Uncertain Time<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
China is the world’s most populous country, but global uncertainty, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change threaten its food security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- High-yielding salt-tolerant seawater rice strains were tested and may help China feed its 1.4billion people.<\/li>
- The hybrid rice was also tested in the Dubai desert. It could be one of the solutions to the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger.<\/li>
- China is the world’s largest nation and has the most hungry people. Its population was 1.41 billion in 2020, which is roughly a sixth of the 7.9 billion global population.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Despite the fact that the country’s population has fallen to its lowest point in history, China’s top leader acknowledges the need for food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China seeks to be more resilient and self-sufficient after the destruction of its food system by COVID-19, and other natural disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China was ranked 34th among 113 countries in the 2021 Global Food Security Index published in September. This index measures food affordability, availability, and safety as well as natural resources and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is one of the top five nations that has seen the greatest improvement in the last ten years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China’s arable land<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
According to an August survey, China’s total arable area had fallen by nearly 6% compared to the previous 10 years. This is only 13% of China’s total land area. It’s likely to drop further by 2030 as more land is converted into urban and industrial areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn area as large as Egypt has too much salt for crops to grow. Salt inhibits plants’ ability to absorb water. According to CGTN, China could increase rice production by planting just a tenth of that area with seawater rice. This would feed 200 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although it is still not fully commercially implemented, scientists from Qingdao Saline Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center were given 4,000 kilometers of land to cultivate the rice last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAgriculture new challenge in China<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
China is facing increasing demands on its agricultural production, which it seeks to address via policy, technology and economic activities. China imported 28.35 million tonnes (mmt) of corn in 2021. This is 152 percent more than 2020 and more that 10 percent of China\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ (MARA), total corn consumption estimates. (See Tables 1 and 2) According to the 2020 Rural Development Institute report by China Academy of Social Sciences, there will be a shortage of grain of approximately 130 mmt. This includes 25 mmt of staple grain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These trends are compounded by shrinking arable land, changing demographics, and natural catastrophes that pose food security threats to China’s leaders. China responded by introducing domestic policies to increase food security and reduce food waste. These have been priorities of General Secretary of China Communist Party (CCP), Xi Jinping, since he took power. In an effort to increase food security, the government also implemented policies to expand domestic farmland, and to harness new agricultural technologies such as genetically modified seed lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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