【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 sed agriculture began to change to mechanisation, and a large number of the agricultural population began to transfer to nonagricultural sectors both in urban and rural areas. It took less than 200 years for the United States to reduce its agricultural population to its present proportion. The transfer and decrease of the agricultural population is not a negative, spontaneous and passive process. The more quickly the process goes, the quicker the mechanisation and modernisation of agriculture will be. In addition, the transfer and decrease of the agricultural population is of importance to the gradual reduction of the distinctions between town and country, industry and agriculture, and mental and manual work. Therefore, we must study the inherent nature of the transfer of the agricultural population, and the various ways to deal with the situation so that we can speed up modernisation. The background and efficient causes of the modernisation of agriculture in China are totally different from those in developed countries. As the contradiction they faced then was between expanding farm land and a shortage of manpower, they found their way out in mechanisation which could save manpower. In contrast, the problem that China feces is dense population: consequently, surplus agricultural labour. For this reason, China has to determine its own major objectives for the modernisation of agriculture and to decide to mechanise to bring about the transfer of the agricultural population. First, in carrying out the modernisation of agriculture, what is the solution to the large amount of labour freed by the increase in productivity, migrating to the cities or remaining in the country? This problem should be analysed in the light of China39。s present situation. Currently, city employment capacity in China is beyond saturation point. There are still millions of people in cities waiting for employment. If the surplus labour in the country pours into the cities, then many problems will appear. So the only solution for this surplus labour is to allow it to remain in the country and be absorbed on the spot, that is to say, leaving agriculture to work in local, rural factories, and allowing farmers to bee workers. Recent practice has proved that such village and small town enterprises have supported farm mechanisation, processed agricultural products, mined on a small scale, produced building materials, served big industry and the export trade, and produced various small modities to supply urban and rural markets. These enterprises can recruit large numbers of rural surplus labour and have broad prospects. So in the light of China39。s actual conditions, our way is to move many kinds of trades in industry, merce, the transport service, and the building industry to the country rather than move the agricultural population to cities, which is the monest way the rest of the world transfers agricultural populations to nonagricultural sectors. Second, in the transfer of the agricultural population, we should persist in using local materials and giving full play to local advantages. The industrial products which can be made individually in the country should be spread to the country as much as possible. As long as there are raw materials, markets and production conditions, processing can be done in the country. For example, in cottongrowing areas, we can gradually expand cotton mills。 in sugarcane growing areas, sugar mills. In this way, we can avoid longdistance transport of raw materials and products back and forth. France has run sugar mills in the beet growing areas with each mill serving a radius of 17 km. Australia has connected the sugarcane harvesting, transporting and pressing to a whole process. Only eight hours after harvesting, sugarcane can be transported to the factory. But in China at present, the distribution of productive forces is irrational. For example, beet growing areas are far from sugar mills。 the harvest is gathered by hand。 beets are carried to mills by carriages after their leaves are removed. As a result, much is damaged by frost, the wastage is great, and the rate of sugar production is low. If we have more enterprises run jointly by agriculture, industry and business, not only can surplus agricultural labour be drawn on, but also we can greatly raise productivity and develop modity production. Third, we should develop labourintensive industries in the country, such as textiles, weaving, clothing, metal products, mon machinery, building and transportation services. These medium or small enterprises can absorb surplus agricultural labour, especially female. We can also bring the advantage of more labour into full play to export both inexpensive and highquality products to gain foreign exchange. According to their own specific conditions, villages and towns in the country can engage in planting, breeding, processing, mining, and so on. Developing the production of fuel, power and raw materials is particularly important. Thus we can work small iron mines, small coal mines, small electric power stations, small cement works, and make full use of wind power and marsh gas. Finally, the transformation of the agricultural population should include interval diversification. We should make full use of agricultural workers to develop a diversified economy including farming, forestry, stockraising, fisheries and sidelines. Moreover, we can engage in intensive and meticulous farming to raise the output per unit area, develop the agricultural chemical industry, spread improved plant varieties, open up wasteland, grow more economic plants, build irrigation works, increase trade service items, and so on. In order to facilitate the transfer of the agricultural population, we must create conditions to enhance its quality. Education and training are needed