized.

However, a return to the production and living conditions of the Cultural Revolution is “a regression of history” and “wishful thinking” on the part of the CCP, he said.

‘Rice Bowls Firmly in Hand’

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the importance of food security and food self-sufficiency. At the end of 2021, during China’s Central Economic Work Conference, Xi emphasized that the Chinese people’s “rice bowls must always be firmly in their own hands” and that they must never be strangled by food issues.

In response, Japanese political commentator Li Yiming told The Epoch Times on May 17 that the CCP’s idea of food self-sufficiency is unrealistic. The food self-sufficiency rate is determined by the natural resource conditions of each country, Li said. For example, in 2021, the self-sufficiency rate for the UK was 60l percent and for Japan, it was only 38 percent.

Estimates for China’s food self-sufficiency rate vary, generally ranging from 65.8 percent to 76.8 percent. As long as normal international trade is maintained those numbers should not be problematic, Li Yiming said.

However, Li warned, the so-called “food security” issue would become an issue if the CCP intended to confront the United States—its largest source of imported food at 37.3 percent—or engage in a war that could trigger international sanctions.