TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE ON THE LOESS PLATEAU OF CHINA TOWARD GREEN DEVELOPMENT

doi:10.15302/J-FASE-2021428

Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.

2021, Vol. 8

Issue (4) : 491-500 https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2021428

REVIEW

TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE ON THE LOESS PLATEAU OF CHINA TOWARD GREEN DEVELOPMENT

Gang HE¹(

), Zhaohui WANG¹, Jianbo SHEN², Zhenling CUI², Fusuo ZHANG²

¹. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
². College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

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Abstract

● Agriculture on Loess Plateau has transformed from food shortage to green development.

● Terracing and check-dams are the key engineering measures to increase crop yields.

● Agronomic measures and policy support greatly increased crop production.

● Increasing non-agricultural income is a key part of increasing farmers’ income.

● Grain for Green Program had an overwhelming advantage in protecting environment.

Loess Plateau of China is a typical dryland agricultural area. Agriculture there has transformed from food shortage toward green development over the past seven decades, and has achieved world-renowned achievements. During 1950–1980, the population increased from 42 to 77 million, increasing grain production to meet food demand of rapid population growth was the greatest challenge. Engineering measures such as terracing and check-dam were the crucial strategies to increase crop production. From 1981 to 2000, most of agronomic measures played a key role in increasing crops yield, and a series of policy support has benefited millions of smallholders. As expected, these measures and policies greatly increased crop production and basically achieved food security; but, low per capita GDP (only about 620 USD in 2000) was still a big challenge. During 2001–2015, the increase in agricultural and non-agricultural income together supported the increase in farmer income to 5781 USD·yr^–1. Intensive agriculture that relies heavily on chemicals increased crop productivity by 56%. Steadfast policy support such as “Grain for Green Program” had an overwhelming advantage in protecting the natural ecological environment. In the new era, the integration of science and technology innovations, policy support and positive societal factors will be the golden key to further improve food production, protect environment, and increase smallholder income.

Keywords agronomic technologies economic returns education environmental cost food production government policy

Corresponding Author(s): Gang HE

Online First Date: 02 November 2021 Issue Date: 19 November 2021

Cite this article:

Gang HE,Zhaohui WANG,Jianbo SHEN, et al. TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE ON THE LOESS PLATEAU OF CHINA TOWARD GREEN DEVELOPMENT[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 2021, 8(4): 491-500.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2021428
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y2021/V8/I4/491

Fig.1 Development trend of dryland agriculture on the Loess Plateau of China. Trends in population and cereal crop yield (1950–2019), apple yield (1978?2019) and meat consumption (1979?2019). For this study, we selected Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Shanxi in China to represent the Loess Plateau due to the difficulty in obtaining data for other areas. Data from National Bureau of Statistics of China, 1950–2019^[⁵^].

Fig.2 Trends in check-dam development during 1950–1980 (a) and the power of agricultural machinery during 2005–2015 (b) on the Loess Plateau. Data from National Bureau of Statistics of China, 1950–2019^[⁵^].

Fig.3 Trends in cereal crops production in Gansu Province. Plastic film mulching technology was used in cereal crops to increase grain production. Data from National Bureau of Statistics of China, 1950–2019, and data for amount of plastic film are available only from 1991 to 2019^[⁵^].

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