An analysis of China's grain production: looking back and looking forward

Abstract

Ensuring food security is the foundation of economic development and social stability. China is historically a country that is dominated by agriculture. In the past 60 years, China's total grain output increased by fivefold, from 113 million tons (MT) in 1949 to 571 MT in 2011, a statistic which provides inspiration to producers in other parts of the world. Grain production per capita doubled, from 209 to 425 kg during the same time period. At the national scale, China has succeeded in maintaining a basic self‐sufficiency for grain for the past three decades. However, with the increasing population pressure and a growing appetite for animal products, China will need 776 MT grain by 2030 to feed its own people, a net increase of 35.9% from its best year on record. China's drive for future food security is challenged by problems such as low efficiency of resource use and resource limitation, diminishing return in yield response, competition for nonagricultural land uses, and environmental degradation. In this article, we analyze historical, temporal, and spatial variation in total grain production as well as the overall developing trends of current and future grain production, and discussed relevant options to overcome production constraints and further promote agricultural production.

Moldboard Plowing with Direct Seeding Improves Soil Properties and Sustainable Productivity in Ratoon Rice Farmland in Southern China

“…Nevertheless, RR area rapidly decreased afterwards, with a remaining 7000 ha of RR in 2010 in the Hubei Province. Explanatory factors for the decrease in RR area include: (a) Dearth of appropriate rice breeds for RR practices, (b) reduced and/or less reliable yields compared to other rice practices, and (c) increased work force necessity in RR compared to middle-season rice [9][10][11]. New rice breeds with improved ratooning aptitude, combined with improved crop and water practices that permit mechanized harvesting of the main crop [9,11,12], have caused growers to readopt RR, resulting in an RR area of 153,000 ha in the Hubei Province in 2017.…”

Energy-Saving Potential of Applying Prefabricated Straw Bale Construction (PSBC) in Domestic Buildings in Northern China

“…The rice production contributes more than 15% of total domestic rice production in the three provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning) of northeast China [67], and the wheat production is more than 50% in the three provinces (Hebei, Shandong, and Henan) in the cold regions [68]. Both the rice production and the wheat production will keep growing in the future [69] and guarantee the availability of the raw materials of the PSBC walling construction. However, as there are no applications of straw bale walls in existing building projects, the issues relating to logistics, quality control, and prices remain uncertain.…”

Ecological Footprint Analysis Based on Changing Food Consumption in a Poorly Developed Area of China

“…People also became aware of the need to reduce their intake of starch-rich food and replace it with more diversified items. In contrast, the EF decrease for vegetables and melons resulted from increases in their yield and their total production due to increased inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation, and labor [70,71]. The increase in beans resulted from increasing recognition of the high nutritional value of this food group, whereas the increase for meat resulted from increasing incomes, which allowed residents to afford more meat in their diet [5,72].…”