Agricultural Production In China Research Articles

Diversification of Agricultural Production in China:

Diversification of Agricultural Production in China:

Developing Agricultural Products Logistics in China from the Perspective of Green Supply Chain

The circulation channel of agricultural products in China is complicated and unstable. The external negative effects of exhaust emission, noise pollution, waste of resource, traffic congestion, and wastage exist in the process of the agricultural products logistics. The green supply chain of agricultural products is a good solution to the problem. Based on the theory of green supply chain and supply chain of agricultural products, this paper analyzes the content and requirements of green supply chain of agricultural products, and proposes organizational system and the mathematic model of the development of green supply chain of agricultural products. Given the characteristics of China’s traditional agricultural products logistics and the perspective of green supply chain, developing countermeasures of agricultural products logistics in China are provided from the aspects of the benefits allocation principles and the quality safety control system of agricultural products.

Global biofuel production and poverty in China

This study assesses the future impacts of biofuel production from the world’s major biofuel producers (the US, Brazil and the EU) over the next decade on global markets and the resulting spatial implications on income distribution and agricultural production in China. Rising global commodity prices arising from either positive market conditions for biofuels or government mandates on biofuel production levels, are transmitted, albeit imperfectly, into China’s domestic food economy. For those crops that are being used for feedstocks internationally (maize) or are close substitutes for feedstocks (soybeans), production rises sharply. Imports also fall significantly. Such dynamics help China to realize its self-sufficiency goals more fully. Another unintended benefit of the increase in global biofuel use is the impact on Chinese income distribution. China’s farmers—especially the poor—benefit from biofuels.

Rhizocompetence and antagonistic activity towards genetically diverse Ralstonia solanacearum strains – an improved strategy for selecting biocontrol agents

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a serious threat for agricultural production in China. Eight soil bacterial isolates with activity against R. solanacearum TM15 (biovar 3) were tested in this study for their in vitro activity towards ten genetically diverse R. solanacearum isolates from China. The results indicated that each antagonist showed remarkable differences in its ability to in vitro antagonize the ten different R. solanacearum strains. Strain XY21 (based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing affiliated to Serratia) was selected for further studies based on its in vitro antagonistic activity and its excellent rhizocompetence on tomato plants. Under greenhouse conditions XY21 mediated biocontrol of tomato wilt caused by seven different R. solanacearum strains ranged from 19 to 70%. The establishment of XY21 and its effects on the bacterial community in the tomato rhizosphere were monitored by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA gene fragments PCR-amplified from total community DNA. A positive correlation of the in vitro antagonistic activities of XY21 and the actual biocontrol efficacies towards seven genetically different R. solanacearum strains was found and further confirmed by the efficacy of XY21 in controlling bacterial wilt under field conditions.

Using Quantile Regression Approach to Analyze Price Movements of Agricultural Products in China

This paper studies how the price movements of pork, chicken and egg respond to those of related cost factors in short terms in Chinese market. We employ a linear quantile approach not only to explore potential data heteroscedasticity but also to generate confidence bands for the purpose of price stability study. We then evaluate our models by comparing the prediction intervals generated from the quantile regression models with in-sample and out-of-sample forecasts. Using monthly data from January 2000 to October 2010, we observed these findings: (i) the price changes of cost factors asymmetrically and unequally influence those of the livestock across different quantiles; (ii) the performance of our models is robust and consistent for both in-sample and out-of-sample forecasts; (iii) the confidence intervals generated from 0.05th and 0.95th quantile regression models are good methods to forecast livestock price fluctuation.

The effect of long-term fertilization on soil water storage and water deficit in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China

Zou, W., Si, B., Han, X. and Jiang, H. 2012. The effect of long-term fertilization on soil water storage and water deficit in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 439-448. The Black Soil Zone in northeast China is one of the most important areas of agricultural production in China and plays a crucial role in food supply. However, further improvement in crop yield hinges on effective management of soil water. There is a poor understanding of how different fertilization methods affect crop water use efficiency. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of different fertilization methods on soil water storage and deficit in Black soils. A long-term experiment was conducted at the National Field Research Station of Agro-ecosystems, at Hailun County, Heilongjiang province in northeastern China from 1999 to 2008. Three fertilizer treatments including no fertilizer (CK), inorganic fertilizer (NP) and inorganic fertilizer plus organic material (NPM) were tested. The results sh...

The effect of long-term fertilization on soil water storage and water deficit in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China

Zou, W., Si, B., Han, X. and Jiang, H. 2012. The effect of long-term fertilization on soil water storage and water deficit in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 439–448. The Black Soil Zone in northeast China is one of the most important areas of agricultural production in China and plays a crucial role in food supply. However, further improvement in crop yield hinges on effective management of soil water. There is a poor understanding of how different fertilization methods affect crop water use efficiency. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of different fertilization methods on soil water storage and deficit in Black soils. A long-term experiment was conducted at the National Field Research Station of Agro-ecosystems, at Hailun County, Heilongjiang province in northeastern China from 1999 to 2008. Three fertilizer treatments including no fertilizer (CK), inorganic fertilizer (NP) and inorganic fertilizer plus organic material (NPM) were tested. The results showed that soil water storage decreased in the order CK, NP, and NPM during the growing season and the differences in soil water storage in the active root zone (0–70 cm) and below the active root zone (70–130 cm) and soil water deficit were statistically significant among the three treatments. Due to the uneven temporal distribution of rainfall and crop water uptake, soil water content was very dynamic in all three treatments: The low soil water storage and resulting soil water deficit (defined as the monthly difference between potential evapotranspiration and soil available water storage) within the 0- to 70-cm soil profile were found in both June and July. Further, soil receiving NPM was more likely to have a soil water deficit, but less likely to have excessive water. A lower risk of excess water may result in deeper root penetration and increased water use at greater depth, and thus the water deficit under the NPM treatment may not be the limiting factor for crop production. Therefore, NPM seems a viable management practice for improving crop yields in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China, possibly due to higher soil organic carbon and nutrient supply and lower probability of excess water.

China's farmer perception of pesticide residues and the impact factors

PurposePesticide residue is a stubborn problem affecting the quality and safety of agricultural products in China, and has not yet been fundamentally resolved. The purpose of this paper is to study farmers' perception of pesticide residues, as well as the main factors affecting their perception from the viewpoint of farmers. Additionally, this research attempts to explore the basic characteristics of pesticide residues arising in the process of producing agricultural products under the prevailing policy background, so as to provide decision‐making references for the Chinese government to deepen the security management system of agricultural products.Design/methodology/approachThe structural equation model (SEM) is an analytical tool for the observation and treatment of latent variables that are difficult to observe directly, and for the consideration of inevitable errors. This paper investigates the main factors affecting farmers' perception of pesticide residues in the investigated regions based on the SEM and samples of 241 farmers in six counties (cities and regions) of three districts in the Jiangsu Province of China.FindingsAccording to the research, regional difference, farmers' gender, age, years of education, pesticide training and their own demand for safe agricultural products had different influences on their perception of pesticide residues. Additionally, it was difficult to measure the influence of family characteristics on farmers' perception of pesticide residues. Although the present paper only shows a preliminary study, its conclusion provides a reference value for the Chinese government to deepen the reform of the quality and safety regulatory system of agricultural products.Originality/valueThere are many similar studies in overseas countries, but the application of SEM in the study of the main factors affecting farmers' perception of pesticide residues has not been completely reported previously in domestic literatures. The research assumption of this paper has practically verified that corresponding research conclusions of foreign scholars in this field have universality in China.

Reduction of diazinon and dimethoate in apple juice by pulsed electric field treatment

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) are widely used in agricultural production in China, and residues of OPPs in agro-products and foods have become a public health concern. Chronic exposure to OPPs can result in potential immunosuppressive effects, cytotoxicity and mutagenicity. Pulsed electric fields (PEFs) have the potential to be used as an alternative to conventional techniques of food production. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of PEFs on the degradation of diazinon and dimethoate added to apple juice. PEF treatment significantly promoted the degradation of both pesticides (P < 0.05). The extent of degradation was strongly influenced by the electric field strength and treatment time, and maximum degradation of both diazinon (47.6%) and dimethoate (34.7%) was achieved by treatment at 20 kV cm⁻¹ for 260 µs. The degradation behaviour of the pesticides was described by Weibull and Hülsheger models, both of which successfully fitted the degradation of diazinon and dimethoate. In addition, the decline in the toxicity of samples was observed with a photobacterium bioassay. PEF treatment was effective in eliminating residues of diazinon and dimethoate spiked in apple juice and in mitigating sample toxicity.

Fresh Agricultural Products Logistics under “Farmer-Supermarket Direct-Purchase”：Problems and Suggestions Analysis

“Farmer-supermarket direct-purchase” is a new mode of circulation for agricultural products in China. Without a modern logistics system, it cannot be taken into practice effectively. In view of the present situation of fresh agricultural products logistics, some problems exist: lack of effective logistics information platform, poor logistics technology and high logistics cost. Some measures should be taken by the government and supermarkets and farmers’ co-operatives to improve the development of fresh farm product logistics.

Dangerous levels of climate change for agricultural production in China

There are increasing attempts to define the measures of ‘dangerous anthropogenic inference with the climate system’ in context of Article 2 of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, due to its linkage to goals for stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations. The criteria for identifying dangerous anthropogenic interference may be characterized in terms of the consequences of climate change. In this study, we use the water stress index (WSI) and agricultural net primary production (NPP) as indictors to assess where and when there might be dangerous effects arising from the projected climate changes for Chinese agricultural production. The results showed that based on HadCM3-based climate change scenarios, the region between the North China Plain and Northeast China Plain (34.25–47.75°N, 110.25–126.25°E) would be vulnerable to the projected climate change. The analyses on inter-annual variability showed that the agricultural water resources conditions would fluctuate through the period of 2001–2080 in the region under IPCC SRES A2 scenario, with the period of 2021–2040 as critical drought period. Agricultural NPP is projected to have a general increasing trend through the period of 2001–2080; however, it could decrease during the period of 2005–2035 in the region under the IPCC SRES A2 scenario, and during the period of 2025–2035 under IPCC SRES B2 scenario. Generally, while projected climate change could bring some potentially improved conditions for Chinese agriculture, it could also bring some critical adverse changes in water resources, which would affect the overall outcome. At this stage, while we have identified certain risks and established the general shape of the damage curve expressed as a function of global mean temperature increase, more works are needed to identify specific changes which could be dangerous for food security in China. Therefore, there is a need for the development of more integrated assessment models, which include social-economic, agricultural production and food trade modules, to help identify thresholds for impacts in further studies.

Access to groundwater and agricultural production in China

Although the ways in which farmers access irrigation services in areas that rely on groundwater have changed over the past decade, little empirical work has measured the impact of these changes. This is surprising given the potential effects—both positive and negative. In this paper we explore the impacts of the emergence of the markets for irrigation services from groundwater on agricultural production – including crop water use and crop yields – and farmer income in northern China. From a survey of 35 randomly sampled villages and 338 households in two provinces (Hebei and Henan Provinces) in 2001 and 2004, we show that when farmers access water from markets for irrigation services, they significantly reduce water use, compared with farmers who have their own tubewells. However, there is no significant difference between the volume of water used by farmers who access irrigation services provided by the village, and the volume used by farmers who access water from markets for irrigation services. Importantly, although water use decreases, we find little effect on either agricultural productivity (yields) or income.

Spatial structure of agricultural production in China

The spatial structure of county-level agricultural production in China in 1999 is analysed. A convenient simple method that corrects for both spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity in the input–output relationships using spatial lag models and an allowance for the response coefficients to vary across relatively homogeneous regions are described. Empirical results suggest an abundant labour supply and extensive use of agricultural machinery reflected in its declining price. Although mechanization is relatively new, machines have replaced fertilizer in agricultural production in the North, Northeast, Northwest and East regions while irrigation and fertilizer are the significantly important inputs in the Central and Southwest regions.

Analysis of total-factor cultivated land efficiency in China's agriculture

Along with the rapid economic growth, there has been a booming demand for agricultural products in China, but the increased land usage for the manufacturing sector has caused a decrease in the total cultivated land. Through the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach, this study first constructs the index of the total-factor cultivated land efficiency (TFCLE) by taking the ratio of the actual cultivated land input to target the cultivated land input. Next, we examine the determinants of inefficiency on the cultivated land use. Based on a province-level panel data over 1997&amp;ndash;2006, the empirical estimates indicate that the TFCLE is moderate and fluctuates during the sample period, ranging from 0.601 to 0.713, suggesting room for efficiency improvement in Chinese farmland use. The coastal regions are found to experience a significantly higher degree of the TFCLE compared with non-coastal regions. Overall, there is no significant competition effect brought on by the WTO entry on promoting TFCLE, though this effect differs between the coastal and non-coastal regions. The second-stage regression results show that the natural and artificial disasters, flood, drought, and pollution are the the main causes of inefficiency. Innovative activity and the FDI are evidenced to have a significantly positive relation with the TFCLE in Chinese agriculture. We also find the positive TFCLE-enhancing the effects of production diversification and import competition.

Water savings through off‐farm employment?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between off‐farm employment of rural households and water‐saving investments and irrigation water use in rural China.Design/methodology/approachData from a survey held among 317 households in Minle County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, covering the year 2007, are used for a probit analysis explaining investments in land leveling and for an ordinary least squares regression explaining irrigation water use per mu.FindingsOff‐farm employment is not significantly related to investments in land leveling, but is negatively associated with water use per mu. In addition, the paper finds that the share of migrant students in a household is positively related to investments in land leveling. The results indicate the presence of major factor market imperfections in the research area, and confirm that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) approach is more relevant for analyzing off‐farm employment and agricultural production in China than neoclassical economic theory.Originality/valueThe paper expands the NELM approach towards the analysis of water‐saving investments and water use. In addition, it distinguishes migrant students as an important category that should be taken into account in analyzing farm household decisions making.

Inter-regional difference of agricultural productivity in China: Distinction between biochemical and machinery technology

Abstract The major objective of this article is to measure the inter-regional difference in agricultural productivity of China, and then to test empirically whether or not some relevant hypotheses with respect to agricultural technology are valid. The analysis shows that biochemical (BC) technological changes account for a significant part of China's agricultural production growth. This result is consistent with the fact that China's factor endowments are characterized by abundant farm labor relative to scarce arable land. Besides, in accordance with the standard theory of market failure, the benefits accruing to BC technological development are not privately appropriable. Thus, it can be hypothesized that the inter-regional difference in BC technological attainment must be closely associated with public spending in agricultural R&E activities at a local level. The random effects model reveals that the BC technological level is high in provinces where the public sectors are seriously committed to R&E activities. In addition, the analysis lends strong support to the validity of the induced innovation hypothesis with respect to M technological progress.

China’s potential of grain production due to changes in agricultural land utilization in recent years

The changes in utilization of agricultural land have gradually grown into one of the major factors impacting grain output in China. This study explores the various components of agricultural production in China from the land utilization perspective, involving changes in grain production per unit area, multi-cropping index, and adjustment of agricultural structure. Compared with the record values, different research methodologies are used to analyze the po- tential of above three components. The results indicate that grain production potential of 65.68×10 9 kg was unexploited in 2006, in which 45.8×10 9 kg came from the restructuring in agriculture. So we can infer that the reduction of grain production in China could be primarily attributed to agricultural restructuring in recent years. So the productive poten- tial can be fully restored by increasing agricultural investment, or recovering agricultural structure in favorable condi- tions. So we can say that China's current condition of food security is good.

Regime Changes of Memory: Creating the Official History of the Ukrainian and Chinese Famines under State Socialism and after the Cold War

The year 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of the Great Leap Forward, which led to the greatest famine in world history. According to Western and Chinese scholars, 15-43 million peasants starved to death between 1959 and 1961. (1) It would be surprising if this anniversary received much attention in Chinese society or in the Western world. By comparison, the Ukrainian famine caused 3-3.5 million deaths by starvation in 1933, (2) based on conservative estimates, or up to 10 million deaths according to Ukrainian official sources. (3) Yet the Ukrainian famine has become an international topic since the mid-1980s as well as part of the new national identity of independent Ukraine. In the official narrative of Ukraine, the famine (Holodomor) is seen as genocide or even a holocaust against the Ukrainian people, committed by the Russian government under the leadership of Stalin. Even though the communist movement promised to abolish hunger, famines have occurred in many socialist states, including the Soviet Union in 1919-21, Ukraine in 1932-33 and 1946-47, China in 1959-61, Cambodia in 1979, and North Korea in the 1990s. The central cause of the famines remains controversial. Scholars disagree about the relative importance of factors such as radical government policies, unrealistic plan targets, high grain-procurement rates, bad weather, or the interaction between the state and the peasants. (4) Furthermore, there is no consensus on whether the socialist governments were able to organize effective famine relief to stop the suffering at the time. There is no doubt that the Chinese and Soviet governments exported grain to foreign countries and rejected international aid while millions of peasants starved. (5) The establishment of new collectives (the kolkhoz and the people's commune) resulted in chaos and a rapid decline of agricultural production in China and the Soviet Union. In China, the policy that ended the famine, which included the legalization of private plots and rural markets and the lowering of grain quotas and exports, was introduced in 1961 but came too late. Alongside these commonalities between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (PRC), it is significant that the Chinese famine was a result of the Great Leap Forward, which had placed the direct transition to communism on the agenda, whereas in the Soviet Union, Stalin had proclaimed only a new stage in the socialist revolution. In 1958, the Chinese Communists started a radical social revolution in Chinese villages with the establishment of public mess halls. With the militarization of the rural workforce in 1958 and the newly founded public mess halls, the Chinese state took over management of the food supply and left the peasants without their own supply base. Some scholars consider the establishment of the public mess halls the most important reason for the famine. (6) In 1984, Thomas Bernstein attempted to compare the Soviet and the Chinese famines. He argued that the Soviet famine should be understood as punishment for the peasants in a context of conflicts between them and the Communist Party. By contrast, bureaucratic mismanagement based on false reports caused the famine in China. (7) Bernstein believed that the Chinese Communists held no bias against the peasants owing to their experience of a rurally based revolution. Based on recent research, it should be emphasized that the Chinese government had known that peasants were starving since early 1959. In his latest research, Bernstein shows that when famine really broke out in 1959, Mao Zedong could not believe that it was a nationwide disaster as opposed to merely a breakdown at the local level. (8) This article compares the memories of the Ukrainian and Chinese famines. Since the author is a Sinologist, the article uses English and German sources to discuss the Ukrainian case. The analysis of the Chinese famine is based on field studies and oral-history interviews that the author conducted in China. …

The analysis of intra-industry trade on agricultural products of China

By using HS classification, the author has divided total agricultural products into 24 categories. The paper calculated the G-L intra-industry trade index, Brulhart marginal intra-industry trade index, and Thom & McDowell marginal industry trade index for each type of agricultural products during the period from 1996 to 2005 in China. The conclusion shows the overall level of agricultural intra-industry trade is relatively low, and Brulhart index indicates China’s agricultural products decades of improvement mainly from inter-industry trade, at the same time Thom & McDowell index shows that China’s agricultural intra-industry trade growth is mainly from the growth of vertical intra-industry trade.

Assessing the consequence of land use change on agricultural productivity in China

China's cultivated land has been undergoing dramatic changes along with its rapidly growing economy and population. The impacts of land use transformation on food production at the national scale, however, have been poorly understood due to the lack of detailed spatially explicit agricultural productivity information on cropland change and crop productivity. This study evaluates the effect of the cropland transformation on agricultural productivity by combining the land use data of China for the period of 1990–2000 from TM images and a satellite-based NPP (net primary production) model driven with NOAA/AVHRR data. The cropland area of China has a net increase of 2.79 Mha in the study period, which causes a slightly increased agricultural productivity (6.96 Mt C) at the national level. Although the newly cultivated lands compensated for the loss from urban expansion, but the contribution to production is insignificant because of the low productivity. The decrease in crop production resulting from urban expansion is about twice of that from abandonment of arable lands to forests and grasslands. The productivity of arable lands occupied by urban expansion was 80% higher than that of the newly cultivated lands in the regions with unfavorable natural conditions. Significance of cropland transformation impacts is spatially diverse with the differences in land use change intensity and land productivity across China. The increase in arable land area and yet decline in land quality may reduce the production potential and sustainability of China's agro-ecosystems.