Comments on the Draft Directive from the Central Committee Forwarding Liao Luyan’s Report〔1〕 on the Situation Following the Vegetable Conference Held in Fourteen Cities〔2〕 (June 9, 1959) After Comrade Shaoqi had reviewed it, Comrade Shangkun〔3〕 transmitted the document by telegraph.
Printed according to Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.
Notes: [1] Liao Luyan was at that time Deputy Minister of the CPC Central Committee’s Department for Rural Work and Minister of Agriculture. [2] On June 3, 1959, Liao Luyan submitted a report to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee stating that a vegetable conference involving fourteen cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, had been convened at the end of May.
The conference revealed that the supply of vegetables in urban areas remained tight, necessitating continued efforts in the following areas: (1) Agricultural production policies in the immediate suburban areas should be “vegetable-oriented.” (2) Ensuring a daily vegetable ration of one jin per person would already be considered very good. (3) Attention should be paid to implementing urban vegetable production plans with regard to land, labor, transportation conditions, seeds, and water sources. (4) Urban commercial and agricultural departments should organize relevant parties to conclude contracts for the production, supply, and marketing of vegetables, jointly guaranteeing the provision of means of production as stipulated in the contracts. (5) The workforce of vegetable supply agencies must not be too small. (6) Specialized production bases should be organized for certain famous vegetable varieties that are sold nationwide or exported abroad. (7) Production of pigs, chickens, geese, ducks, fish, and shrimp must be vigorously developed.
On June 9, 1959, the Central Committee forwarded Liao Luyan’s report to the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, as well as to the municipal party committees of major and medium-sized cities, pointing out that

all the suggestions put forward in the report were correct.
It expressed the hope that localities would earnestly accelerate the production of summer and autumn vegetables and other subsidiary foodstuffs, improve coordination among production, supply, and marketing, and strive to alleviate the shortage of urban food supplies at an early date.
Mao Zedong’s comments were written directly on this directive from the Central Committee. [3] Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, who at that time served as an alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.