Towards sustainable agriculture? Local level reliance on economic networks and the consequences for China’s agricultural modernisation pathway

Abstract

In recent years, the Chinese central government has demonstrated a strong willingness to implement solutions to alleviate environmental issues caused by unsustainable agricultural practices. However, in spite of a wish to better balance the three goals of agriculture – food security, stability and sustainability – changing farming practices at the local level has proven to be a particularly hard task. This article, which draws on interviews conducted in Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangxi, shows that patterns of relationships established in rural areas are key elements for the successful implementation of agricultural change. The underlying argument is that local patterns of power have led to an over-reliance of local governments on food processing and retail enterprises. This over-reliance, which has turned into a real modus operandi of local governments to reinvestigate agricultural production activities in rural areas, is partially responsible for China’s difficulties in creating sustainable pathways for agricultural modernisation.

Keywords:

• agricultural modernisation
• sustainability
• local governance
• local enterprises
• economic networks
• social actors

Acknowledgement

The research for this article was supported by a grant from Region Ile-de-France.

Notes

1. 87 interviews were conducted: with 19 researchers and 13 officials in Beijing, 25 entrepreneurs and managers and 11 workers and farmers (they were sometimes worker and farmer at the same time) in Jiangxi, and 19 entrepreneurs, managers and workers/farmers in Shanghai. At the local level, interviews were conducted with stakeholders linked to agricultural production in the fruit and vegetables sectors.

2. In Jiangxi, the government recently decided to put effort into the development of the “cradle of the Communist Party”; Beijing, on its side, benefits from a geographical proximity of wealthy consumers increasingly caring about their health.

3. Jiangxi’s agriculture is important for the local economy but suffers from its location in hilly remote areas. Beijing is an urbanised area where agriculture plays a negligible part in the economy.

4. Either by local government, by clients or by suppliers themselves.

5. As stated by Handlin-Smith (1998, p. 143): “The do-gooders (in particular, for famine relief) . . . perceived that an image of kindness would enhance their reputation and stature, and hence their authority in the community.”

6. Estimates vary from 20 million deaths (Aird, 1982, pp. 85–97) to 45 million deaths (Dikotter, 2010).

7. Although there are still 160 million undernourished people in China, the country is presented as a model for hunger and malnutrition reduction by international organisations: see FAO (2012, 2013).

8. Chinese farmers, on average, were using 548 kg of fertilisers per hectare in 2011. By comparison, French farmers were using 150 kg per hectare and Americans 120 kg per hectare (World Bank database).

9. A survey conducted in 2005 showed that most of the urban lakes were facing serious eutrophication (Jin, Xu, & Huang, 2005, pp. 948–954). Another survey, conducted in 1996, showed that the concentration of nitrate found in ground resources used for drinking water greatly exceeds the authorised limit (Zhang, Tian, Zhang, & Li, 1996, pp. 223–231).

10. National grain self-sufficiency targets, as well as food self-sufficiency targets assigned to local government officials.

11. Comprising 7% of world arable land and 1/3 of the world average water availability per capita.

12. Requisition of arable land is theoretically limited by the 120 million hectares “red line”, instituted in 2008 in order to prevent a further decrease in the total surface of land, which started threatening food security. However, financial profits generated by land sales, economic development which results from the selling of land to entrepreneurs or real estate developers, and new income sources generated by taxes imposed on non-agricultural activities (agricultural taxes were abolished in the 2000s) make local governments reluctant to give up on land sales.

13. Interview conducted in Beijing in November 2013.

14. Interviews conducted in Beijing in April 2013.

15. “Green” and organic food is considered a luxury good, and its price goes from 3 to 15 times the price of conventional products for vegetables (USDA, 2010). Chinese households are spending more than a third of their expenditure on food, which considerably decreases their ability to spend more on food.

16. In the countryside, for example, many peasants met grew their own “organic” food, and were deeply aware of their safety compared to products they could find in markets.

17. Agricultural production is considered here to be a concrete system of action.

18. Scientific people are usually quite disconnected from farmers. Exchanges do exist between researchers and farmers, as a wide network of extension services has been established throughout the country. However, people interviewed in rural areas expressed vehement criticisms of the system. Interviewees denounced a lack of knowledge of employees in extension service centres, a lack of interest in agricultural development, and even a lack of direct contact with farmers.

19. Communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC. http://www.china.org.cn/chinese/2014-01/16/content_31213800_3.htm Accessed on 10 March 2014.

20. In many areas, peasants still do not possess official documents for their land, thus making the implementation of the reform impossible in relation to them.

21. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the average size of Chinese farms is less than one hectare. In 2012, the average size of land owned by rural households engaged in agriculture was 2.34 mu (being 0.15 ha). Other data estimate that the average farm size is closer to 0.5 ha (French Embassy sources). Even if this figure hides considerable variations between farms, the size of the vast majority of Chinese farms is still extremely small.

22. From 2007 to 2013, more than 50 training sessions were conducted by supermarkets (FAO, 2013). Data collected during fieldwork showed that a retailer based in Shanghai conducted 12 training sessions in 2011 and 14 in 2012, and that another supermarket was conducting a similar number of sessions.

23. China is poor in land resources, as less than 15% of the country comprises arable land. Much of the country in the West consists of mountains, high plateaus or arid areas.

24. In 1950, the government established a household registration system (户口hukou), which separated the population into two categories: agricultural population and non-agricultural population. The non-agricultural population enjoyed food rations, with agricultural products being plucked out of the countryside in order to meet targets established sometimes on inflated yield figures. The place of residence was also recorded in order to control internal migration.

25. From 7.6% of GDP in 1978, public investment in the agricultural sector dropped to 3.6% of the GDP in 1995 (Huang & Rozelle, 2009, p. 19).