Mao Zedong's Comment on Tan Zhenlin's[1] Report on the Agricultural Situation in the Five Provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Liaoning
(September 26, 1960)

This document[2] should be seriously discussed once by the Secretariat. If deemed feasible, it can be forwarded to the lower levels.
For heavy agricultural implements such as tractors, the South should let the North go first; otherwise, the problem cannot be resolved.

Mao Zedong
September 26, 1960

[1] Tan Zhenlin was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[2] Refers to Tan Zhenlin’s report of September 23, 1960, to the comrades of the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee on the agricultural situation in the five provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Liaoning. The report stated: “These five provinces have a total of 493.64 million mu of arable land, of which 37% is cultivated by animal power, 8.1% by machine power, and 55% by human labor. Nearly 40% of the tractors and irrigation and drainage machinery in the four provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan are inoperable—some due to incompatibility of parts, some due to lack of spare parts, some due to lack of fuel, and some damaged due to unskilled operation. There is also a severe shortage of small farm tools commonly used by peasants. The reasons are, first, that scrap iron and steel were all collected for steelmaking, and second, that the former handicraft cooperatives that produced farm tools stopped making small farm tools after being converted into factories. To address this, we have decided to concentrate our efforts this winter and next spring on repairing and properly equipping existing machinery and on manufacturing small farm tools on a large scale. At the same time, we request that over the next two years these five provinces be allocated 100,000 standard tractors, so as to change the phenomenon of human-drawn plows and increase the area under mechanized cultivation from 8% to 49%. However, this exceeds the originally planned allocation for these five provinces by 32,500 tractors, and a decision by the Central Committee is required.”
On October 7, 1960, the CPC Central Committee approved Tan Zhenlin’s report, pointing out that the above-mentioned five provinces bear relatively heavy production tasks for steel, iron, and coal and are also major producing areas for cotton and peanuts. Over the past three years, a large number of draft animals have died. The Central Committee agreed to allocate 100,000 standard tractors to these provinces over the next two years.

Sent to Fuchun[1] for consideration and handling at his discretion.

[1] Fuchun, namely Li Fuchun, was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and Vice Premier of the State Council.