During the 1950s land ownership was abolished and collectives were established to be followed by the creation of people's communes in china. the result:

You might be talking about the events leading to the Great Leap Forward, which broke down China’s economy and agricultural output and causing massive, deadly famine. Farmers were put to work in the communes and harvests were sold to the government at fixed rate prices, producing very little surplus. Then later, the government pushed farmers to make steel in backyard furnaces, bringing down food production and causing famine.