The Challenges and Strategies of Food Security under Rapid Urbanization in China

Abstract

Food security has received wide attention in China for a long time due to the challenges of a huge population and limited farmland area. Under conditions of rapid urbanization, the food scenario has changed, creating major challenges for massive populations in China. This paper intends to reveal the impact of urbanization on food security and to propose strategies for mitigating the threats to it. Total grain production has continuously increased, but most of the grain production has been distributed in the northern region since 2006. Although the per capita rural income has increased significantly since 1980, the agricultural income ratio has consistently declined from 56.13% in 1983 to 26.61% in 2012. A dramatic shift in food consumption away from grain towards meat, poultry, eggs, milk and liquor has been found in both rural and urban areas. The faster agricultural water consumption growth in northern China over southern China helped close the gap. There has been net increase of cultivated land in northern China, whereas southern China has seen a net decrease. The medium- and low-level cultivation ratios of land were 52.84% and 17.69%, respectively, in 2015. This paper concluded that food security in China could be ensured by increasing production and optimizing consumption. It suggested that enhanced grain production capacity, strict water management, and land consolidation engineering as well as agricultural industrialization could be used for maintaining grain production. Food consumption itself can be managed by optimizing resident dietary pattern, reducing food waste, adjusting grain consumption structure and moderating food imports policy.

A Study on the Arable Land Demand for Food Security in China

“…A moderate increase in the imports of grain for feed and industry should be allowed. This is also recognized by many scholars that China should adjust the food security strategy in the current situation [36][37][38].…”

A New Trend in the Space–Time Distribution of Cultivated Land Occupation for Construction in China and the Impact of Population Urbanization

“…In comparing various land incomes, the fact remains that local governments in China often choose the revenue from land sales rather than returns from farming, thus promoting the CLOC rate to a large extent [32]. Second, the industrial structure affects the conversion of cultivated land by changing land-use efficiency [33]. Compared with industrial enterprises, which belong to China's secondary industry, enterprises from tertiary industries, such as educational and cultural enterprises, are mainly located in the central area of a city with a higher plot ratio, so they use relatively less construction land [34].…”

A Hesitant Probabilistic Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Group Decision-Making Framework for Urban Land Consolidation in China

“…In the 1990s, the separation of land ownership and use right was adopted. However, the blind expansion of urbanization led to a significant decrease in the area of arable land [5] and food security problems [6].…”