Page 154 - 2019 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
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9 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
farm was 0.6 hectares, among the lowest in the world. run-off from the land) to particle pollution in the air and
Companies farming such scattered plots would be global warming. China is the world’s largest consumer
virtually impossible. In many western and southern areas of agricultural chemicals, using more than 30 percent of
of China, family farms may remain the best option. The global fertilizers and pesticides on only 9 of the world’s
latest reforms will accelerate land consolidation, but cropland (University of Melbourne).
larger family farms and rural co-operatives, rather than
companies, will most likely lead the process (Wang). Chinese people are much more aware of food-safety
problems today than a decade ago and pay much more
Food Security attention to where their food is coming from. Social
media has highlighted a sickening array of scandals
China’s food and agricultural system is continuing from soy sauce produced with human hair to tofu
to undergo a historic transformation. In recent years, made with sewage, and cat and rat meat passed off as
there has been no space available in some state-owned rabbit and lamb. Such issues exacerbate the Chinese
grain reserves and some difficulty in selling grains. The public’s suspicion towards the government’s agricultural
price of corn in 2017 fell to about 35 percent of its price regulation. The Global Food Security Index ranked China
in 2015. China plans to reduce 3.3 million hectares of as 40th out of 113 countries in terms of food quality and
farmland for planting maize from 2016 to 2020, reducing safety in 2017 (China Power Team).
environmental pollution. This action also reflects China’s
government new confidence in its national food security. China’s food security is, of course, no longer simply
Newly accepted imports, such as rice from USA, will based on what it can raise at home. China’s soring
relieve some pressure for domestic production. China middleclass is building up an appetite that is changing
has successfully defended and overcome the shocks of the way the world grows and sells food. The Chinese diet is
floods with “grain” being its “levee system” and, although becoming more like that of the average American, forcing
the water level is expected to remain high over the food companies to search the planet for everything from
next decade, it is expected to decline thereafter. Thus, soybeans to tenderloins and avocados. China’s efforts to
we are cautiously optimistic about the future of China’s buy or lease agricultural land in developing nations show
food security, but China must place close attention to that building farms and ranches abroad won’t be enough.
the coordinated sustainable development of its people, China’s unique enigma is that if it wants food security for
resources and environment (Cui and Shoemaker). China its population in the second half of this century, it will need
is shifting from building grain stockpiles to focusing on to make sure the world grows food for 9 billion people.
quality, efficiency and sustainable development. To do The only way to do it is through technology. China’s
this, China has changed its focus to reforming agriculture, agriculture industry, from the tiny rice plots tended by
and its approach divides into four parts: market controls; 70-year-old grandfathers to the giant companies that are
improving farm efficiency; curbing land loss; and imports. beginning to challenge global players like Nestle SA and
Danone SA, is undergoing a revolution that may be every
For decades China’s water and farmland has been bit as influential as the industrial transformation that
devastated by misuse. Authorities have strengthened rewrote global trade (Bloomberg, Farming the World).
control over pollution from livestock and chicken
breeding after the country’s first environmental Chinese-owned businesses are taking notice, seeking
protection tax law came into effect in early 2018. The law out overseas investments that they can turn into premium
is expected to increase costs and may affect half of China’s brands on supermarket shelves at home. The basic fact is
pork production, 70 percent of chicken output, and 58 that China needs to import because it is unable to produce
percent of its dairy cows. The size of Chinese farms is a everything from its limited farmland. But China will face
key contributor to the overuse of agricultural chemicals. increasing competition from a population explosion
They may be too small to be environmentally sustainable. across dozens of countries in the Southern Hemisphere.
Research conducted by the Universities of Melbourne, According to a United Nations (UN) report, the planet
Zhejiang, Fudan, Wuhan and Stanford found agricultural could have as many as 9.7 billion people by 2050. Factor
chemicals are often used inefficiently on small farms, in changing diets and we will need to raise global food
leading to financial losses and serious local, regional output by 70 percent from 2009 levels, according to the
and global pollution ranging from eutrophication (an UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Thus, China
excess of nutrients in bodies of water, often caused by bought or leased land in countries like Mozambique to
154
farm was 0.6 hectares, among the lowest in the world. run-off from the land) to particle pollution in the air and
Companies farming such scattered plots would be global warming. China is the world’s largest consumer
virtually impossible. In many western and southern areas of agricultural chemicals, using more than 30 percent of
of China, family farms may remain the best option. The global fertilizers and pesticides on only 9 of the world’s
latest reforms will accelerate land consolidation, but cropland (University of Melbourne).
larger family farms and rural co-operatives, rather than
companies, will most likely lead the process (Wang). Chinese people are much more aware of food-safety
problems today than a decade ago and pay much more
Food Security attention to where their food is coming from. Social
media has highlighted a sickening array of scandals
China’s food and agricultural system is continuing from soy sauce produced with human hair to tofu
to undergo a historic transformation. In recent years, made with sewage, and cat and rat meat passed off as
there has been no space available in some state-owned rabbit and lamb. Such issues exacerbate the Chinese
grain reserves and some difficulty in selling grains. The public’s suspicion towards the government’s agricultural
price of corn in 2017 fell to about 35 percent of its price regulation. The Global Food Security Index ranked China
in 2015. China plans to reduce 3.3 million hectares of as 40th out of 113 countries in terms of food quality and
farmland for planting maize from 2016 to 2020, reducing safety in 2017 (China Power Team).
environmental pollution. This action also reflects China’s
government new confidence in its national food security. China’s food security is, of course, no longer simply
Newly accepted imports, such as rice from USA, will based on what it can raise at home. China’s soring
relieve some pressure for domestic production. China middleclass is building up an appetite that is changing
has successfully defended and overcome the shocks of the way the world grows and sells food. The Chinese diet is
floods with “grain” being its “levee system” and, although becoming more like that of the average American, forcing
the water level is expected to remain high over the food companies to search the planet for everything from
next decade, it is expected to decline thereafter. Thus, soybeans to tenderloins and avocados. China’s efforts to
we are cautiously optimistic about the future of China’s buy or lease agricultural land in developing nations show
food security, but China must place close attention to that building farms and ranches abroad won’t be enough.
the coordinated sustainable development of its people, China’s unique enigma is that if it wants food security for
resources and environment (Cui and Shoemaker). China its population in the second half of this century, it will need
is shifting from building grain stockpiles to focusing on to make sure the world grows food for 9 billion people.
quality, efficiency and sustainable development. To do The only way to do it is through technology. China’s
this, China has changed its focus to reforming agriculture, agriculture industry, from the tiny rice plots tended by
and its approach divides into four parts: market controls; 70-year-old grandfathers to the giant companies that are
improving farm efficiency; curbing land loss; and imports. beginning to challenge global players like Nestle SA and
Danone SA, is undergoing a revolution that may be every
For decades China’s water and farmland has been bit as influential as the industrial transformation that
devastated by misuse. Authorities have strengthened rewrote global trade (Bloomberg, Farming the World).
control over pollution from livestock and chicken
breeding after the country’s first environmental Chinese-owned businesses are taking notice, seeking
protection tax law came into effect in early 2018. The law out overseas investments that they can turn into premium
is expected to increase costs and may affect half of China’s brands on supermarket shelves at home. The basic fact is
pork production, 70 percent of chicken output, and 58 that China needs to import because it is unable to produce
percent of its dairy cows. The size of Chinese farms is a everything from its limited farmland. But China will face
key contributor to the overuse of agricultural chemicals. increasing competition from a population explosion
They may be too small to be environmentally sustainable. across dozens of countries in the Southern Hemisphere.
Research conducted by the Universities of Melbourne, According to a United Nations (UN) report, the planet
Zhejiang, Fudan, Wuhan and Stanford found agricultural could have as many as 9.7 billion people by 2050. Factor
chemicals are often used inefficiently on small farms, in changing diets and we will need to raise global food
leading to financial losses and serious local, regional output by 70 percent from 2009 levels, according to the
and global pollution ranging from eutrophication (an UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Thus, China
excess of nutrients in bodies of water, often caused by bought or leased land in countries like Mozambique to
154
