( — 1.8 per cent), and above 4 per cent for maize, soybean and rice. The
reduction of potato output, from 32 million tonnes in 1978 to 29 million
tonnes in 1984, reflected an upgrading of consumption. Potatoes, a major
foodgrain for many farmers in the pre-reform period, gradually disappeared
from dinner tables in the rural areas during the reform period.
Output growth for non-grain crops was even more astonishing, partly
reflecting the adjustment of production away from that of single grain
crops in the pre-reform period. Output of cotton and beets grew at
around 20 per cent per annum from 1978 to 1984, while meat output,
sugar cane, oil crops and seawater aquatic crops all increased by more
than 10 per cent per annum.