Cuisine, Guyiang, China © Tamilla Held

China prides itself on food sufficiency, feeding 20% of the world’s population with 7% of the land, of which only about 10% is cultivable. Enabled by the gradual deregulation of commune-based agriculture in the 1980s, this achievement is now coming under pressure. In the decade to 2005, 21% of arable land was converted to non-agricultural use resulting in the loss of 20 million farmers. Environmental degradation affects the remaining land; for example, in the drought-prone North China plain, the groundwater table is falling by 1.5 metres each year.

The continued 30 year limit on government leases of farmland constrains private ownership and investment so that plots remain very small. Despite a succession of good harvests, the government may be abandoning the dream of self-sufficiency by expressing interest in purchasing agricultural land in Africa and South Asia. Nevertheless for the time being China is not a major importer of its staple food grains, rice, wheat and corn, casting doubt on claims that rising world food prices are attributable to Chinese consumption. The rise in demand for meat is met by importing soyabeans for animal feed. There are however reports that domestic food prices in China rose by 25% in the first quarter of 2008, implying significant pressure on the vast number of households who live below and just above the poverty line.

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