China, a big agricultural country endowed with rich agricultural resources, has a long history of farming and the tradition of intensive cultivation as well as a huge rural population.
The Chinese government has always placed high priority on the development of agriculture. Since 1978, China has carried out step by step the policy of reform and opening up, bringing along a quickened pace in agricultural reform and development. Particularly, in recent years the government has abided by giving first priority to the work on agriculture, rural areas and farmers.
China has succeeded in producing one fourth of world’s grain and feeding one fifth of world’s population with less than 10 percent of world arable land, which is great achievement in pursuit of food and nutrition security not only in China but also in the world. Currently, China ranks first in the world in terms of the production of cereals, cotton, fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs and fishery products. (Source: FAO)
China is called one of the four oldest civilized countries in the world. Carbonized grain and paddy unearthed in Banpo village, Xi’an and Hemodu, Zhejiang have 14C dates of 5600–6080 and 6890–7040 years BP, respectively. Farmers in the Yellow River area began to plant millet, while the people along the Yangtze River started to grow rice about 6000–7000 years ago. Rice grain unearthed at Pengtoushan, Fengxian county, Hunan Province in 1988 has dates of 9100±120 and 8200±120 years, which is new evidence of rice planting about 2000 years earlier than previously known. According to 14C dating in the Taihu Lake region, Jiangsu province, rice and wheat pollen spores were buried in a soil horizon about 5000–6000 years ago, clearly indicating the long history of agriculture in China. Thus, people started to plant crops as early as in the Stone Age, which was followed by expansion of culture and agricultural activities nationwide. (Source: Origin and development of soil science in ancient China)
China’s agriculture has experienced rapid structural transformation during the past 40 years. Grain production dominated farm output in 1978, and in the late 1970s nearly the entire rural economy was engaged in on-farm employment. Agriculture has since diversified dramatically. The farm economy is now highly commercialised and tens of millions of farms produce high-value commodities. Where off-farm employment was once rare, today, a majority of rural household income is earned off-farm. Growth in agriculture and rising off-farm employment have dramatically reduced rural poverty.
The rural poverty rate fell from 32 per cent to less than 3 per cent. Even with a higher poverty threshold—RMB2,300 a day in 2010 prices, or slightly more than $2 a day in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms—rural poverty levels decreased from 166 million people (17.2 per cent) in 2010 to 30 million (3.1 per cent) in 2017 (NBS various years). China was the first developing country to meet the Millennium Development Goals target of reducing its population living in poverty by more than half, and accomplished this far ahead of the 2015 deadline. In 2020, the Chinese government announced that - based on the current definition of poverty - all residents in China have been relieved from extreme poverty.
(Source: China’s 40 years of agricultural development and reform)
Fig. Agricultural output, inputs, and total factor productivity, 1661–2019 (1661=100).
(Source: Chinese agricultural output and TFP: 1661–2019)
China’s first rural reform, the household responsibility system (HRS), was implemented during the period 1978–84. This dismantled the people’s communes and contracted cultivated land to individual households, mostly on the basis of the number of people and/or labourers in the household. Although the ownership of land remained collective, control and income rights belonged to individuals under the HRS.
Another innovation in land institutions is San-quan-fen-zhi, which separates three rights: village collective landowner rights, individual household land contract rights and land operation rights. By separating a farmer’s land operation rights from contract rights, the former can be transferred through the rental market while the original contracted farmers continue to hold the contract rights.
Over the past 40 years, China’s agricultural research and development (R&D) and extension system has been reformed, contributing significantly to agricultural productivity growth.
There have been four stages of development and reform:
1. From 1979 to 1985, the number of agricultural research institutes increased from 597 to 1,428 and the total agricultural research staff grew from 22,000 to 102,000.
2. from 1986 to 1998, the government changed its system of budget allocation from a planned system to one based on competitive funding initiatives. However, under the pressure of competition (and with commercialisation), the number of researchers decreased, from 102,000 in 1985 to 65,000 in 1996.
3. from 1999 to 2006, public research institutes were grouped into three functional types, each of which was provided with different levels of government funding. Public R&D institutes were fully funded by the government. The science and technology (S&T) service institutes were partially government funded. The technology development institutes were incorporated into the commercialisation efforts.
4. from 2007, China has seen funding for agricultural research increase significantly and public research institutes expand. The Technology Innovation System, with 50 subsystems for agricultural commodities, has been established, and the National Transgenic Modified Variety Development Special Program was initiated in 2008.
Reform of the agricultural extension system has also evolved over time, moving through five stages:
1. The rapid development of extension institutions from 1978 to 1988. By the end of the 1980s, all townships had established agricultural technical extension stations, and the number of personnel reached 450,000.
2. The commercialisation and reallocation of the ‘three management rights’ (for personnel, finance and assets) of township extension stations from 1989 to 1993. Due to local fiscal shortages, the government allowed extension stations to conduct commercial activities to generate additional income. County governments shifted responsibility for extension stations to township-level governments. During this time, the number of extension personnel fell to 300,000.
3. From 1993 to 2000, county governments took back responsibility and invested heavily in the system. The number of personnel increased to more than 1 million by 2000.
4. There was yet another policy reversal in 2001–03. Responsibility was again shifted down to the township level. Because of fiscal constraints at this level, the number of extension agents fell to 849,000.
5. The final phase began in 2003, with county governments responsible for the extension system since that time, and more than 700,000 personnel employed. Funding comes from county governments with additional support from upperlevel governments.
China’s institutional reforms began in rural areas, while market reforms were also launched in the farming sector, moving from rural to urban areas and from agriculture to industry and services. China did not abolish the planned economic system outright, but instead regarded the market as a supplement to the planned economy. Over the reform period, however, it gradually moved from the system of state purchases and sales to rely mostly on private markets.
In the area of international trade, agricultural liberalisation was similarly slow to start, but proceeded steadily. The liberalisation of international trade started in the early 1990s with relaxation of trade restrictions and allowing nonstate actors access to agricultural commodity markets.
China is one of a few large countries to see substantial increases in agricultural investment in recent decades—the largest of which have been in water (irrigation and flood) control and land improvement. The area of irrigated agricultural land increased from 45 million hectares in 1978 to 67 million hectares in 2016 (NBS various years). Today, more than half of China’s cultivated land is irrigated—a very high ratio by international standards.
Massive investment in rural roads and wholesale markets fostered market integration and linked hundreds of million of small farms with retailers and consumers. China has invested substantially in road infrastructure during the reform era. Highway mileage increased from 890,000 km in 1978 to 4.4 million km in 2013 (NBS various years). Today, nearly every village has access to a public paved road.
The major challenges associated with land use in China include:
Fast-growing demand for food, fiber, wood and etc.
Unfavorable natural conditions, e.g. unbalanced precipitation, mountainous and hilly landforms, highly intensive land use
Decrease in farmland due to the rapid expansion of industrial land and urbanization
Soil contamination and non-point source pollution
Mitigation of and adaptation to climate change