Unless China solves the agricultural productivity soon, it will become a global rather than a Chinese problem.
Reuters: “China needs to replace millions of workers who have quit farms for cities, but even its vast state power might not be able to transform the countryside into a network of big industrial farms capable of feeding its growing economy.
Pulling together small plots of land to make larger operations and introducing modern mechanical techniques would help boost productivity, vital if China’s agricultural sector is to meet soaring domestic food demand.
But efforts to modernize the sector are struggling to gain traction because many farmers are suspicious about giving up their land, and even for some mechanized farms, there are too few workers.
Guaranteeing food security is a major tenet of the ruling Communist Party. The country is self-sufficient in rice and wheat, but is struggling to meet corn demand and has long given up trying to satisfy soy demand. It is the world’s biggest importer of soybeans, and a major buyer of corn.
It has increased grains output for nine straight years and aims to add 50 million tonnes per year by 2020 to the record 571.21 million tonnes of grain harvested in 2011.
“It now needs the government to come out and manage the land of those who give consent, and improve economies of scale,” said Fu Xuejun, a manager at the Baoquanling farm, owned by the Beidahuang Group, a huge state-owned farming conglomerate in Heilongjiang in northeast China.
Some say China should give up its fixation with self-sufficiency and take advantage of growing grains trade internationally.
“China used to emphasize self-sufficiency because the international environment was not favorable,” said Li Guoxiang, researcher with the Rural Development Institute of the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). “Food security should have two aims – one is domestic production and the other is the ability to buy overseas.”
via Analysis: China turns to machines as farmers seek fresh fields | Reuters.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 
Leave a comment