Agricultural Sustainability in the Food Bowl of the North China Plain

Abstract

The North China Plain (NCP) is the food bowl of the country. To feed the growing population, farmers in the area have been using the land very intensively with high inputs to increase food production. The sustainability of such farming practices has attracted the attention of scholars, planners and decision makers. This study analyses the economic and environmental sustainability of the major cropping systems in the NCP, based on selected site-specific indicators. The information necessary for this study was obtained in 2001 through a survey of 270 farm households from four villages in Ningjin county, soil sample analysis, chemical tests for nitrate concentration in groundwater and crop plants, field observations and discussions with key informants, as well as official reports and publications. The findings of the analysis revealed that all cropping systems in the study area were economically sustainable. However, such achievements have been made at a cost to the environment, degradation of natural resources and risk to human health. If these costs are taken into consideration, all cropping systems in the study area cannot be considered sustainable. The study stresses that farming practices that are economically sustainable should not be promoted at the cost of degrading production resources. There is a need for a policy shift from the promotion of agricultural production to sustainable agricultural production. Several policy measures have been outlined for the promotion of sustainable cropping systems in the NCP.

Keywords

cropping systems environmental sustainability economic sustainability sustainable agricultural policies China

References

Altieri

(1995), Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Beets

W. C.

(1990), Raising and Sustaining Productivity of Smallholder Farming Systems in the Tropics, A Handbook of Sustainable Agricultural Development, AgBe Publishing, Holland.

Beus

C. E.

, and Dunlop

R. E.

(1994), ‘Agricultural paradigms and the practice of agriculture’, Rural Sociology, Vol 59, No 4, pp 620–635.

Brklacich

Bryany

C. R.

, and Smith

(1991), ‘Review and appraisal of concept of sustainable food production systems’, Environmental Management, Vol 15, No 1, pp 1–14.

CAS – Chinese Academy of Sciences (2000), Summary Report of Efficient Utilization and Management of Agricultural Resources: A Case in Ningjin County, Shangdong Province, P.R. China (in Chinese), CAS, Beijing.

Cai

Y. L.

, and Smith

(1994), ‘Sustainability in Chinese agriculture: Challenge and hope’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 49, pp 279–288.

Chen

B. M.

(1992), Chinese Land, Grain Production and Population, Press of People's University of China, Beijing.

Chen

Sh. K.

(2000), ‘The establishment of evaluation and indices system for Chinese sustainable development’ (in Chinese), World Environment, Vol 1, pp 1–9.

Cheng

, and Han

Ch.

(1992), ‘Sustainable agricultural development in China’, World Development, Vol 20, No 8, pp 1127–1144.

10.

Clemetsen

, and van Larr

(2000), ‘The contribution of organic agriculture to landscape quality in the Sogn og Fjordance region of Western Norway’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 77, pp 125–141.

11.

Conway

G. R.

, and Edward

B. B.

(1990), After the Green Revolution: Sustainable Agriculture for Development, Earthscan Publications, London.

12.

Edwards

C. A.

, and Grove

(1991), ‘Integrated nutrient management for crop production’, in Toward Sustainability, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, pp 105–108.

13.

Edwards

C. A.

Grove

T. L.

Harwood

R. R.

, and Perace

C. J.

(1993), ‘The role of agroecology and integrated farming systems in agricultural sustainability’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 46, pp 99–121.

14.

Edwards

J. G.

, and Howells

(2001), ‘The origin and hazard of inputs to crop protection in organic farming systems: Are they sustainable?’ Agricultural Systems, Vol 67, pp 31–47.

15.

EPSDD – Epidemic Prevention Station of Dezhou District (2000), Report of Crop Test, Dezhou, EPSDD, Dezhou, Shandong.

16.

Franzel

Coe

Cooper

Place

, and Scherr

S. J.

(2001), ‘Assessing the adoption potential of agroforestry practices in sub-Saharan Africa’, Agricultural Systems, Vol 69, pp 37–62.

17.

, and Gao

(2000), ‘Techniques to increase the efficiency of fertilizer utilization’ (in Chinese), Journal of Agricultural Engineering, Vol 16, No 2, pp 17–20.

18.

C. X.

Deng

B. R.

, and Liu

T. Q.

(1996), ‘Effects of nitrogen fertilization on vegetable quality’ (in Chinese), Journal of Soil and Fertilizer, Vol 3, pp 34–36.

19.

IBNC – Irrigation Bureau of Ningjin County (2001), Statistic of Water Resources in Ningjin, IBNC, Ningjin.

20.

Izac

A.-M.N.

, and Swift

M. J.

(1994), ‘On agricultural sustainability and its measurement in small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa’, Ecological Economics, Vol 11, pp 105–125.

21.

Liu

C. M.

J. J.

, and Kendy

(2001), ‘Groundwater exploitation and its impact on the environment in the North China Plain’, Water International, Vol 26, No 2, pp 265–272.

22.

Liu

X. H.

Gao

W. Sh.

, and Zhu

W. Sh.

(2000), Mechanism and Techniques of Crop Residue Returning to the Field (in Chinese), Chinese Agricultural Press, Beijing.

23.

F. Ch.

, and Xing

Y. Q.

(1999), China's Sustainable Development Framework – Summary Report, Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations University, Tokyo.

24.

Lynam

J. K.

, and Herdt

R.W.

(1989), ‘Sense and sustainability: Sustainability as an objective in international agricultural research’, Agricultural Economics, Vol 3, pp 381–398.

25.

MOA – Ministry of Agriculture (1996), National Standard for Agricultural Input Use, MOA, Beijing.

26.

Morse

S. N.

McNamara

M. A.

, and Okwoli

(2001), ‘Sustainability indicators: The problem of integration’, Sustainable Development, Vol 9, pp 1–15.

27.

Nortcliff

(2002), ‘Standardization of soil quality attributes’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 88, pp 161–168.

28.

Pretty

(1996), Regenerating Agriculture, Policies and Practices for Sustainability and Self-Reliance, Earthscan Publications, London, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, and Action Aid, Bangalore.

29.

Pretty

, and Hine

(2000), ‘The promising spread of sustainable agriculture in Asia’, Natural Resources Forum, Vol 24, pp 107–121.

30.

Rasul

, and Thapa

G. B.

(2004), ‘Sustainability of ecological and conventional agricultural systems in Bangladesh: An assessment based on environmental, economic and social perspectives’, Agricultural Systems, Vol 79, pp 327–351.

31.

SBNC – Statistic Bureau of Ningjin County (2000), Statistic Year Book of Ningjin (in Chinese), SBNC, Ningjin.

32.

SCPNC – Station of Crop Protection of Ningjin County (2001), Crop Pests/Diseases and Protection Methods, SCPNC, Ningjin.

33.

Senanayake

(1991), ‘Sustainable agriculture: Definition and parameters for measurement’, Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, Vol 14, pp 7–28.

34.

Smith

C. S.

, and McDonald

G. T.

(1998), ‘Assessing the sustainability of agriculture at the planning stage’, Journal of Environmental Management, Vol 52, pp 15–37.

35.

SSODD – Soil Survey Office of Dezhou District (1999), Soil Survey Report in Ningjin County (in Chinese), SSODD, Dezhou, Shandong Province.

36.

Stobbelaar

D. J.

Kuiper

van Mansvelt

J. D.

, and Kabourakis

(2000), ‘Landscape quality on organic farms in the Messara valley, Crete organic farms as components in the landscape’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 77, pp 79–93.

37.

Stock

C. O.

Papendick

R. I.

Saxton

K. E.

Campbell

G. S.

, and Van Evert

F. K.

(1994), ‘A framework for evaluating the sustainability of agricultural production system’, American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, Vol 9, No 1, pp 45–50.

38.

Wang

J. F.

, and Xin

S. Z.

(1998), ‘Negative effects of fertilization and countermeasures’ (in Chinese), Journal of Conservation of Agricultural Environment, Vol 17, No 1, pp 40–43.

39.

Wang

Y. W.

, and Ju

Z. C.

(1998), ‘Constraints, potentials and measurements for the development of sustainable agriculture in Shandong province’, in Qing

D. H.

, Exploration of Sustainable Development Strategy, China Environmental Science Press, Beijing.

40.

D. F.

(1999), ‘On the sustainability of intensive agricultural system: a case study in Jingxian County’, PhD dissertation, China Agricultural University, Beijing.

41.

Xie

G. D.

Zhang

Y. Sh.

, and Qi

W. H.

(2002), Models of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Resources and Policy Support Systems, Science Press, Beijing.

42.

Zhang

B. Z.

(2000), Sustainable Agricultural Development in China (in Chinese), Shandong Press of Science and Technology, Jinan, Shandong.

43.

Zhang

W. L.

(1995), ‘Investigation of nitrate pollution in groundwater due to nitrogen fertilization in agriculture in North China’ (in Chinese), Journal of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Sciences, Vol 1, No 2, pp 80–87.