Chinese Farmers Urged to Reinvest Profits

Chinese farmers fail to invest in their land because they fear agricultural policy may change and instead pour money into consumer goods and new houses, the official newspaper Economic Information said Friday.

The paper said there was too little investment in farming and the state could not fill the gap. Farmers should be educated to use capital properly, it contended.

The paper said the average farmer’s income rose 107% between 1980 and 1985. In the same period, their spending on consumer goods rose 72%, but spending on production rose only about 29%.