Comments on Tan Zhenlin’s Report〔1〕 on the Agricultural Situation in the Five Provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Liaoning (September 26, 1960) This document〔2〕 should be carefully discussed once by the Secretariat. If it is deemed feasible, it may then be forwarded to lower levels. With regard to tractors and other heavy agricultural machinery, the southern regions should give way to the northern regions; otherwise, the problem cannot be solved.

Mao Zedong Date Sent to Fu Chun〔3〕 for appropriate action. Printed from the manuscript.

Notes 〔1〕 Tan Zhenlin was at that time a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and a vice premier of the State Council.

〔2〕 Refers to Tan Zhenlin’s report dated September 23, 1960, addressed to the members of the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, concerning the agricultural situation in the five provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Liaoning. The report stated that these five provinces together had 493.64 million mu of cultivated land, of which animal-drawn cultivation accounted for 37 percent, mechanized cultivation for 8.1 percent, and manual labor for 55 percent. In the four provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, nearly 40 percent of tractors and irrigation equipment were out of service, some because they were mismatched, others lacking spare parts or fuel, and still others damaged due to operators’ lack of technical proficiency. There was also a severe shortage of small farm tools commonly used by peasants, owing partly to the fact that scrap iron and steel had all been collected for steelmaking, and partly to the transformation of former handicraft cooperatives producing farm tools into factories that no longer manufactured such implements. In view of this, we have decided to concentrate our efforts this winter and next spring on repairing and properly equipping existing machinery, as well as on mass-producing small farm tools. At the same time, we are requesting that these five provinces be allocated 100,000 standard tractors over the next two years, so as to eliminate the practice of plowing by human power and raise the proportion of mechanized cultivation from 8 percent to 49 percent. However, this figure exceeds the originally planned allocation for these five provinces by 32,500 units, and therefore requires a decision from the central authorities. On October 7, the CPC Central Committee approved Tan Zhenlin’s report, noting that the aforementioned five provinces bear a heavy burden in terms of steel, iron, and coal production, and are also major cotton- and peanut-producing areas. Over the past three years, a large number of draft animals have died. Accordingly, the Central Committee agreed to allocate 100,000 standard tractors to these provinces over the next two years. 〔3〕 Fu Chun refers to Li Fuchun, who at that time was a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and a vice premier of the State Council.