Yes, intentionally. China has, through various land and farming control laws, retarded their farming productivity to an extreme level.
While their manufacturing / industrial productivity and know-how has skyrocketed over 30 years, their farming productivity has kept pace. That's deliberate to give hundreds of millions of people something to do (as another comment noted). Their manufacturing sector could not absorb another 250 million people overnight (or over the prior 20 years).
South Korean farms are up to ten times more productive. If China's farming was as productive as South Korea, they'd only need 30 to 50 million farmers. Currently China has 37% of its employment base working in agriculture, or upwards of 300 million people. The US by comparison has a substantial surplus of food with just 4 to 5 million total people working in agriculture (including illegal immigrants).
This is a good opportunity to invest into farm equipment companies that will benefit from the coming boom in farming productivity in China. As they shift labor into their urban industrial base, they'll begin to change laws to boost farming productivity finally (most likely you'll see a big rise in large corporate farms in China).
While their manufacturing / industrial productivity and know-how has skyrocketed over 30 years, their farming productivity has kept pace. That's deliberate to give hundreds of millions of people something to do (as another comment noted). Their manufacturing sector could not absorb another 250 million people overnight (or over the prior 20 years).
South Korean farms are up to ten times more productive. If China's farming was as productive as South Korea, they'd only need 30 to 50 million farmers. Currently China has 37% of its employment base working in agriculture, or upwards of 300 million people. The US by comparison has a substantial surplus of food with just 4 to 5 million total people working in agriculture (including illegal immigrants).
This is a good opportunity to invest into farm equipment companies that will benefit from the coming boom in farming productivity in China. As they shift labor into their urban industrial base, they'll begin to change laws to boost farming productivity finally (most likely you'll see a big rise in large corporate farms in China).