Agricultural Policy and Food Safety in China
-
introduce
Food security and the performance of the agricultural sector
Agricultural Development Strategy, Policy and Food Security
Prospects of grain economy in China
Problems and challenges
Concluding remarks
refer to
-
introduce
It has long been recognized that China strives to produce enough food to feed its growing population. It only uses one fifth of the world's arable land to feed more than one fifth of the world's population. In modern history, China either exported grain or imported relatively little. In the1950s, China was a net exporter of grain, even grain. Although China became a net food importer in the1960s, the share of net imports in total domestic consumption was negligible. At the beginning of the reform (1978-84), the net import share reached about 3%, and then decreased to about 1% in the following period (1985-90). Since then, China has become a net grain exporter, except in 1995, when China imported nearly 20 million tons of grain in a record. The net export volume between 1992 and 1994 exceeds 5 million tons every year.
Although China's grain imports may increase slightly in the next few decades, during the reform period, China has become a strong net grain exporter in terms of value by exporting high value-added foods, including livestock products and other processed foods. The net export of food increased from 1980 (China customs statistics) to $2.3 billion in 1985, and reached a peak of $6.3 billion in 1993.
However, China's future food security is an increasingly worrying issue. First of all, although China's grain output has increased in the past few decades, the annual grain supply and price fluctuate greatly. Since1late 1980s, market stability and rising food prices have been one of the main goals of government policies. The government of China believes that maintaining a high level of food self-sufficiency, avoiding supply shocks and stabilizing consumer prices are related to national security and stability:
Only when people in China stop worrying about food security and stable food supply can they concentrate on supporting the current reform, thus ensuring sustained, rapid and healthy economic development (the State Council, 1996).
To this end, the government has recently taken measures to stabilize the domestic grain supply and market, including administrative and economic intervention in the grain distribution and sales system, national and local grain reserve plans, price regulations, international trade, factor markets and rural infrastructure development.
Second, food security and access to food are mainly poverty issues. Although the country's economic growth is strong, it is not balanced among regions. The income of farmers in the central and eastern regions of China continues to grow faster than that in the western and southwestern regions. Income inequality between regions, between urban and rural areas and within regions continues to expand (Ministry of Agriculture, 1997). In the early1980s, China made great progress in solving the poverty problem, which was mainly attributed to the government's rural reform plan. However, this progress has slowed down in the past decade.
Finally, if the policy direction is not correct, China's food supply may become the main food security problem in the coming decades. Worldwide, in recent decades, the growth rate of grain production has exceeded the growth rate of population, which means the increase of per capita grain supply. In addition, the decline of international real grain and feed grain prices in the same period means that the growth of supply exceeds the growth of demand. However, the situation in each country is different.
China faces great challenges, such as how to feed the growing population with decreasing land, water and other food production resources, and the increasing opportunity cost of labor and domestic food production costs. China's food supply is very important, not only because it concerns a large part of the world's population and consumption, but also because rapid industrialization has led to resource competition between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, strong income growth, rapid urbanization and population growth. All these have stimulated the demand for agricultural products.
Government officials and scholars focus on food economy and food security, because food (including food and feed food) is the main component of food supply in China. Historically, grain fundamentalism, providing sufficient grain supply to urban residents at stable low prices, has always been the most concerned issue of the government. Recurrent food shortages, especially the famine in the early 1960 s, increased the official's desire for guaranteed and safe food supply. This concern, coupled with rapid urbanization, domestic infrastructure and transportation restrictions, soaring domestic food prices (1994/ 1995), brown 1995' s prediction that China will become an importer of a large amount of food in the next few decades, and the weakness of the financial system in providing public goods (especially agricultural research and extension), has been in the past four years.
Some recent studies conducted by domestic and international organizations have reached a consensus that although the growth of China's food imports will be negligible and China will maintain a high level of food self-sufficiency in the next few decades, China's long-term food security is an issue of domestic and international significance. The huge scale of China's economy and its rapid growth will make China have a vital impact on the input and output of food and agricultural products, agricultural enterprises and industries in the future development of the world market. Along with this growth, it gradually moves towards market orientation and global integration, urbanization, the transfer of comparative advantage from agriculture to other sectors and the diversification of diet. The slight adjustment of grain supply and demand in China, the shift of agricultural input demand and the choice of China government's food security policy will have a great impact on the world agricultural trade.
This document assesses the food security situation in China, reviews the performance of the food and agricultural sectors, considers the role of food policies, especially the recent price and marketing reform policies, in improving the food situation, and identifies key issues related to food security that require further intervention. The next section reviews the previous achievements and sources of growth in agricultural production and food security. The third part analyzes the current government policies and programs and their impact on agricultural production and food security. The fourth part predicts the shape of China's grain economy in the next 30 years; The fifth part discusses the main challenges and constraints faced by agricultural production and food security. The last section puts forward concrete measures and choices to realize sustainable agricultural growth and food production.
Food security and the performance of the agricultural sector
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Food security: an overview
Overview of Ways to Improve Food Security in China
Other issues
The changing role of agriculture in the economy
Agricultural production growth
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Food security: an overview
China's ability to feed more than one fifth of the world's population with only 7% of the world's arable land is widely known. China, with a population of over 1997, is the most populous country in the world. Its experience shows that, among other policies, technological development, institutional change, improvement of incentives and rural development are important in improving food security by using limited natural resources.
Availability of food
In the past decades, the per capita food supply and consumption in China have increased. The per capita grain supply increased from less than 1700 kcal in 1960 to 2570 kcal in 1995 (table 1)[ 19]. The increase in domestic output is almost the only reason for the increase in food supply. During the same period, protein intake and fat consumption per capita increased from 42g to 70g and17g to 45g respectively. Both of these figures exceed the average nutrition supply level of countries with similar per capita GNP.
The changes of dietary nutrients in China are consistent with the increase of income (table 1). Nutrition source is a powerful indicator of population economic welfare. In low-income countries, the average diet includes a high percentage of nutrients from crops, while the typical developed country diet includes a relatively high percentage of nutrients from animal sources. In China, the traditional diet is usually dominated by grains, vegetables and a small amount of meat and fish. The consumption of relatively expensive non-cereal foods, especially livestock products and fish, increases with the rapid growth of per capita income, urbanization and market expansion (Huang and Bouis, 1996).
Overall household food security
The overall household food security has improved significantly. According to the World Food Security Index of FAO (1996), China's household food security, measured by AHFSI and the level of food shortage, follows the national average. AHFSI rose from a low level of 70% in 1969-7 1 to a relatively high level of nearly 80% in 1990-92, while the food shortage decreased from slightly higher than 14% to about 3% in the same period.
Table 1. Nutrient availability
year
vitality
(kcal)
protein
(gram)
fat
(gram)
Crop products
animal products
vitality
(%)
protein
(%)
fat
(%)
vitality
(%)
protein
(%)
fat
(%)
1960
1676
Forty two.
17
97
93
76
three
seven
24
1970
2087
53
23
96
93
67
four
seven
33
1980
2470
64
32
94
90
60
six
10
40
1990
2505
Sixty-eight
37
9 1
86
55
nine
14
45
1995
2570
70
45
88
8 1
5 1
12
19
Forty nine
Table 2. Per capita daily nutrient intake by income group in sample provinces, 1990.
Income stratum
Sichuan(Province)
Ningxia
Hebei Province
Zhejiang Province
Guangdong
Beijing
Energy intake (kcal)
Average
2335
2402
2227
2460
2425
2309
The poorest 10%
1889
18 19
1970
197 1
2 129
1960
10% - 25%
2068
2 142
2093
22 17
2 174
1855
25% - 50%
227 1
23 19
220 1
23 14
2 19 1
209 1
50% - 75%
2485
2480
2256
2559
2583
237 1
75% - 90%
2606
2642
2284
27 1 1
2532
2605
The richest 10%
2852
3074
2559
2983
2797
2972
Protein Intake (g)
Average
59.6
68.5
69. 1
63.9
60.7
69. 1
The poorest 10%
48. 1
54.9
59.4
5 1.0
5 1.9
57.9
10% - 25%
52.5
64.6
64.7
57.0
53.0
55.0
25% - 50%
55.4
65.4
67.9
59.6
58.4
62.0
50% - 75%
6 1. 1
68.7
70.2
65.6
64.5
70.3
75% - 90%
66.6
72.5
7 1.4
70.7
64.7
79.2
The richest 10%
73.6
84.5
80.8
79.2
7 1.8
90.5
Fat intake (g)
Average
36.0
33.7
34.0
33. 1
39. 1
45.5
The poorest 10%
25.5
2 1.5
27.4
20.2
28.9
35.5
10% - 25%
27.7
25.6
29.2
26.4
32.7
35.4
25% - 50%
3 1.3
3 1. 1
3 1.9
30.3
36.8
4 1. 1
50% - 75%
37.0
35.6
35.0
35. 1
42.5
48.5
75% - 90%
43.4
4 1.0
37. 1
39.8
42.0
52.6
The richest 10%
57.0
48.9
46. 1
47.6
50.6
63.9
Per capita annual income (yuan)
Average
558
643
658
99 1
1027
1270
The poorest 10%
25 1
230
204
299
433
488
10% - 25%
347
32 1
349
508
624
705
25% - 50%
443
457
499
739
809
10 12
50% - 75%
579
686
692
1058
1075
1346
75% - 90%
756
975
948
1457
1433
1748
The richest 10%
1 1 15
1395
1453
2 163
2033
2633
Household food security by income group
Tables 2, 3 and 4 show the intake and sources of household nutrients of different income groups according to the food and nutrition survey conducted by Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine (CAPM) and National Bureau of Statistics (SSB) in 1990. Tables 5 and 6 show the physical development, equality and poverty of rural children in China according to the food consumption and expenditure survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in 1978- 95.
Although the per capita energy intake of all sample provinces exceeds 2,200 kcal (Table 2), the nutritional intake of different income groups varies greatly. The per capita annual income is less than 500-the daily energy intake of 25% of the population in 700 yuan (with different provincial levels) is less than 2,200 kcal. The energy intake of the poorest 10% people is only 82% of the sample average. With the decrease of income, the intake of protein and fat also decreased in a similar way.
Table 3. Energy sources by income groups in sample provinces of China, 1990.