Yang menarik,mas, juga investor2 Barat sangat menyukai Tiongkok sebagai lahan investasi, walaupun Tiongkok adalah negara komunis. Bagi ilkim investasi rupanya ini tak menganggu (hanya beberapa pimpinan Indonesia kadang2 meniupkan warning komunisme). Indonesia yang anti komunis, malah tidak terlalu dicari oleh investor.
Juga di Vietnam kemarin ada sebuah pabrik otomotif Jerman yang dibuka. Vietnam yang juga komunis. Kita yang mau menganjak ke tatanan demokratis, seharusnya tak takut pada idee2 komunisme (atau idee2 lainnya), yang sudah tak merupakan bahaya bagi kita semua. Tiongkok telah membuktikan, hanya kerja keras memperbaiki perekonomian dan kesejahteraan rakyat, yang akan membuat suasana damai dan kondusif bagi kehidupan bangsa. Mereka tak mempermasalahkan agama, dan tidak main teror2an. Kalau kita membeli computer, merk apapun, ataupun alat2 elektronik, maka kebanyakan alat2nya tertulis Made in China (monitor, batterie, dll). Salam RM Danardono HADINOTO --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], rahardjo mustadjab <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Di China, banyak petani yang semula miskin, sekarang > punya mobil dan jalan-jalan keluar negeri. Buah China > menggeser buah dari California, Australia dan New > Zealand di super market di Tokyo dan Singapura. Di > Jakarta sudah lama terjadi. > > Tidak semua suku China kepintarannya hanya dagang > saja. Ada suku yang bakatnya tani, dan tidak pintar > dagang. Ada suku yang bakatnya tukang kayu dan segala > jenis tukang lainnya, dan tidak pintar dagang. Ada > suku yang bakatnya jadi pegawai, dokter, guru dan > semacamnya, dan tidak pintar dagang. Dengan adanya > kekhususan itulah, maka China menjadi naga dunia. > Cerita di FEER kali ini khusus mengenai orang yang > hebat di hortikultura. > > Salam, > RM > > > > (Far Eastern Economic Review) > > FOOD POLICY > > Peasants Bloom > > A revolution in farming practices is bringing wealth > to the Chinese countryside. It is also bringing China > into fierce competition with the world's biggest food > producers, among them the United States > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ > > By Andrew Browne/LAI YANG, SHANDONG PROVINCE > > Issue cover-dated October 14, 2004 > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ > > > > > > AT AN AGE when many men in China have eased into > retirement, Song Jiejun, 57, is starting all over > again. The former village police chief has set up home > with an attractive new wife 25 years his junior, he's > become a father again and he's bought his first car. > > THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FARM > > � > China's growers now produce half the world's > vegetables and melons > � > Export opportunities have been opened by WTO > membership > � > Diminishing state control over food production has > allowed Chinese farmers to play to their strengths > > And to support this new lifestyle Song has made a late > career change: he's now a vegetable farmer. > > Daybreak finds a tanned and sprightly Song at his > fields in coastal Shandong province supervising > peasants as they pluck okra, a vegetable seldom eaten > locally but a pricey delicacy across the sea in Japan, > where most of the slender pods end up. > > In many ways, Song's new lease on life mirrors the > rejuvenation of large parts of China's rural economy. > There's money in farming these days. China has turned > into a market stand for much of Asia, and the upshot > for the world's food exporters could be just as > profound as the impact of China's transformation into > the manufacturing "workshop of the world." > > "We've taken on the Japanese market," boasts Song, > with his keys jangling from one hip and a mobile phone > from the other. "In time we'll take on the Americans > too." > > Across large swaths of coastal China, traditional > plots for grain are giving way to orchards and > greenhouses. The shimmering light under aircraft > approaching Shanghai's airport, often mistaken by > travellers for the sea, is in fact miles of clear > plastic swaddling rows of vegetables. The crops feed a > swelling population of wealthy city dwellers. And > while only a fraction is exported, it is enough to > challenge major growers in markets they once owned. > Fresh Chinese broccoli now finds its way into Tokyo > lunch boxes, replacing Californian varieties. Apples > from the United States are being shut out of Singapore > and Hong Kong by Chinese exports. > > So far, the threat to the world's producers has been > mainly in export markets. China has a long way to go > before it can match international standards for > quality. Its agricultural technology lags badly; > cooling and storage facilities are primitive; farmers > too often saturate crops with harmful pesticides and > overload the exhausted soil with chemical fertilizer. > > Yet, as in manufacturing, China is learning fast. Part > of the impetus is coming from export opportunities > opened by China's membership of the World Trade > Organization. Chinese farming is getting better "very > quickly," says Richard Herzfelder, executive > vice-president of China Food and Agricultural Services > Inc., a Shanghai-based consultancy. Many assumed it > would take 10 years from WTO accession in 2001 before > China could match the quality of U.S. fruit. The best > farms already can. "They're progressing twice as fast > as people thought," Herzfelder says. > > In the 1980s, the U.S. was the world's biggest > producer of apples. Now China produces four times as > many. American apple sales to Singapore have halved in > the past five years while Chinese exports have > doubled, giving China almost 60% of the market in the > prosperous city state. Chinese broccoli sales to Japan > have tripled since 1995, while American exports are > down by a third. "We're being hammered" in certain > markets, says Tracy King, export director of the > Washington Apple Commission. > > Much is riding on a struggle among Chinese > policymakers. The traditionalists, obsessed with food > security, want the focus of agricultural policy to > remain on grain self-sufficiency. But those who favour > free trade support the shift toward higher-value > horticulture as a way to raise rural incomes and play > to China's advantages. Horticulture uses less > farmland, a dwindling resource in China, and more > labour, which China has in abundance. > > Some see evidence that the reformers are coming out on > top. "There's been a seminal change in the tenor of > the discussion," says Dan Rosen, a visiting fellow at > the Institute for International Economics. "On the > face of it, California has a China problem," he says. > > Other forces, too, are propelling the shift toward the > free market. A law passed last year gives farmers more > secure rights to the tiny plots of land they hold > under 30-year leases. That has a created a more liquid > market in land. Millions of peasants are sub-leasing > their land to move to the cities, where they can make > a better living. The plots vacated are being stitched > together into sizeable holdings, so that in many > places subsistence farming is being replaced by > commercial farming. > > Between now and 2020, some 300 million peasants are > expected to migrate to urban areas, giving further > impetus to farm consolidation. At the same time, China > is embarked on a mammoth project to build a national > highway network. Suddenly, once-remote farms can start > growing perishable crops like lettuce and strawberries > and rush them to markets at home and abroad. > > China now produces half the world's vegetables and > melons--five times more than India and 11 times more > than the U.S.--compared with just over one third in > 1995. Meanwhile, output of broccoli, carrots and other > vegetables and tomatoes has more than doubled. Over > the same period, China's planted area for vegetables > has jumped by 89% and for fruit by 16%, while the area > sown with grain has dropped by 10%. > > Down on the farm, Song and people like him aren't > waiting around for the outcome of the policy debate. > Entrepreneurial and politically savvy, they are > changing the face of farming by working deals to lease > land and link up with hi-tech food processing > businesses, marketing and distribution networks. > > Song has assembled 100 mu (6.6 hectares) of land that > once supported several dozen families. "If I was young > again I'd have 10,000 mu," he says. > > Like many farmers around Lai Yang, Song produces > exclusively for a local agribusiness called Longda > Foodstuff Group Co. The privately owned company has > itself amassed more than 1,300 hectares and has > brought in tenant farmers to grow crops and raise > pigs. The output goes mainly to food-processing > factories that supply domestic buyers and export > markets, primarily Japan. > > More than 400,000 peasants and factory workers owe > their livelihood to Longda, or "big dragon." The > company reported profits last year equivalent to $12 > million on sales of more than $200 million. > > To maintain quality, Longda controls the entire > production process for both its own tenant farmers and > suppliers like Song. Its tenants are on one-year > contracts that can be terminated instantly if they > breach production rules, with the forfeit of a cash > deposit. > > In many ways, Longda represents the industrialization > of Chinese agriculture. Indeed, the company video > boasts that Longda is "changing the traditional > lifestyle of Chinese peasants" by turning them into > "industrial workers." > > On a recent sweltering summer morning, a call on his > mobile phone made Song snap to attention at his farm > gate: Longda was ordering him to plant onions. Quickly > he summoned his wife on her motor scooter to bring > cash from home. Then he dashed off to Longda's > warehouses--the only authorized purchase point--to buy > seed and fertilizer. Over lunch he made a few calls to > arrange for 30 peasants to turn up the next day for > planting. > > "I grow what they tell me, when they tell me," says > Song. Longda agronomists turn up regularly to ensure > he follows company procedure on the use of fertilizers > and pesticides. > > His partnership with Longda has paid off handsomely > for Song. In the four years he has been growing for > the company he has made on average $5,000 a year. > That's roughly double the pay he took home as a police > commander. The peasants who plant and pick for him > earn less than $2 a day. > > It's a similar story all along the vast Chinese coast. > High standards are being demanded by Japan and South > Korea, which provide the largest export markets along > with much of the technology and investment. For > instance, in the world's most extensive broccoli > growing area, a fertile plain south of Shanghai, > farmers got started in the early 1990s with seeds > introduced by Japanese trading companies. > > "We didn't know what broccoli was back then," says Guo > Chenggen, a local producer who now ships 130 > refrigerated containers a year to Japan. > > Wealth is trickling down to small farmers like Zhu > Zhongyi, 60, whose patched trousers may be held up > with string but whose gleaming new house rises from > the edge of his broccoli patch no bigger than a > quarter of a hectare. "It's for my son," he explains > proudly, pointing to the three-storey building. "I'm > too old to worry about myself." > > Raising living standards in the countryside, home to > 800 million of China's 1.3 billion people, is a > priority for President Hu Jintao. Farm taxes are being > phased out and replaced by subsidies to narrow the > wide gap between rural and urban incomes. But the path > to rural prosperity is likely to be rocky. > > Horticulture threatens to open up a new divide in > Chinese society between the rural haves and the > have-nots in grain and soybean-growing areas, raising > the prospect of a fresh potential cause of social > turmoil. There's also a danger that a flood of cheap > Chinese fruit and vegetables could ignite > protectionism in Asia and elsewhere. > > Nor is the picture for the world's other food > producers all bleak. As Chinese farmers grow more > fruit and vegetables, imports of U.S. soybeans have > been rocketing. Chinese agronomists predict China will > import more feed grains like maize, as well as cash > crops like sugar and cotton. > > Song, meanwhile, is counting on export markets staying > open. With a young wife and a six-year-old daughter, > he says, "I have to make enough money to leave behind > when I go." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. 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