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THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1985. PAGE S.
Murray Cardiff acts as Canada's agriculture spokesman in China
Murray Cardiff, M.P. for Huron
Bruce has had an experien,ce this
year that few of us will ever have: a
visit to China. And he's had it
twice.
Mr. Cardiff recently returned
from his second trip to China this
year as representative for federal
agriculture minister John Wise.
He heaiIed the Canadian delega-
tion to the China Agricultural
Exhibition in early November at
which 45 Canadian businesses
showed off their goods for Chinese
agriculture and represented Can-
ada at the China-Canada agricul-
ture committee.
Last spring he was also in China
for 14 days, representing the
minister of agriculture in high-
level meetings with Chinese offi-
cials in the agricultural sector.
He came back both times with a
feeling, of the immensity of the
Chinese population. "It's mind-
boggling the number of people
they have. "Mr. Cardiff said he
remembers thinking as he went to
bed one night that there were nine
million people in Peking and
wondering "Would I want the
responsibility of seeing that all
these people were fed."
The comparisons of China to
Canada are both similar and vastly
different, he points out. China has
a land area slightly smaller than
Canada's and has 10 per cent of the
land arrible compared to five per
cent in Canada. Yet Canada has to
feed 25 million people while China
must feed 1.2 billion people.
_ The Chinese keep 79 million
head of cattle while Canadians
keep only 12 million head. The gap
is even wider in hogs where
Canadians keep out 10 million pigs
while China has almost 300 million.
In sheep and goats we keep a mere
809 thousand while they keep close
to 167 million.
Canada's rural population is
almost six million people while in
China there are nearly 814 million
rural people so although the animal
numbers are higher, they're still
much much lower on a per capita
basis.
Canadian farming is so mechan-
ized that only five per cent of our
workforce is in agriculture, fish-
ing, forestry, etc. compared to 73
per cent in the same sectors in
China.
His spring trip took him more
into the rural areas and the
predominance of manual labour
was very evident. "It was nothing
to see two or three hundred people,
men and women out in the fields
with hoes. I saw very little powered
equipment."
China has made tremendous
strides in recent years towards
self-sufficiency. Per productions
has reached about 400 kg. or about
880 pounds. Per capita production
of meats has reached 15 kg. or 33
pounds. Farm income has doubled
in the last five years to the
equivalent of $155 Canadian which
may not seem like much but with
full hospital care, dental care etc.
there is very little for them to spend
money on.
This is changing, however, with
the acceptance of a more free-
enterprise flavour by the Chinese
government. The two most sought
after items by farmers with money
to spend are refrigerators and
television sets. Since there is
nothing such as private ownership
of cars, to spend money'on, people
can save their money for such items
for the home.
The bicycle is the main mode of
transport for the ordinary people of
China with an average of 1.5 _ .
bicycles per family. In Peking (or
Bejing as the Chinese call it) the
noise level is still high as nine
million people get around by bus
(so crammed they shove people on)
and taxis and state-owned trucks.
Pollution control seems to be
non-existent and since the Chinese
extend their fuel with vegetable
oil, air pollution is evident.
The city is kept clean though
with many street sweepers clean-
ing the streets without the use of
mechanical sweepers. For a city of
nine million people it's also
compact with most people living in
small apartment buildings of six or
seven stories.
Growth is very evident, particu-
larly in Peking where, he said, he
had never seen so many building
cranes in his life. "You see such
primitive ways of doing things and
the very extreme ... these huge
cranes in building these high rises
and material being hauled to the
site by a two-wheeled rickshaw or
what we'd call a garden tractor
towing a small trailer with steel."
The Chinese officials told him,
he said, that even though they are
approaching self sufficiency in
agriculture, theywould continue to
look upon Canada as a favoured
nation because of our past relation-
ship and will still be buying
something, though not the huge
amounts of wheat of past times.
They feel they must make sure they
have a supplier for the years when
things won't go so well.
Much of Mr. Cardiff's time in
China this time was spent in
meetings of the China-Canada
agricultural committee which was
first set up in 1980 to exchange
information on agricultural topics.
The annual meetings of the
committee alternate between Can-
ada and China. Mr. Cardiff said the
committee "creates the environ-
ment for a continuing dialogue.
Canadians can do much in China
in relation to agriculture, he said.
For instance, there is no record of
performance (ROP) testing in
China to help upgrade breeding of
stock. Canada could help set this
up and in' doing so, open the door
for sales of livestock and semen. A
sale of $1 million worth of semen
was signed last spring and a
further 53 million sales was
rumoured at the exhibition.
The 42 companies taking part in
the exhibition felt it was a very
worthwhile trip. Besides govern-
ment organizations like Agricul-
ture Canada there were groups like
the Canadian Swine Exporters.
Poultry suppliers from hatcheries
to manufacturers of equipment like
plucking machines expect good
sales. Veterinary suppliers also
have good prospects.
Even Brights Wines came away
with some business involving the
importing of Chinese wine to be
blended with Canadian wine and
shipped to Japan.
Sprung structures, a western
Canadian company saw good
potential for their quickly-erected.
canvas-covered structures which
can help cut the large losses of
grains and other produce in China.
Continued on page 6
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