Challenges And Opportunities For Chinese Agriculture

This book elaborates on the transformation of agricultural development in China into the construction of a “resource and ecologically sound society”, and the coordinated development of industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization in China. It focuses on the multiple goals of transforming the Chinese agricultural development model, inner motivations, approaches, and supporting systems under environmental and resource constraints. The author endeavors to build a theoretical framework for transforming agricultural development model in the construction of a “resource and ecologically sound society". To achieve this, the author addresses successively across seven chapters issues such as the multiple goals of China’s agricultural development transformation under resource and environmental constraints, the transformation of the utilization mode of resources, “resource and ecologically sound agriculture”–oriented agricultural production system transformation, the transformation of commercialized rural service system, and institutional innovations in the “resource and ecologically sound” agricultural transformation.

This book identifies the main challenges Chinese agriculture is confronting and considers how these challenges might be met. The performance of China's agricultural production is comprehensively assessed while the factors that affect agricultural productivity are examined through detailed econometric analysis and up to date nationally representative data.

The pace of growth in China's agricultural sector is remarkable. Determining how this demand for food will be met requires a complex analytical framework whose parameters are the subject of an intense discussion. Thesse workshop proceedings provide a rich repository of material addressing the issue.

During the last few centuries, China's agriculture development process witnessed many inventions and innovations that were ahead of the rest of the world. However, China also experienced a long period of stagnation due to recurrent famines, wars and imperialism. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the abolition of the semi-feudal and semi-colonial system and the establishment of the socialist system, China's rural economy has been rapidly restored and developed. Moreover, Chinese agriculture has ended its stagnant history and entered a new period of rapid development. Although there have been setbacks in the development process over the past 30 years, China has fed almost one-fifth of the world's population with only 7% of the world's arable land. Since the reform and opening up, China's agricultural education and scientific and technological undertakings have also flourished, which has greatly promoted the improvement of China's agricultural productivity. The book has 10 chapters in the following order: Chapter 1: Chinese Economy and Agriculture (第一章：中国经济与农业) Chapter 2: Farmland in China (第二章：中国的农地) Chapter 3: China's Main Food Crops (第三章：中国主要粮食作物) Chapter 4: China's Agricultural Regions (第四章：中国农业地区) Chapter 5: Chinese Farmers (第五章：中国农民) Chapter 6: Modern Food Contamination (第六章：现代食品污染) Chapter 7: Genetically Modified Crops (第七章：转基因作物) Chapter 8: Organic Agriculture in China (第八章：中国的有机农业) Chapter 9: Food Security in China (第九章：中国的粮食安全) Chapter 10: Agricultural Challenges (第十章：农业挑战) The current book volume, Chinese Agriculture (中国农业), is a Chinese reading practice book (简单了解中国农业). It would introduce you to the very important features of agriculture in China (such as the land reforms, major crops, organic farming, genetically modified crops, food safety, etc.). The 4th volume in the Introduction to Chinese Geography Series (中国地理百科全知道) includes both the Chinese text (simplified characters) and pinyin Romanization. With about over 1000 unique Chinese characters, the volume would be suitable for the beginners, lower intermediate and advanced level Chinese language learners (HSK 1-6). Overall, the reading series offers you a variety of elementary level books (Level 1/2/3/4/5/6) to understand China as well as practice Chinese reading fast.

China is perhaps the most prominent example of a developing country that has transitioned from taxing to supporting agriculture. In recent years, Chinese price supports and subsidies have risen at an accelerating pace after they were linked to rising production costs. Per-acre subsidy payments to grain producers now equal 7 to 15 percent of those producers' gross income, but grain payments appear to have little influence on production decisions. Chinese authorities began raising price supports annually to bolster incentives, and Chinese prices for major farm commodities are rising above world prices, helping to attract a surge of agricultural imports. U.S. agricultural exports to China tripled in value during the period when China's agricultural support was accelerating. Overall, China's expansion of support is loosely constrained by World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, but the country's price-support programs could exceed WTO limits in coming years. Chinese officials promise to continue increasing domestic policy support for agriculture, but the mix of policies may evolve as the Chinese agricultural sector becomes more commercialized and faces competitive pressures.

This title was first published in 2003. This prominent and commanding volume collates the best research available on China's agricultural trade. Critically analyzing the agricultural supply and demand factors that underlie trade patterns such as agricultural productivity and policy, it also explores China's agricultural trade and policy including implications for China and elsewhere. Long term issues and productivity growth are taken into consideration, as are specific issues such as WTO accession. The slate of authors combines the leading established scholars in the field and the best of the next generation, including those from China and the West.