Farmers will get more support and be encouraged to switch to modern agriculture, according to a guideline published by the general offices of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on February 21.

Small farming, which has many advantages, can play an important role in agriculture modernization.

As small farmers are self-employed and their profits closely tied to the amount of time and labor they devote to farming, they work hard for a better harvest. On the other hand, it's difficult for agricultural companies to manage their employees as agriculture is a long and natural process that is hard to supervise in its entirety.

In small farming, farmers can fully utilize their time in busy and slack seasons. Moreover, the output efficiency of land under small farming is higher than that under large-scale farming. Greater labor is devoted to per unit of land in small farming to get the maximum output from limited land. Large-scale farming often comes at the expense of the output per unit of land. Besides, small farming can grow diversified agricultural products. Different farmers may grow different crops, which helps to preserve biodiversity and protect the environment.

In addition to policy support, private capital should be encouraged to go to rural areas to assist small farmers to switch to modern agriculture.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in Beijing Youth Daily on March 3)