【中文标题】联合国专家质疑中国保证其人民温饱的能力
【原文标题】China's ability to feed its people questioned by UN expert
【登载媒体】英国卫报
【原文作者】Jonathan Watts
【原文链接】http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/23/china-ability-to-feed-population-warning?INTCMP=SRCH
Olivier De Schutter说，不断减少的耕地面积难以维持足够的农作物生产，中国的食品价格随之上涨。
中国东部城市合肥的蔬菜小贩在街边等待顾客。近期这个国家食品价格的上涨凸显了其面临的供给压力。
一位联合国公使在今天警告，随着农作物和肉制品在国际市场上价格攀升，中国养活世界五分之一人口的任务会变得越来越艰巨，原因在于耕地缩减、城市化进程，以及对煤炭和化肥的过度依赖。
人们对60年代初，上千万人死亡的大饥荒的记忆犹新。中国政府不遗余力地确保世界上最大的人口群体有足够的食物，但其长远的自给自足模式遭到了联合国食物权力文件起草人Olivier De Schutter的质疑。
De Schutter在访问中国之后，说：“耕地的缩减和大规模的水土流失威胁着这个国家保持目前农作物产出的能力，农村和城市生活的巨大差距是对中国人食物权力的重大挑战。”
他对卫报说，他最主要的担心是大规模使用化肥、污染和干旱所造成的中国土壤质量下降。他指出，这个国家国土面积的37％都已经退化为无法耕种的土地，自从1997年以来，820万公顷的耕地因城市化进程、修建工业园区、自然灾害和退耕还林活动而流失。
更进一步的压力来自居民的越来越多的肉制品饮食结构，这意味着需要更多的农作物来喂养牲畜。所有这些因素导致了食品价格上涨，在去年一年中，大米价格上涨13％；小麦价格上涨9％；鸡肉价格上涨17％；猪肉价格上涨13％；鸡蛋价格上涨30％。
这位公使说：“这并非偶发的一次性事件，原因是复杂的。近期食品价格上涨预示着未来会发生更重大的事情。”
随着未来气候的变化，农产品的价格预期会大幅上涨，而产量到2030年则会削减5％到10％。De Schutter说，很重要的一点是，中国必须要尽快戒除在农业生产中大规模使用化石燃料的恶习，改用更加可持续的农业生产技术，包括有机技术，并且更好地利用它自身的两大优势：巨大的战略物资储藏和庞大的农村人口。
他说，其它国家应当学习中国的食品储藏策略，中国的储藏量为每年5.5亿吨全国粮食产量的40％。这可以用来在必要时补充供给，以尽量消除市场价格波动的影响。
他还警告大规模农业生产的倾向，这是以牺牲自然资源使用率为代价换取农产品市场价格的竞争力。“小规模农业生产可以更有效地利用自然资源，我认为，中国就证明了其自身可以养活庞大人口的能力。”但他同时承认，随着中国未来会有超过2亿农民向城市转移，小规模农业生产的可能性越来越小。
不断扩大的城乡差距还在其它方面对食品的供需状况产生影响。整个国家的营养标准在上升，但是不断拉大的收入差距造成食品摄入状况的极不平均现象。中国西部一些贫困的农村家庭仅靠一日两餐度日，而东部沿海地区的城市家庭营养过好，以至于越来越多的人患上肥胖症和糖尿病等“富贵病”。
在他提交给中国政府和联合国的报告中，De Schutter提到了西藏和内蒙古的问题。在一项有争议的重新安置计划中，游牧人群被迫离开草原。他还敦促中国政府在食品安全出现问题时，要确保消费者有权采取各种方式表达不满。
他特别提到了赵连海。在导致30万婴儿生病、其中至少6名婴儿死亡的牛奶污染丑闻中，这位前食品安全活动人士因组织抗议活动、争取补偿而在上个月被判入狱。
他说：“我担心这个事件对那些希望抱怨食品安全性的消费者会产生震慑的作用。不赋予言论和集会的自由，就无法保障食品安全。”
部分评论：
Rice123：
这是英国农民出口产品的好机会。
Undercurrent：
这是一篇少见的、有洞察力的描述中国状况的文章。英国的国家农业政策机构也应以此为鉴。
如果不彻底改变农作物的单一性、化学农业行为、转基因食物和相关农业制度，土地就会彻底荒芜，我们也就无法继续生存。
AndyH1：
奇怪，我的中国妻子在上周给她母亲和姨妈打电话，他们都说食品价格下降了，他们都住在中国的城市中。
Spiroaus：
中国大城市中的人现在非常关心通货膨胀的问题，他们无从了解问题的成因。
这看起来是一篇精彩的报告，希望改变快点到来……
Gallers：
我现在相处的中国家庭都在抱怨这个问题，这似乎仅仅是生活用品价格普遍上涨的一部分，其它日用品的价格都在上涨。
Harlequinmod：
“他特别提到了赵连海。在导致30万婴儿生病、其中至少6名婴儿死亡的牛奶污染丑闻中，这位前食品安全活动人士因组织抗议活动、争取补偿而在上个月被判入狱。”
看起来这完全是一个合理的赔偿要求啊。
WigwamJim：
不幸的是，这将导致像巴西这样的国家要出口给中国更多的大豆和牛肉。
而付出的代价是热带雨林面积缩小，为了全世界的福祉，这绝不能发生。
中国需要控制沙漠化进程。
BertieFox：
这仅仅是片面之词，通过采用自创的深床法，中国在有机种植领域已经处于世界领先地位。根据这种方法，可以利用人和动物的粪便来大规模种植蔬菜。
至于土壤退化和无法种植的问题，我们对美国农作物种植地带也应抱有同样的担心，那里完全依靠人造肥料、地表水和大规模使用的杀虫剂。即使采用基因工程技术也无法挽救那里的土地。
中国应当吸取美国风沙中心的教训，了解到大规模农业生产的代价，这还是在没有受到全球气候变暖的影响下。
但是他们似乎很快认识到这一点，并首先站起来减少污染排放，开发替代能源。我希望美国也能对石油储藏既得利益集团采取同样的做法。
Soysaucegirl：
这就是为什么中国在一点一点地蚕食非洲的原因。非洲人越来越难以养活自己，因为它们把大量的农作物卖给中国。这是个暗示，给那些呼吁援助“无助的”非洲人的西方慈善机构。
SarfOfTheRiver：
哦真不错，这给政府试图把更多的金钱给到这个具有核武器和太空计划的区域超级势力的行为又找了一个借口。
这种疯狂举动的结果就是眼泪。
Asungdawa：
“Rice 123：这是英国农民出口产品的好机会。”
英国50％的食品依靠进口。我们很幸运，有足够的钱可以这样做，虽然只是暂时的。
DenisJoe：
“一位联合国公使在今天警告，随着农作物和肉制品在国际市场上价格攀升，中国养活世界五分之一人口的任务会变得越来越艰巨，原因在于耕地缩减、城市化进程，以及对煤炭和化肥的过度依赖。
人们对60年代初，上千万人死亡的大饥荒的记忆犹新。中国政府不遗余力地确保世界上最大的人口群体有足够的食物，但其长远的自给自足模式遭到了联合国食物权力文件起草人Olivier De Schutter的质疑。”
没错，这是西方人最热衷的运动：抨击中国！这个国家怎么敢走上工业化的道路？怎么竟敢让自己呈动态经济增长的趋势？
在19世纪，很多西方国家都放弃了农业经济，转而走向大规模工业化生产的道路。唯一面临饥荒的欧洲国家是爱尔兰，它没有工业产业，因为它是“英国的面包篮”。
中国工业发展的结果是，中国农村地区的贫困人口数量从1978年的2.5亿减少到2007年的1487万。世界银行在2007年发布的一份报告说，中国在过去二十年中全球贫困人口减少计划上贡献了67％的力量。没有中国的努力，世界贫困人口的数量还会继续增加。根据联合国千年发展目标，中国是唯一一个提前实现将贫困人口数量减半的国家。
当然，贫困地区依然存在，但那只是中国偏远的农村地区。
今天的中国共产党已经不是60年代热衷意识形态战争的中国共产党了。今天的中国像印度一样，致力发展一个独立于政体的、有活力的、资本主义模式的经济体。De Schutter似乎认为中国没有能力依循一个已经被证实有效的发展方向，原因似乎仅仅是只有西方国家才能做这种事。
过去五年里，我们见过各种各样抨击中国的行为，主要是西方国家用环境污染的恐怖后果来惩罚中国人。现在，我们看到这些散布可怕命运的人被用来把中国领导层描绘成邪恶的混蛋，仅仅是因为他们只顾关心自己的人民。
事实是，中国和印度都对传统资本主义经济呈现出一种真正的威胁。从这个意义上讲，中国已经为美国提供了10亿多美元的资金。
在来年，我们会看到越来越多这种“Mystic Meg”式的评论，人道主义者有些兴奋过度，以至于他们看不到全世界范围内越来越多的人脱离贫困。
NowinChina：
我一直不明白中国餐厅的菜量为何这么大……但是人们有办法确保不会浪费，他们会要求“打包”，把剩下的食物带回家，晚上或者明天再吃。似乎他们还没有忘记过去的苦日子……我相信他们的控制措施会避免未来的苦日子再次出现。
但是另一个问题……麦当劳和肯德基的餐厅究竟用掉了多少粮食……这才是肥胖症的主要来源地……而不是普通的中国餐厅。
BSspotter：
Soysaucegirl，“这就是为什么中国在一点一点地蚕食非洲的原因。非洲人越来越难以养活自己，因为它们把大量的农作物卖给中国。这是个暗示，给那些呼吁援助“无助的”非洲人的西方慈善机构。”
中国毫无疑问地在争夺世界资源，动南美大豆到非洲石油。但是，这样的说法似乎是在粉饰欧洲和美国在几个世纪前掠夺和剥削非洲的行为。奴隶贸易？割据非洲？世界银行对非洲的政策？欧洲和美国才是制造非洲混乱的罪魁祸首。
中国人至少不会像欧洲人那样在非洲采取种族灭绝行动。
中石油在非洲有着非常不好的环境保护纪录，中国的监察机构已经明令其收拾这个局面（尽管我不大确定监察机构的权力究竟有多大），但其行为要比壳牌在尼日利亚的所作所为好得多。当然这不是中石油行为的借口，我怀疑其糟蹋人权的纪录是否和壳牌一样糟糕。
Cbarr：
中国的富裕程度让它不会收到食物危机的影响，因为它可以通过全球食物贸易获益。其它国家则更容易收到食品价格上升的影响。
Limu：
有意思的是我在去年读过另外一篇文章，说中国因增加肉类进口和新的控制农产品消费政策而受到指责。似乎亚洲人不可以吃肉？他们怎么能这么做？
个人看来，我没有发现去年食物价格有所上涨。我住在上海，还很多中国商店中购物（不是那种专给外国人开放的价格昂贵的商店）。至少价格上涨没有影响到这座城市。
Shundarnagin：
“他还警告大规模农业生产的倾向，这是以牺牲自然资源使用率为代价换取农产品市场价格的竞争力。‘小规模农业生产可以更有效地利用自然资源，我认为，中国就证明了其自身可以养活庞大人口的能力。’ ”
我很高兴有人指出这一点，人们终于开始思考大规模工业化生产是否是唯一的出路，而小型农业生产有着更高的效率。
GandalftheWhite：
这他妈太明显不过了。你觉得中国和中东的财富为什么会购买非洲的土地？
你觉得为什么中国总是陷入与周边国家的边界争端中，甚至还有那些人们从未听说过的偏远岛屿？查查维基百科吧。
中国和中东投入到非洲和中美洲的财富基金是为了争夺一些土地，来养活其自己的人民，而不是那些土地上的人民。当地的掌权者廉价将土地卖出，得到的仅仅是所谓的投资和收益？！
还会有更多这样的事情发生，谁也脱不了套……
Humdum：
中国领导人完全明白这一切，这是他们投资非洲和拉丁美洲土地的原因。巴西、阿根廷和苏丹等国家很幸运。中国和印度的水资源缺乏会严重削弱食物供给能力，还会导致巨大的社会问题。如果中国真的在西藏修建大坝，把河流导向北方，两会有可能因此开战。印度没能在内部和海外充分投资农业是件遗憾的事情。短期利益导向和先行一步让这个国家迅速致富。
这个问题在未来一、二十年还会萦绕在我们身边。
Instructor：
DenisJoe，传统的工业国家并没有放弃农业经济，而是将其工业化了。美国依然是最大的农业国家，但是只有一小部分农民提供农业产品。这个进程和其它方面迅速的工业化进程是一致的，就像我们所看到的今天的中国。问题在于，中国是否可以复制美国成功的策略，比如提高机械化程度、将小片土地整合为大农场。无论如何，中国是否有足够的土地为自身提供足够的食物？
文章中提到了60年代初的大饥荒，作为当前政府的一个教训。然而，尽管天气原因是一个客观因素，历史学家却认为，令3000万人死亡的饥荒主因在于意识形态政权的重大决策失误。毛不需要使用转基因技术来杀死他的人民，他通过致命的马克思主义来达到这个目的。更多信息可参考：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine
Canajin：
中国食品短缺的原因似乎在于，年轻的农民放弃了父辈的土地，到城市中寻找工作机会。因为从事农业劳动的收入太低了。农产品价格的提升是最好的解决方法，这会延缓甚至逆转人们离开土地的趋势。
最理想的结局是中国农民的收入有所提升，希望食物价格上涨带来的收入可以进到农民的口袋中，而不是落入中间人的手中。
ishmael2009：
.这不过是在老套地展示帝国主义的优越感，并打上联合国的标签。
如果说小规模的农业生产和农村生活如此美好，西方国家为什么不自己先试试呢？西方奉行一套规则，强加给其它国家另外一套规则，对吗？
那些认为家庭农业生活方式比在中国工厂里工作更好的人，应当读一读Leslie T. Chang的书《工厂妹：现在中国的心底之声》，书里的人们谈到他们从乡村移居到城市，是为了“逃避”贫困的生活。
antipodean1：
Canajin，“中国食品短缺的原因似乎在于，年轻的农民放弃了父辈的土地，到城市中寻找工作机会。因为从事农业劳动的收入太低了。农产品价格的提升是最好的解决方法，这会延缓甚至逆转人们离开土地的趋势。”
并非仅在中国，全世界都是如此。
问题在于食品价格上涨让穷人更难以生活。还在于很多富裕国家补贴农业，让问题更加严重了。
ishmael2009：
那么你的建议如何？
ishmael2009：
GandalftheWhite，你似乎在担心中国人和阿拉伯人买光海外的土地，你认为这算是一种威胁吗？
西方没花一分钱就剥削了世界上大部分资源，你认为“我们”不应当允许中国人和阿拉伯人为他们看上眼的土地付钱吗？
如果这不是你的本意，那你到底想说什么？
Atoztoa：
市场中的投机者们催高了食品价格，就和投机客们在石油、黄金和钻石市场中的把戏一样。
想让市场更加公平、和谐吗？干掉投机者。
GandalftheWhite
“GandalftheWhite，你似乎在担心中国人和阿拉伯人买光海外的土地，你认为这算是一种威胁吗？”
最常见的借口就是，帝国主义在过去做了错事，所以我们现在也要这样做！这是多么可悲的一个借口啊。你应当听听Desmond Tutu有关非洲人土地的讨论。
西藏也是如此，它当初被入侵是基于政治和帝国原因。但铁路的出现是因为其富饶的自然资源，黄金、水力、煤炭、铁、钴等等。所以才会有7座大坝导致生态灾难的事情发生。所以说，很多人以前做的事情是错误的，人类应当从这些错误中吸取教训，而不是以从前发生过作为借口来重复这些错误。
这难道不是反抗美、英、法帝国主义的鸦片战争爆发的原因吗？
JRWoodman：
这难道不是到了讨论人口过剩的问题的时候吗？
最终，人口增长会把一切问题搞糟。
ishmael2009：
JRWoodman，你是在开玩笑还是认真的？
不要讨论什么马尔萨斯理论。人们认为让中国人回到农村当农民是一件可行的事情，这本身就够悲哀的了。不要讨论人口过剩这种伪科学种族主义话题。
ishmael2009：
Gandalf the White，我的观点是，西方享受现有的土地和资源，中国人和阿拉伯人在合法地采购这些资源。
他们的行为完全和帝国主义沾不上边。例如，沙特阿拉伯有两个选择来养活其人民——在沙漠中大规模进行农业活动，需要投入难以估算的水资源、电力和肥料；或者，它可以让这些农作物生长在世界其它地方。这有什么不对呢？
原文：
China's ability to feed its people questioned by UN expert
Shrinking arable land making it harder to maintain agricultural output, says Olivier De Schutter, as food prices rise in China
Vegetable sellers wait for customers at their stalls in a street market in Hefei, eastern China. Recent food price surges in the country have underscored the supply challenges it faces.
China's ability to feed a fifth of the world's population will become tougher because of land degradation, urbanisation and over-reliance on fossil-fuels and fertiliser, a United Nations envoy warned today as grain and meat prices climbed on global markets.
With memories still fresh of the famines that killed tens of millions of people in the early 1960s, the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to ensure the world's biggest population has enough to eat, but its long-term self-sufficiency was questioned by UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter.
"The shrinking of arable land and the massive land degradation threatens the ability of the country to maintain current levels of agricultural production, while the widening gap between rural and urban is an important challenge to the right to food of the Chinese population," said De Schutter at the end of a trip to China.
He told the Guardian his main concern was the decline of soil quality in China because of excessive use of fertilisers, pollution and drought. He noted that 37% of the nation's territory was degraded and 8.2m hectares (20.7m acres) of arable land has been lost since 1997 to cities, industrial parks, natural disasters and forestry programmes.
Further pressure has come from an increasingly carnivorous diet, which has meant more grain is needed to feed livestock. The combination of these factors is driving up food inflation. In the past year, rice has gone up by 13%, wheat by 9%, chicken by 17%, pork by 13% and eggs by 30%.
"This is not a one-off event. The causes are structural," said the envoy. "The recent food price hikes in the country are a harbinger of what may be lying ahead."
With climate change expected to increase price volatility and cut agricultural productivity by 5% to 10% by 2030, De Schutter said it was essential for China to wean itself off fossil-fuel intensive farming and adopt more sustainable agricultural techniques, including organic production, and to make even better use of its two great strengths: a huge strategic grain reserve and a large rural population.
He said other countries should learn from China's food reserve, which accounts for 40% of the nation's 550m-tonne grain supply and is released to minimise the impact of market price fluctuations.
He also cautioned against a shift towards industrial-scale farming, which increases economic competitiveness at the cost of natural productivity. "Small-scale farming is more efficient in its use of natural resources. I believe China can show that it is successful in feeding a very large population. " However, he acknowledged that this may prove difficult in the future as more of China's 200million farmers move to the cities.
The widening rural-urban gap has hit supply and demand of food in other ways. Nationwide nutrition levels have risen, but the growing income disparity has left sharp discrepancies in access to food. While some poor rural families in western China scrape by with two meals a day, wealthy urban households on the eastern seaboard eat so well that they are increasingly prone to the "rich diseases" of obesity and diabetes.
In his report to the Chinese government and the UN, De Schutter also raised the case of Tibetan and Mongolian nomads who have been relocated from the grasslands under a controversial resettlement scheme, and pressed the Chinese government to ensure that consumers have the freedom to complain when food safety is compromised.
He spoke specifically about Zhao Lianhai, a former food-safety worker who was jailed last month for organising a campaign for compensation over a contaminated milk scandal that left 300,000 ill and killed at least six babies.
"I'm concerned this will have a chilling effect on consumers who want to complain," he said. "You cannot protect the right to food without the right to freedom of expression and organisation."
Rice123
good chance for Uk farmers to export
undercurrent
This is a rare and insightful appraisal of the Chinese situation.
It should also inform all national agricultural policies.
Without a sea change away from monocultural, agrichemically and GMO assisted food and farming regimes, the soil will become completely sterile and so will we.
AndyH1
Strange. My wife who is Chinese talked to her Aunt and mother last week and they both say the cost of food has dropped. They both live in cities in China
spiroaus
The people in the big cities of China are very concerned about inflation right now, but the lack of information about the root cause/s is non-existent.
This sounds like an excellent report. Hopefully reform will happen soon....
Gallers
The Chinese family I'm living with at the moment are complaining about this, though it seems it's part of an increase in the price of living in general, as the prices of other household goods are also increasing.
@spiroaus This story is all over the news, though as I can only understand baby-speak Chinese, I'm not sure what they're on about.
harlequinmod
Zhao Lianhai, a former food-safety worker who was jailed last month for organising a campaign for compensation over a contaminated milk scandal that left 300,000 ill and killed at least six babies
Sounds perfectly reasonable to expect compensation.
WigwamJim
Unfortunately this will result in added pressure on countries like Brazil to increase export of soya/beef to China.
This will be at the expense of the rainforests, and must not be allowed to happen for the good of the world as a whole.
China needs to tackle desertification
BertieFox
This is something of a partial picture as the Chinese already are world leaders in sustainable organic horticulture using deep bed methods which they invented. These are used for the intensive production of vegetables and fertilised with human and animal wastes.
As for soil degradation and unsustainable production, we should be equally concerned about the American grain belts which are totally dependent on artificial fertilisers, unsustainable ground water and extensive use of pesticides. No amount of genetically engineered varieties are going to save the day there.
The Chinese need only look to the American example and the dust bowls for example, to understand where their intensive agriculture will get them, even without the ravages of global warming.
But they seem quick to learn and have been amongst the first to commit to targets to reduce emissions and develop alternatives. I wish the same could be said about the United States with its vested interests in the fossil fuel multinationals.
soysaucegirl
This is another reason why China, bit by bit, is swallowing up parts of Africa. The bad news is that fewer Africans will be able to feed themselves in the future because the African elites have sold off vast farmlands to feed the Chinese. Cue more western charity appeals to aid 'helpless' Africans.
SarfOfTheRiver
Oh great, another excuse in the germination phase for governments here to send yet more of my cash in 'aid' to a regional superpower with nukes and a space programme.
This madness will only end in tears.
asungdawa
Rice 123
good chance for Uk farmers to export
The UK imports over 50% of its food. We are fortunate in being rich enough to do this, for the time being.
DenisJoe
China's ability to feed a fifth of the world's population will become tougher because of land degradation, urbanisation and over-reliance on fossil-fuels and fertiliser, a United Nations envoy warned today as grain and meat prices surged on global markets.
With memories still fresh of the famines that killed tens of millions of people in the early 1960s, the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to ensure the world's biggest population has enough to eat, but its long-term self-sufficiency was questioned by UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter.
And so, onto the favourite sport of the West: China bashing! How dare this nation industrialise and set themselves on a course of dynamic economic growth?
First off. Many country in the west turned their backs on an agricultural based economy in order to pursue a programme of industrial mass manufacturing, during the 19th Century. The only European country to face famine at that time was Ireland, that had no industrial base because it was the ‘breadbasket of Britain’.
As a result of Chinese industrial growth the number of poverty-stricken people in China's rural areas decreased to 14.87 million in 2007 from 250 million in 1978. A World Bank report released in 2007 said that China accounted for 67 per cent of the achievements in global poverty reduction in the past two decades. Without China's efforts, the poor population in the world would have continued to grow, it said. China is also the only country that has halved its poor population ahead of schedule, according to the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Whilst it is true that pockets of poverty exist, it is the rural outposts in China that experience it most.
The Chinese Communist Party of today is not the Communist Party of the 1960s which was engaged in an ideological war. Today’s China is engaged, along with India, in creating a dynamic, capitalist, economy, free of imperialist design. De Schutter seems to think that the Chinese are inacapable of repeating a tried and tested formula. The inference being that only those nations in the West are capable of such a thing.
We have seen plenty of China bashing over the past five years, mainly the West use the spectre of environmental pollution to chastise the Chinese, now we see that doom mongers are dragged out to paint the Chinese leadership as evil bastards, who care nothing about their people.
The truth is that both China and India are presenting themselves as real competition for the traditionalist capitalist economies, to the extent that China has bankrolled the USA to the sum of $1 million +.
We can expect more of this sort of ‘Mystic Meg’ commentary in the year to come. Meanwhile this humanist is only too pleased to see more people, throughout the World, being lifted out of poverty.
DenisJoe
The truth is that both China and India are presenting themselves as real competition for the traditionalist capitalist economies, to the extent that China has bankrolled the USA to the sum of $1 million +.
That should read 'trillion'. Sorry!
NowinChina
I always wonder at the huge amounts of food restaurants here serve...but people are very resourceful and make sure nothing is wasted by asking for a "daobao" to take home whatever's left to eat later, or tomorrow. It's as if they remember previous bad times...and I'm sure any new bad times would see them reining in....
But another question...how much grain does Mc Donalds, and chicken, KFC, use up in feeding its restaurants in the country...that's where the obesity is coming from.....not your average Chinese meal
BSspotter
soysaucegirl
This is another reason why China, bit by bit, is swallowing up parts of Africa. The bad news is that fewer Africans will be able to feed themselves in the future because the African elites have sold off vast farmlands to feed the Chinese. Cue more western charity appeals to aid 'helpless' Africans.
Well no doubt China is protecting its resource supplies all over the world from South American Soya to African oil. However, the suggestion above is bordering on sanctimonious considering Europe and the US have been raping and pillaging Africa for a couple of centuries now. Slave trade? The Scramble for Africa? World bank policy to Africa? Europe and the US have created the mess in Africa.
At least the Chinese don't seem to be intent on the same sort of Genocide the Europeans were.
Sinopec have a poor environmental record in Africa and have been told by the Chinese watchdog to clear it up (although I don't know if the watchdog has any teeth) but their record is considerably better than Shell's record in Nigeria. However, this doesn't excuse Sinopec. I wonder if their human rights abuses are as bad as Shell's?
cbarr
China is more affluent the food crisis thanks to global trading in food as a commodity won't happen for the Chinese but is liable to happen in other developing nations as prices are raised.
limu
Amusingly in a previous article I read some time last year (somewhere) China was criticized for increasing it's meat intake and was apparently to blame for the new strain on grain consumption.
It seems that the Asian's are not allowed to eat meat.
How dare they!!!
Personally, I haven't noticed any increase in food prices in the year I've been living in Shanghai and I shop where the Chinese shop (not those extortionately priced expat stores)
But perhaps the price increase hasn't hit this city.
shundarnagin
"He also cautioned against a shift towards industrial-scale farming, which increases economic competitiveness at the cost of natural productivity. "Small-scale farming is more efficient in its use of natural resources. I believe China can show that it is successful in feeding a very large population. "
I glad someone is advocating this and we still get people who think that large scale industrial farming is the only solution, while missing the point that many small farmers are highly efficient farmers.
GandalftheWhite
This is so dam obvious. Why do you think China and the middle east weath funds are buying up land in Africa!
Why do you think China is in dispute on land in various border states as well as those not even on it sborders such as the Sprately Islands which hardly anyoe has heard of- look it up in Wikipedia!
The investment by China and Middle east wealth funds in to Africa, Central America etc is growing fast to secure Land to grow food for its own people and not the country where the land is, as its been sold off by their ruling politicans for you guessed $$, so called investments and benefits..?!
A lot more too come on this. As there is no get out clause.. ;o)
humdum
Chinese leadership understands this problem. That is the reason they are investing in lands in Africa and Latin America. Good for Brazil and Argentina and Sudan,etc.The water shortages both in China and India will seriously curtail food production with huge negative social consequences. Both countries could go to war if China builds dams in Tibet to divert water from the rivers flowing into norther India.Too bad India is not investing much in agriculture internally or overseas. Too much short termism and preoccupation with getting rich quick.
It will come to haunt in another decade or two.
Instructor
@DenisJoe
The older industrial countries did not abandon the agricultural economy, they industrialized it. The US is still one of the greatest agricultural powers, but with a fraction of the number of farmers providing the products. This took place alongside the rapid industrialization of other sectors, much as we are seeing in China today. The question is if China can duplicate the strategies that worked in the US, such as increased mechanization and consolidation of small holdings into much larger farms. Under any circumstances, does China have enough total land to provide itself with enough food?
One point about the article, the author mentions the famines of the early 60s as an object lesson to the current government. However, although they did have problems with bad weather, historians agree that the main cause of the deaths of more than 30 million people was stupendous mismanagement by the ideologically driven regime. Mao didn't need GMOs to kill those people, he did it with doctrinaire Marxism, the deadliest pathogen known. Read more at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine
Canajin
The likely cause of food shortages in China is the problem of young farmers abandoning their parents' farms to look for work in the cities. This is because farm income is so poor. A rise in prices to the farmer is the best solution to this situation, as it may tend to slow or reverse the flight from the land.
The best hope is for a rise in income for Chinese farm workers. Hopefully increases in food prices will be passed on to them, not pocketed by middlemen.
ishmael2009
.
This is nothing but old-fashioned imperialistic condescension with a UN flag on it.
If small-scale farming and rural living is so great, let's see some large Western nations try it first, before advising China to give up on modernization and go back to the land. One rule for the west, another for the rest, ey?
Anyone who thinks the farming lifestyle is preferable to working in a factory in China should read Leslie T. Chang's Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China to hear from the people who talk of their move from the country to the city as an 'escape' from a life of back-breaking poverty and toil.
antipodean1
@Canajin
The likely cause of food shortages in China is the problem of young farmers abandoning their parents' farms to look for work in the cities. This is because farm income is so poor. A rise in prices to the farmer is the best solution to this situation, as it may tend to slow or reverse the flight from the land.
This is true all over the world, not just in China.
It is uncomfortable because food price rises cause hardship to the poor.
It is uncomfortable because many wealthy countries subsidise agriculture, which makes the problem far worse for everyone else.
ishmael2009
So what's your suggestion?
ishmael2009
@ Gandalf the White -
You seem worried about the Chinese and Arabs buying up land abroad. Do you see them as a threat?
The West has expropriated without payments most of the rest of the world at one time or another. Are you saying that "we" shouldn't allow the Chinese and the Arabs to actually pay for land they want to buy?
If that's not what you're suggesting, then what is it?
atoztoa
Speculators in the markets are driving up food prices and availability. It is no different than the game that is played by investors in the oil industry; gold market; diamonds; etc.
Want to make the world a better place and more equitable for all? Do away with the speculators.
GandalftheWhite
@ Gandalf the White - You seem worried about the Chinese and Arabs buying up land abroad. Do you see them as a threat?
The usual excuse is that because in the past imperial states behaved badly then modern imperial states should do the same! How very sad of course it is a threat. You should have listened to the debtae lead by Desmond Tutu on is Africas land for Africans?
Same as for Tibet, TIbet was invaded and occupied for political and imperialism reasons.. But sunbjugated for reason of natural wealth hence the new railway. Gold, Cobalt, Hydro power, Coal, Iron etc.. Yet the 7 Rivers dams is already seen as an ecological disaster. More to come. Too many people. Yes it is wrong. The human race should learn from its mistakes not repeat them and say well you did it 200yrs ago.
Was that not the very reason for the Opium Wars against imperialism of the US, French and UK, or the Boxer revolution?
JRWoodman
Isn't it about time this thread turned into a discussion about human over-population?
At the end of the day, population growth makes every other problem worse.
ishmael2009
@ JRWoodman -
Are you just trolling there, or are you serious?
Let's not turn this into a Malthusian topic. It's bad enough already that people think it's acceptable to tell the Chinese to go back to being peasants, without introducing the pseudo-scientific racism of overpopulation as well.
ishmael2009
@ Gandalf the White -
My point was that whilst we in the West have enjoyed the benefit of simply appropriating the land and resources we wanted, the Chinese and Arabs are buying it legally.
They are not acting like imperialists at all. Saudi Arabia (for example) has two choices to provide food for its population - massively energy intensive desert farming which uses untold amounts of water, electricity and fertilizer, or it can grow the food it needs somewhere else, and what's wrong with that? |
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