Sustainable development for agricultural region in China: case studies

Abstract

The principles and concept of sustainable development for agricultural region (SDAR) in China are discussed via the investigation of the development of the Xiao-Qiao-Tou (XQT) village, Zhejiang Province, China and the analysis of the current agricultural problems in China. We argue that the integration of agriculture and rural development and focuses on dealing with the quantity, quality and living levels of farmers are very important for the China’s sustainable development. According to the general principles of SDAR in China and the specific conditions of Tongshan County, Jiangsu Province, China, a prototype OpenEnvi, a spatial decision support system, and a group of models are developed to support decision-makers for SDAR of Tongshan County. Through the computation of decision support models and result analyses, we obtain the major constraint factors to hindering the sustainable development of Tongshan County, the development of population during 1991–2010, the potential grain output, the relationship between population and land, the status and spatial distribution of environmental quality, the comprehensive development status from 1988 to 1993, and the regionalization of the capacity of sustainable development, that are all beneficial to the planning and policy-making for the sustainable development of Tongshan County.