China’s agriculture green development: from concept to actions

doi:10.15302/J-FASE-2023512

Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.

2024, Vol. 11

Issue (1) : 20-34 https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2023512

China’s agriculture green development: from concept to actions

Haixing ZHANG^1,², Yuan FENG^1,³, Yanxiang JIA^1,², Pengqi LIU^1,², Yong HOU^1,², Jianbo SHEN^1,², Qichao ZHU^1,²(

), Fusuo ZHANG^1,²

¹. National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
². College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
³. Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, the Netherlands

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Abstract

● A target-threshold indicator evaluation system is proposed to measure China’s agriculture transformation.

● Evaluation based on a development score showed China is currently at a medium level in the Agriculture Green Development initiative.

● There was a trend for increasing development scores for 2010–2020 compared to 1997–2010.

● Trade-offs between eco-environmental factors and socioeconomic/food production factors were found to be the major barriers to the transformation.

● More effort is needed to address the insufficient and uneven development to provide coordinated improvement.

China has initiated a green transformation plan in 2015, which was soon applied to agriculture, known as the agriculture green development (AGD) initiative, with the goals of achieving food security, high resource use efficiency, and an ecofriendly environment. To assess the agricultural transformation from 1997 to 2020, this paper proposes a national-scale indicator system consisting three dimensions (socioeconomic, food production and eco-environmental) and ten sub-dimensions to quantify the AGD score. This study showed that AGD score in China was at a moderate level during 1997–2010, scoring 40 out of 100. During this stage, decreased scores in the sub-dimensions of resource consumption, environmental quality, and environmental cost have offset the improvement in the socioeconomic dimension, resulting in fluctuated scores around 40. In the second stage (2011–2020), China’s AGD score improved but still at moderate level, scoring an average of 46.3, with each dimension increasing by 5.3%–25.0%. These results indicate that China has made progress in the agricultural transformation, transitioning from conceptualization to actions through the implementation of various policies and projects. However, the study emphasizes the need for more effort to address the insufficient and unbalanced development, along with the growing eco-environmental challenges, especially the trade-offs among dimensions.

Keywords Agricultural transformation agriculture green development historical trend indicator system theoretical conception

Corresponding Author(s): Qichao ZHU

Just Accepted Date: 20 July 2023 Online First Date: 31 August 2023 Issue Date: 08 March 2024

Cite this article:

Haixing ZHANG,Yuan FENG,Yanxiang JIA, et al. China’s agriculture green development: from concept to actions[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 2024, 11(1): 20-34.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2023512
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y2024/V11/I1/20

Dimension	Sub-dimension	Number	Indicator	Calculation	Unit	Classification criteria
Dimension	Sub-dimension	Number	Indicator	Calculation	Unit	I	II	III	IV
Food production	Resource consumption	1.1.1	Veterinary input	Veterinary drug input / standard animal number	yuan·LU^–1*	>244	122–244	61–122	<61
		1.1.2	Pesticide input	Pesticide input usage (pure volume) / total planting farmland	kg·ha^–1	>10	5–10	2.5–5	<2.5
		1.1.3	Exogenous N input in animal feed	(N demand of animal husbandry-N supply of planting industry) / number of standard animals	kg·LU^–1 N^*	>120	60–120	0–60	≤0
		1.1.4	Agricultural water footprint	(Main food consumption × agricultural water footprint per person) / population	t·person^–1·yr^–1	>760	620–760	480–620	<480
	Agricultural productivity	1.2.1	Cropland protein productivity	Total protein of various crops / cultivated land area	kg·ha^–1	<313	313–372	372–431	>431
		1.2.2	Cropland calorie productivity	(Variety of crop products calories + animal product calories) / cultivated land area	10,000 kcal·ha^–1	<1960	1960–2180	2180–2400	>2400
		1.2.3	Cropland economic productivity	Gross agricultural output value / cultivated land area	10,000 yuan·ha^–1	<6.73	6.73–8.4	8.4–10.5	>10.5
		1.2.4	Irrigation efficiency	Statistical data	?	<0.5	0.5–0.55	0.55–0.6	>0.6
	Production efficiency	1.3.1	Energy efficiency	∑(Agricultural production primary energy consumption × per unit of energy) / gross agricultural production value	MJ·(million yuan)^–1	>7291	6197–7291	5650–6197	<5650
		1.3.2	Cropland N use efficiency	(N uptake at the harvest site + N uptake in straw) / total nitrogen input in farmland × 100	%	0-35	35–50	50–65	>65
		1.3.3	Animal N use efficiency	(N absorption of main products of livestock and poultry + N absorption of animal byproducts) /total input of nitrogen of livestock and poultry × 100	%	<10	10–20	20–30	>30
		1.3.4	Cropland P use efficiency	(P uptake at harvest site + P uptake from straw) / total P input to farmland × 100	%	0–20	20–30	30–40	>40
Socioeconomic	Production conditions	2.1.1	Agricultural investment	Investment in agriculture and forestry water affairs / rural population	yuan·person^–1	<3259	3259–4786	4786–6140	>6150
		2.1.2	Mechanization	Total power of agricultural machinery / cultivated land area	kW·ha^–1	<6.2	6.2–8.4	8.4–11.5	>11.5
		2.1.3	Rural education	Survey population of farmers with high school degree or above / total survey number of farmers × 100	%	0–22.5	22.5–45	45–90	>90
		2.1.4	Irrigation coverage	Effective irrigation area / cultivated land area × 100	%	<50	50–60	60–70	>70
		2.1.5	Land transfer	Land transfer area / regional cultivated land area × 100	%	<20	20–40	40–60	>60
	Economic status	2.2.1	Income equality	Urban resident disposable income/rural resident disposable income	?	>2.0	1.6–2.0	1.2–1.6	<1.2
		2.2.2	Farmer income	Statistical data	10,000 yuan	<0.72	0.72–2.80	2.80–8.66	>8.66
		2.2.3	Agricultural income	Rural resident agricultural income / total income of farmers	%	0–10	10–20	20–40	>40
	Dietary intake	2.3.1	Animal-derived food consumption	Animal protein production / (animal protein production + plant protein production)	%	<20	20–40	40–55	>55
	Dietary intake	2.3.2	Protein intake	∑ (Main food consumption of residents × protein content)	kg·person^–1· yr^–1	<14.6 or >34.7	14.6–18.3 or 29.2–34.7	23.7–29.2	18.3–23.7
Eco- environment	Waste utilization	3.1.1	Animal waste recycling	Resource utilization of manure / manure production of livestock and poultry × 100	%	<35	35–55	55–75	>75
		3.1.2	Crop residues recycling	(Amount of straw returning to the field + amount of straw feeding + Amount of straw for electricity generation) / amount of straw produced × 100	%	<45	45–65	65–85	>85
		3.1.3	Plastic film recycling	Recycling agricultural plastic film / Agriculture plastic film usage × 100	%	<40	40–60	60–80	>80
	Environmental pressure	3.2.1	Crop-livestock system N surplus	(Total N input in farmland ? N absorption in straw ? N absorption in harvesting area) / cultivated land area	kg·ha^–1	>270	180–270	90–180	<90
		3.2.2	Soil erosion^#	Soil erosion modulus = soil erosion amount / unit area / unit time	t·km^–2·yr^–1	>5000	2500–5000	500–2500	<500
		3.2.3	Soil erosion^#	Proportion of soil erosion area = soil erosion area / total area × 100	%	>30	20–30	10–20	<10
		3.2.4	Animal carrying capacity	Regional livestock and poultry breeding standard number of animals / cultivated land area	LU·ha^–1	>2.7	1.9–2.7	1.1–1.9	<1.1
	Environmental quality	3.3.1	Surface water quality	Percentage of surface water above Level-IV (National Standard)	%	<50	50–70	70–90	>90
		3.3.2	Groundwater quality	(Sample points with water quality of IV, V and inferior V) / total measurement sample points × 100	%	>50	30–50	10–30	<10
		3.3.3	Soil pesticide pollution	Statistical data	%	>10	5–10	2–5	<2
		3.3.4	Soil heavy metal pollution	Exceeded points / total monitoring points × 100	%	>10	5–10	2–5	<2
		3.3.5	Air quality	Statistical data	day	>30	20–30	10–20	<10
	Environmental cost	3.4.1	Ammonia emission	(Fertilizer + NH₃ emissions from humans and animals) / cultivated land area × 100	kg·ha^–1	>140	120–140	100–120	<100
		3.4.2	N use efficiency in food system	(Planting N input + animal husbandry N input ? food N content) / food N content	kg·kg^–1	>5	4–5	3–4	<3
		3.4.3	GHG emissions	(GHG emissions from animal husbandry + GHG emissions from crop farming) / cultivated land area	kg·ha^–1 CO₂-eq	>6500	5000–6500	3500–5000	<3500

Tab.1 The AGD indicators and grading standards

Fig.1 Schematic representation of evaluation framework.

Tab.2 AGD level grading standards

Fig.2 Trend in AGD score (a) and distribution of indicator levels (b). Levels I–IV represent low, moderate, good, excellent levels of AGD.

Fig.3 Dimensional AGD (a) and sub-dimensional AGD (b) scores of China.

Fig.4 Historical trends in explicit indicator levels for socioeconomic (a), food production (b) and eco-environmental (c) dimensions of China’s AGD from 1997 to 2020. Levels I–IV represent low, moderate, good, excellent levels of AGD.

Fig.5 Status of positive (a) and negative (b) indicators compared to the target values. Indicator codes are given in Tab.1.

Fig.6 Spearman-correlation matrix of the AGD indicators system. Indicator codes are given in Tab.2.

Fig.7 Policies and key actions in China’s agriculture green development (AGD).

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