Food Security for China's Cities

Food security and digital economy in China: A pathway towards sustainable development

Improving agricultural water productivity to ensure food security in China under changing environment: From research to practice

Rising agricultural water scarcity in China is driven by expansion of irrigated cropland in water scarce regions

Water management and crop production for food security in China: A review

Eliminating hunger and ensuring food security is one of the specific goals of sustainable development of the United Nations in 2030, and food production is of great significance to food availability. Based on this, this paper investigates the impact of digital inclusive finance on food security by constructing a fixed effects model using panel data for 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020. The results found that: (1) Digital inclusive finance significantly and positively affects food security, and the results remain robust after robustness tests and endogeneity tests. (2) The scale of farmland operations plays a positive mediating role in the effect of digital inclusive finance on food security, and the level of agricultural machinery positively moderates the effect of digital inclusive finance on food security. (3) Heterogeneity tests show that there is a positive effect of digital inclusive finance on food security in eastern China, and a non-significant effect of digital inclusive finance on food security in central and western regions;. There is a significant positive effect of digital inclusive finance on food security in China’s main grain marketing areas and balanced production and marketing areas, and a non-significant effect of digital inclusive finance on food security in the main grain producing areas.

Food security is a vital material foundation for a nation's development and has been a topic of significant concern on the international stage in recent years. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, China is not only a major producer but also a substantial consumer of food. Ensuring food security in China is not only a top priority for its socio-economic development but also a driving force in maintaining the stability of the global food supply chain and reducing the number of hungry people worldwide. However, a lack of comprehensive research into the Chinese food security system remains. This study addresses this gap by constructing a comprehensive evaluation framework encompassing four dimensions: food supply, accessibility, production stability, and sustainability. Utilizing the Moran's Index and generating LISA (Local Indicators of Spatial Association) maps, we analyze the spatial correlations of food security. The Dagum Gini coefficient and kernel density estimation are applied to assess heterogeneity and spatial disparities. Furthermore, this research employs the Exponential Smoothing (ETS) model to forecast food security trends. The findings reveal that the overall composite food security score exhibited fluctuations, initially increasing and reaching its peak of 0.407 in 2003, followed by a subsequent sharp decline after 2019. Spatially, food security exhibits correlations, with the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and Northeast regions consistently showing high-high clustering. In contrast, the Western and Southern regions exhibit low-low clustering at specific periods. The Dagum Gini coefficient indicates that overall food security disparities are relatively small. However, these disparities have gradually expanded in recent years, with inter-group differences becoming predominant after 2005. As indicated by the kernel density estimation, the dynamic distribution of food security initially widens and then narrows, suggesting a shift from dispersed to concentrated data distribution. This phenomenon is accompanied by polarization and convergence trends, particularly evident after 2015. According to the ETS model, the study forecasts a substantial risk of declining food security in China over the next decade, largely influenced by the ongoing pandemic. In conclusion, this research provides a comprehensive assessment of the changing status of food security in China. It offers early warnings through predictive analysis, addressing the existing research gaps in the field of food security.

Understanding trends in food supply and demand are of great importance to the maintenance of China’s food security. We identified natural disasters (floods, drought, hail and frost), resource constraints, input constraints and growth of food demand as sources of risk, which could cause food insecurity. We therefore conducted an integrated three-step risk assessment, based on the Cobb-Douglas production function and scenario analysis method. The results predict that, irrespective of the total food demand and scenario, China could guarantee more than 90 % food self-sufficiency as long as the identified natural disasters occurred at no more than the historical average for the period 1986–2011. However, in a pessimistic scenario, consisting of the simultaneous occurrence of the worst natural disasters over this period, the consequent annual grain shortfall would put most provinces and cities into the medium or high risk range for food security in both 2015 and 2020. In such a scenario, the current grain stock is only sufficient to buffer China’s grain supplies for one year. In most scenarios, 10 of the 13 major grain producing provinces will have the ability to maintain their current food self-sufficiency rates over the next few years, but the food self-sufficiency rates of the more developed provinces and the largest cities will continue to decline, mainly because of the reduction in cultivated land and accelerating urbanization.

In view of food affordability and the threshold for food security, this paper has established an integrated index for assessing the vulnerability of food security in China, which is composed mainly of the balance between food supply and demand, the reserve for food security and the economic capacity for offset food demand. Six types of food security regions are identified based on the data from county-level statistics. At regional scale, China’s food security is not optimistic. Under normal conditions without the emergence of extreme disasters and decline of grain-sown areas, China’s most vulnerable areas (Type VI) account for 30.3% of the total number of counties (cities), which are unable to meet the ends by food productivity or market based measures at subsistence levels. In China, there are only 14.5% of the counties (cities) that could guarantee well-off food security through grain production (Type I) or economic measures to meet the demand by themselves (Type III). According to the different vulnerable levels of food security and its dominant forming factors, vulnerable regions of food security in China could be classified into three categories: (1) Vulnerable regions of food security dominated by natural factors (including Type IV and Type VIa), which account for 39.4% of the total number of counties (cities), mainly located in fragile ecologic zones, i.e., farming-grazing transitional zones in the marginal areas of summer monsoon, the poor hilly areas in southern China and so on; (2) Vulnerable regions of food security dominated by low ratio of grain-sown areas (including Type VIb and Type V), which account for 16.7% of the total number of counties (cities), mostly located in the developed areas in the eastern coast of China; (3) Potential vulnerable regions of food security with underdeveloped local economies (Type II), of which 57% are the main grain-surplus regions in China, mainly located in the areas of plains and basins with favorable climate.

An accurate assessment of food security and its challenges is essential for formulating effective measures and promoting sustainable socioeconomic development. This study develops an evaluation system for China's food security, focusing on four dimensions: food supply, food access, food production stability, and food continuity. The entropy weight extended matter element model is used for quantitative processing, which ensures that the integrity of the information can be guaranteed to a greater extent while reducing the influence of subjective factors, and then, the study evaluates the food security of different functional areas in China, and finally, it diagnoses the main obstacles to food security by using the obstacle degree model. (1) From 2000 to 2020, China's food security level fluctuated, initially declining, and then increasing. The food security level in major production and marketing areas is generally higher, while the primary marketing areas exhibit the lowest security levels. (2) The level of grain yields and the total power of machinery per unit area are the key factors affecting food security; the impact of inputs of agricultural materials (fertilizers and pesticides) on food security has decreased and is constantly stabilizing. In the main marketing area, the per capita food share is significantly lower than in the other functional areas, which has the greatest impact on food security. (3) Analysis of the obstacle factors reveals that the food supply and access security subsystems are crucial for ensuring national, production, and marketing security. From 2000 to 2020, the average obstacle degrees of food supply and food access security at the national level were 46.56% and 21.17%, respectively; for the production and marketing areas, they were 58.47% and 21.45%; and for primary marketing areas, they were 37.69% and 26.59%. In major grain-producing areas, the main obstacles lay within the food supply security and food production stability subsystems, with average obstacle degrees of 53.77% and 15.67%, respectively, from 2000 to 2020. The above results provide a scientific basis for comprehensively improving the level of food security in China, optimizing the structure of food production in each functional area, and formulating regionalized policies for stabilizing and maintaining food production and supply.

The interconnection between urbanization, the environment, and food security necessitates an exploration of their coupling coordination to advance the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals. However, limited research directly addresses the feasibility and strategies required to achieve such coordination. This study investigates the coupling coordination and spatial heterogeneity between urbanization, the environment, and food security in China from 2004 to 2020, employing the coupling coordination degree model, the spatial correlation model, the Dagum Gini coefficient, and the obstacle degree model. The results show that: (1) the level of coordinated development between urbanization, the environment, and food security in China has significantly increased, as evidenced by a remarkable rise in the coupling coordination degree; (2) a robust positive spatial correlation is observed in the coupling coordination degree, with “Low-Low” clusters predominantly concentrated in northwest China and “High-High” clusters primarily located in southeast China; (3) inter-regional differences are identified as the primary cause of this spatial heterogeneity; (4) food security has emerged as the foremost obstacle to coordinated development between urbanization, the environment, and food security in China. Optimizing the rational allocation of natural resources across different sectors, enhancing resource use efficiency, and strengthening environmental pollution control and management have been proven to be crucial measures and key strategies for promoting their coordinated development. This study provides a novel perspective on balancing the intricate relationship between urbanization, environmental protection, and food security, which is conducive to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries.

Climate change characterized by global warming has seriously affected natural systems, the human economy, and agricultural production. China feeds 20% of the world’s population with 9% of the global total arable land. Climate change poses risks and challenges to agricultural production and food security in China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of food products. Agriculture is one of the sectors most vulnerable to climate change. Climate change and extreme weather events affect the quantity and quality of arable land, crop growth, and suitable planting areas, leading to the aggravation of the occurrence of crop diseases and insect pests and reduction in the yield and quality of major grain crops, which ultimately significantly affect the crop production

Reflections on China's food security and land use policy under rapid urbanization

This paper reviews studies concerning food security in China. Before the 1980s, China suffered from chronic food shortages. Since 1980, food supply has gradually improved. Today, food in China is plentiful and varieties are diverse. Reviewing what the literature has to say about what has been most fundamental in affecting China’s level of food security can help channel future food security efforts in the right direction. Existing studies suggest that institutions were chiefly responsible for China’s food shortage or abundance. Reforms to China’s economic institutions since the 1980s were fundamental to improving its food supply. To further improve China’s overall food security, several major challenges – widespread food safety and quality concerns, large and widening income inequalities, and the degrading environment and resources that affect sustainable food production – have to be overcome. All such challenges are also closely linked to the country’s widespread corruption. To curtail the corruption and conquer remaining and emerging food security challenges, more innovative reforms to the country’s institutions would be needed.

Soil salinization substantially hampers the growth and development of wheat, potentially leading to plant death in severe cases, thus reducing grain yield and quality. This phenomenon poses a significant threat to food security in China. We investigated the effects of two exogenous plant growth regulators, sodium salicylate and folcisteine, on the wheat physiology and key characteristics under salt stress using hydroponics method. The results indicated that both regulators effectively mitigated the growth inhibition of wheat under salt stress. We assessed morphological and physiological indexes, including antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase [CAT], peroxidase [POD]) and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in wheat after foliar application of sodium salicylate and folcisteine under salt stress. The findings revealed that sodium salicylate was more effective than folcisteine. However, folcisteine showed superior performance in reducing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content and superoxide anion (O2−) level compared to sodium salicylate. Simultaneously, Concurrent application of both regulators synergistically enhanced their efficacy, yielding the most favorable outcomes. In addition, this study noted that while the initial effects of these regulators were not pronounced, their sustained application significantly improved wheat growth in stressful condition and alleviated the detrimental impacts of salt stress. This approach could effectively guarantee the food security and production in China.

Production scenarios and the effect of soil degradation on long-term food security in China