Economic development and growth is sought after and important to the overall development of every country on this earth. Economic development is said to be a long term phenomenon which studies how economic circumstances change over time and how they can be made to change. While there is no scientific formula that itself measures the development of one country, development usually coincides with the economic growth of a country. Economic growth said to be the result of the improvements a country makes on four key areas. These area's are saving & investments, technology and labour, resource allocation and international trade, all which are equally vital for economic development. China, which is considered a less developed country, has one of the world's fastest growing economies today. China's per capita income has gone from 478.0 Yuan in 1980 to 5,160.0 Yuan in 1997 (Findlay, 33). All four key economic growth factors are relevant when talking about the changes China has made too its agricultural sector and its rural labour arrangements. This paper will discuss how china's agricultural development and reforms have helped in the overall economic development of China.
Like other lower developed countries, China's agricultural industry has always been the engine behind its economy. Although China's agricultural share in GDP has been declining, agricultural in China still accounts for nearly 20 percent of GDP and almost 50 percent of employment, with 70 percent of the population living in rural area's (Findlay, 7). China's recent rise in agricultural production is primarily due too reform's that started to take place around the 1980's. Prior to this time, China's agricultural output decreased to the point where it was hurting China's overall economic development. There were three main reasons for this decrease: a growing population; an agricultural system which was designed to supply funds for industrially development; and restricted rural-urban migration.