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2018 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Food Security and the Modernisation Pathway in China

Towards Sustainable Agriculture

Author: Marie-Hélène Schwoob

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : Critical Studies of the Asia-Pacific

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" , Springer Professional "Technik"

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About this book

This book aims at providing students, experts and practitioners with a detailed overview of agricultural and food security issues in China, analyzed through the lenses of a multidisciplinary approach that enables to fully grasp the current socio-political challenges and lock-ins of agricultural transformation towards more sustainable practices.

Confronted to a running decrease and degradation of its resources and rapidly evolving food habits, China became a net importer of food in 2004, and its agricultural balance has since become heavier every day. Beyond providing a comprehensive overview of these stakes, this book also presents consistent and original first hand research material, collected by the author during months of fieldwork in China, in the countryside and from various economic and political circles. Conclusions drawn from this often difficult to access) fieldwork shed light on the whole galaxy of public and private stakeholders taking part in agricultural modernization in China, on their interests and on the patterns of power that underlie the development and implementation of agricultural policies.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This book aims at providing students, experts and practitioners with a detailed overview of agricultural and food security issues in China, analyzed through the lenses of a multidisciplinary approach that enables to fully grasp the current socio-political challenges of transition towards more sustainable agricultural practices.
Confronted to a running decrease and degradation of its resources and rapidly evolving food habits, China became a net importer of food in 2004, and its agricultural balance has since become heavier every day. Beyond providing a comprehensive overview of these stakes, this book also presents consistent and original first hand research material, collected by the author during months of fieldwork in China, in the countryside and from various economic and political circles. Conclusions drawn from this often difficult to access fieldwork provides a detailed picture of the whole galaxy of public and private stakeholders taking part in agricultural modernization in China, and on the interests and patterns of power that underlie the development and implementation (of lack of implementation) of agricultural policies, shedding light on lock-ins that impede transition towards more sustainable models.
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Chapter 2. Agriculture: An Old Issue Back on the Public Agenda
Abstract
This chapter aims at introducing historical elements about the past of China’s rural and agricultural policies, which are essential to understand the recent evolution of policies and the way they are implemented in rural areas. The chapter starts by showing how crucial the roles played by peasants, agriculture, and rural areas were in state- and Party-building at the dawn of the People’s Republic of China. However, in spite of their importance in the building of the legitimacy of the state, rural areas progressively received less attention from the government in the aftermath of the first economic reforms. The final subsection of the chapter focuses on the recent willingness of the central state to restore its role in agricultural production activities and analyzes the underlying reasons motivating this sudden shift in priorities.
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Chapter 3. Enterprises: The New Leaders of Agricultural Modernization
Abstract
This chapter demonstrates how state agencies limit their ability to directly address the issues of inflation and food safety and preferentially rely on food-processing enterprises based in rural areas to modernize agricultural production. The chapter explains why these enterprises are the sole stakeholders really capable of addressing the issues of agricultural modernization, compared to NGOs or farmers. This chapter also investigates the recent (while limited) enlargement of this industrial and private-led agricultural sector to other private actors, essentially from downstream of the food chain (retailers) and, to a certain extent, from upstream of the food chain (agrochemical companies).
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Chapter 4. The Grip of Local States
Abstract
This chapter shows how state actors managed to keep control over the earlier described emerging agrarian entrepreneurship. In particular, the analysis provides details on the formal and informal resources available to local government officials of county and township levels to increase their power over local food processing enterprises and retailers. The chapter also demonstrates that although state actors act as individuals steered by their own interests and preferences, a common framework of agricultural modernization, shaped by common goals and common tools, exists, is transmitted from the central level to local levels through various formal and informal channels, holds the state together, and enables officials to act in a coordinated manner in spite of the fragmentation of the Chinese state.
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Chapter 5. Small Farmers “Endure or Escape”
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the often forgotten players of agricultural transition: farmers. It describes the interests and strategies of small farmers, who often have no choice but to endure or escape their socio-economic situation. The chapter depicts how the development of grassroots organizations such as farmers’ cooperatives or Community-Supported Agriculture was until now unable to empower small farmers and make them play a role in agricultural modernization.
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Chapter 6. Resulting Lock-Ins Impeding Transition Toward Environmental and Social Sustainability
Abstract
This chapter builds on the conclusions drawn in the previous chapters to characterize the pathway which Chinese agriculture is embarking on. It demonstrates that the marginalization of small farmers in the modernization process is not only detrimental to this “low suzhi” population but also has adverse impacts on the degree of environmental and social sustainability of China’s agricultural transformation pathway.
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Chapter 7. Conclusion
Abstract
The conclusion starts by summarizing the main arguments of this research, linked to the dominant frame of reference for agricultural modernization in China and its impact on the sustainability of the model, in spite of pockets of innovation and desertification that exist all around the country. It ends by providing some perspectives, for the future of the country and for the global debates on agricultural transition pathways.
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Food Security and the Modernisation Pathway in China
Author
Marie-Hélène Schwoob
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-65702-8
Print ISBN
978-3-319-65701-1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65702-8

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