Archive

  • Select all
    |
    Special Forum of“Food Security”
  • Special Forum of“Food Security”
    CHENG Sheng-kui, LI Yun-yun, LIU Xiao-jie, WANG Ling-en, WU Liang, LU Chun-xia, XIE Gao-di, LIU Ai-min
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    In the new period, great changes have taken place in the social and economic environment both at home and abroad, and hence new requirements have been put forward for the national food security strategy. Rethinking and resolving a series of new problems and new changes of food security under the new situation not only helps deepen the understanding of food security system, but also has positive significance to promote the upgrade of agricultural industry and rural development under the background of supply-side structural reform. At present, food security in China falls into a strange circle, which is the coexistence of excessive production, import, inventory, subsidy and waste. There are large differences in understanding and viewpoints on food security issues among different disciplines such as traditional agricultural school, economic school and resource environment school, which reflects the complexity of food security issues. In the meantime, the concept and connotation of food security, from emphasizing the amount of food basic supply to the individual purchase ability in the market, and to the quality of life and the ability to resist risks, are constantly enriched and extended. It is the inevitable choice and demand of social and economic development. Faced with a new era, under the background of the periodic and structural oversupply of grain in our country, it is imperative to build a new food security strategy of “nutrition, green, diversity, and openness” in our country on the basis of grasping the connotation and characteristics of China’s food security.
  • Special Forum of“Food Security”
    LIU Li-tao, LIU Xiao-jie, LUN Fei, WU Liang, LU Chun-xia, GUO Jin-hua, QU Ting-ting, LIU Gang, SHEN Lei, CHENG Sheng-kui
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Food is one of the basic human needs. Achieving food security is one of the important goals of “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. However, there is lack of system review of mutual influence between safeguarding food security and global climate change. Accordingly, this paper reports a critical review of the existing researches related to interactions between ensuring food security and global climate change. Effects of global climate change on the food system, impacts of ensuring food security on global climate change and adapting food security strategies against global climate change were systematically reviewed. The results indicated that, firstly, global climate change had increased uncertainty in the food system which had great impact on China’s food production. Secondly, demand for food was one of the main drivers of global climate change, and the reconfiguration of crop production elements exacerbated global climate change. Thirdly, a synthetic approach is required for food security adaption strategies against global climate change, specifically, in the micro-level promoting technological progress and scientific management, in the meso-level strengthening resources and environment protection, and in the macro-level adhering to the laws of market and improving food policy system. Moreover, under the background of global climate change, research on ensuring food security presents two major trends: one is the change from single discipline, one dimension and single means into multi-disciplinary, multi-scale, multi-factor, comprehensive and integrated approach; the other is to turn a high-carbon food system into a low-carbon and high-efficient food system.
  • Special Forum of“Food Security”
    WANG Xiang, QIANG Wen-li, NIU Shu-wen, LIU Ai-ming, CHENG Sheng-kui, LI Zhen
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    This paper analyzes global agriculture trade and its evolution with complex network methods. Using international trade data during 1986-2013, we selected 57 kinds of agricultural products belonging to six major categories of cereals, oil crops, sugars, fibers, fruits, vegetables and meats, and constructed trade network of international agricultural products at different periods. The evolution trend and current situation of global agriculture trade were quantitatively analyzed. The results show that total trade of international agricultural products increased 2.26 times during 1986-2013. Oil crops had the maximum growth which increased 4.97 times. The number of global agricultural import and export countries involved in agricultural trade network was increasing. By fitting the cumulative distribution function curve of nodes’ degree in the trade network, we can find that the distribution of nodes’ degree satisfies power-law distribution that a majority of nodes have small degree while only a few nodes have large degree. The hub nodes continuously grew up. The density of global agricultural trade network rose while the average path length declined, and the trend of diversification strengthened. The agricultural products import of China depended on a few countries and thus there is potential risk of agricultural products import. On one hand, our country should enlarge opening to extend the source of import and make full use of international resources; on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the agricultural foundation and improve the comprehensive production capacity so that we can prevent risks and ensure national food security more efficiently.
  • Special Forum of“Food Security”
    GUO Jin-hua, LIU Xiao-jie, WU Liang, LIU Li-tao, LUN fei, CHENG Sheng-kui, LIU Gang
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    About 60% of people in China rely on rice as a staple food, illustrating the important role of paddy in safeguarding national grain security. So the accurate understanding of paddy consumption and supply-demand balance is very important. Previous estimates have focused on paddy rice consumption, but few have studied the regional and historical changes in the supply-demand balance. In this study, we studied the changes of amount and structure of paddy consumption in China during 2000-2014 based on statistic data in different paddy end-use sectors (food, industrial, feed, seed) and different provinces. We calculated the actual edible rice consumption based on urban and rural population and edible rice per capita, estimated the industrial paddy consumption based on the outputs and paddy usage coefficient of food industry products, no-food industry products, computed the feed paddy consumption based on the production of pigs and poultry products and the grain ratios of feed to meet, and calculated the seed paddy consumption based on the seeding area and the seed consumption per hectare. The results are: 1) Per capita apparent consumption of paddy in China was significantly higher than that in other countries and the world average. 2) During the period of 2000-2014, the supply-demand balance of paddy has gradually turned from tight relation and even shortage of supply in some years into a surplus of supply. 3) Most of paddy was consumed as edible grain, but the proportion has decreased significantly and the proportion of industrial and feed consumption has increased. 4) In 2014, China’s paddy stock-consumption ratio was nearly 70%, and the stock increased by 2.72 times in the past ten years. 5) Two thirds of the provinces in China were difficult to reach self-sufficiency in paddy supply in 2014. Ten provinces were self-sufficient, but only five provinces of them were more than 3.0 million tons surplus. Policy implications of these findings are consequently discussed, including firmly advancing market-oriented reform of paddy and strengthening research on the mechanism of inter-provincial grain supply chain.
  • Special Forum of“Food Security”
    XIN Liang-jie, WANG Li-xin, LIU Ai-min
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Along with the rapid development of China’s economy and urbanization, people’s living standard improves continuously. More and more people are switching from grains to animal foods, such as meat, poultry, egg, fish and milk products. Now, China is the world’s top consumer of meat and grain. China’s feed grain consumption is large and it increases rapidly, which has become the primary factor of food security. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to accurately determine the characteristics of regional supply and demand balance of feed grain in China, which can help formulate relevant policies of agriculture. Based on the analysis of grain conversion coefficient of livestock products at provincial level, this paper examined the statue and causes of regional supply and demand equilibrium of feed grain. The results showed that: 1) China’s feed grain consumption increased rapidly in recent years, from 21 730×104 t in 2000 to 30 549×104 t in 2015. 2) Pig raising was the main part of feed grain consumption in China which accounted for 44.4% of the total consumption in 2015. It was followed by eggs and poultry consumption whose proportions were 15.8% and 12.7%, respectively. The feed consumption of dairy cows, beef cattle, mutton sheep and aquaculture was low and the proportions were between 5%-9%. 3) The shortage of feed grain in China was 4 276×104 t in 2015. There was a feed grains surplus in the north and a terrible shortage in the south. Heilongjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia in northeast of China have become China’s most important feed grain supply area. The phenomenon of “sending grains from the north to the south” is rational allocation of grain resources from the perspective of food conversion coefficient and feeding structure. This paper provides three policy recommendations: 1) According to the experience of developed countries, Chinese consumption of beef and dairy products is small. In 2015, per capita milk consumption was only one-third of the national recommended volume. So it is suggested that more beef and milk products should be produced and consumed. 2) The agricultural production in China has been following the policy of “taking grain as the key link” for a long time. China’s agriculture should be switched from grain-oriented planting structure to three-element structure that mainly contains grain crops, commercial crops and forage crops. 3) In the past, China’s food security relied more on domestic grain production and ignored the international market. Our land and water resources were all exploited to meet the growing demands of agricultural products. To ensure the food security and preserve the environment, we should make full use of the international market and develop agricultural trades with more countries.
  • Special Forum of“Food Security”
    LI Yun-yun, WANG Ling-en, LIU Xiao-jie, CHENG Sheng-kui
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Food consumption is the basic content of household consumption. The study obtained the first-hand data of 207 rural households food consumption in Shandong Province which is one of the main grain producing areas in China by field research for three days tracking weighing based on stratified sampling nearly one month. The structure and characteristics of food consumption of rural households in typical areas of China at this stage are quantitatively analyzed and the characteristics of residents’ food consumption in different regions, income levels and family sizes are compared. The result indicated that: 1) Vegetables occupy the highest proportion (41.0%) in the food consumption of rural households in Shandong, while the main consumption of grain is flour and its products (59.0%) and the main consumption of meat is pork (71.9%). 2) In three cases, compared with Dezhou city and Weifang city, the consumption of non-grain food like drinks, cooking oil and condiments in Jinan city is higher while the consumption of grain is relatively lower; families with higher incomes consume less vegetables, flour and other grain, condiments and cooking oil and consume more meat, fruits, aquatic products and milk. Households with smaller populations consume more food per capita than larger households. 3) Comparing the proposed food intake data with the balanced pagoda recommended to Chinese residents by the Chinese Nutrition Society, we found that cooking oil and salt consumed by residents in rural areas in Shandong was slightly higher and consumption of milk and dairy products, aquatic products, eggs and fruits were obviously inadequate. Under the new era of rural revitalization background, improving the food consumption structure of rural residents and their nutrition level are the most basic and urgent tasks for improving living standards in rural areas. This study provides a reference for further improving the accurate acquisition of the basic data of Chinese residents’ food consumption needs and provides a scientific basis for the formulation of relevant policies.
  • Special Forum of“Food Security”
    GUO Hua, WANG Ling-en
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Food is highly related to the national security and people’s livelihood. The efficient supply of food depends on the efficient operation of the whole food system. At present, domestic research on food system is rare, therefore, systematically sorting out the research progress abroad can provide a good reference for China’s food system research. In order to better grasp the research context of the food system, this paper studies foreign food system research literature by document analysis. Relevant theories, methods and main research fields of food system research are summarized and analyzed. Food system is the organic integration of economic, social, and ecological sustainable development consisting of the interaction of subsystems such as production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste disposal based on the elements of material, capital, technology, culture, and political system. Food Footprint, GIS Analysis, Food Domain Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Life Cycle Theory, Elasticity Theory, Food Landscape and Scenario Analysis are the most commonly used methods in food system study. Focusing on the research content, globalization and localization of food systems, food system planning, resources and environmental effects on the food system, food safety and policy research are systematically reviewed. Based on the study of food system research abroad and existing research foundations and social needs in China, the focuses of China’s food system research are proposed, including empirical studies on food systems at different scales, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, the design of quantitative index systems for food systems, the impact of technological innovation on food systems, and research on stakeholders in food systems, etc.
  • Resource Economics
  • Resource Economics
    SUN Jing-jing, ZHAO Kai, CAO Hui, NIU Ying-ying
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    The right way to deal with the relationship between cultivated land protection and economic development is extremely important to safeguard food security in China. Based on the consistency of cultivated land protection and economic growth at provincial level, this paper divided the whole country into deficit area, balance area and surplus area of cultivated land from the perspective of food security and regional cultivated land. The compensation standard of cultivated land protection of each province was calculated by opportunity cost. In addition, the surplus (or deficit) amount and compensation quantity of arable land protection were estimated according to the amount of cultivated land and per-capita grain demand. Finally, the results and discussion were put forward. The results show that: 1) China’s arable land distribution and economic development are inconsistent during 2007-2015, so there is a need of inter-regional coordination in conservation of cultivated land. 2) The country’s provincial-level administrative regions are divided into eight provinces of surplus area, 11 provinces of balance area and 12 provinces of deficit area. 3) In 2015, the average regional compensation standard was 2.90×104 yuan/hm2 that the standard is the highest in deficit areas and the lowest in balance areas. 4) Based on scenario simulation, there are significant differences in the amount of arable land and cultivated land compensation in different regions. Finally, suggestions were put forward, which include implementing the regional differential cultivated land protection policy, establishing the dynamic farmland protection system, drawing up the reasonable regional economic compensation standards for cultivated land protection, etc.
  • Resource Economics
    LIN Li-qun, LI Na, LI Guo-Yu, WU Shi-dai, WANG Qiang, LIN Hui-ling, DONG Zheng, HUANG Yu-juan
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    The territorial orientation exerts significant influences on urban construction land-use efficiency. Based on the blueprint of major function-oriented zones, the paper analyzed urban construction land-use efficiency indicated by land input-output technical efficiency of the major function-oriented zones in Fujian Province during 2009-2015 by utilizing the stochastic frontier production function which excluded the undesired output. The empirical results demonstrated that: There exists an obvious temporal variation and spatial differences of urban construction land-use efficiency among the 84 counties in Fujian Province during 2009-2015. The index of urban construction land-use efficiency increased during the period that the land-use efficiency indices in almost half of counties were below 0.8 in 2009 whereas the proportion cut down to 30% in 2015. The counties with high urban construction land-use efficiency are spatially distributed in the Quanzhou Plain and Minzhong Mountain Belt. Furthermore, the paper showed that the territorial orientation of major function-oriented zones is consistent with the construction land-use level. The consistency was verified by the following facts: Firstly, cities which located in optimal development zones are most efficient in terms of construction land-use efficiency, while cities in agricultural production zones are most inefficient. The urban construction land-use efficiency grew fastest in agricultural production zones and grew slowest in optimal development zones. Secondly, owing to the different demands of each major function-oriented zone, the input-output ratio of production factors in major function-oriented zones of Fujian Province presented an obvious peak and valley spatial pattern. The input-output ratios of optimal development zone, key development zone, key ecological function zone, agricultural production zone are in decreased order. What’s more, the paper put forward countermeasures and suggestions to optimize the urban construction land-use efficiency according to the spatial difference of land use in different major function-oriented zones in Fujian Province.
  • Resource Evaluation
  • Resource Evaluation
    HUANG Yue, ZHAO Zhen-bin
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Landscape change is one of the research hotspots in the field of geography at home and abroad, but the abilities of most research methods in explaining social effects of landscape changes are relatively limit. This study tends to reveal the spatial characteristics of residents’ complex perceptual content of landscape changes based on qualitative analysis and spatial analysis. Taking Shuhe old town as a case, this paper studies the landscape change by using a hybrid analysis method of geographical and social investigation which adopted PPGIS method and semi-structured interviews. Finally, we obtained 300 sets of questionnaires and maps and 1 614 points of perceived landscape changes. The types and spatial patterns of residents’ perceived landscape changes in rapidly changed landscape communities are discussed. The results are shown as follows: 1) The perceived landscape changes obtained by interview are complex, which include environmental change, land use change, living space change, and economic change. 2) The perceived landscape changes were in shapes of patch or stripe which are in related with the locations of the main landscape nodes, living spaces, life resources in the community. 3) Land-use mode change and land-use form change have equally important influence on the perceived changes, and the social structure change which is carried by the utilization mode change provides the basis for explaining the social effect on landscape change.
  • Resource Evaluation
    ZHANG Yang, LI Bao-fu, CHEN Ya-ning
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Based on high altitude and ground meteorological data in the arid region of Northwest China from 1970 to 2013, the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of water vapor content in northwest arid area and its relationship with precipitation were analyzed by a variety of statistical methods. The results showed that: 1) The increasing trend of the water vapor content in the arid region of Northwest China was significant at the rate of 0.835 mm/10 a (P<0.01) during the period of 1970-2002. The growth rate in summer was the highest all year round, which was 1.709 mm/10 a (P<0.01). However, the precipitation efficiency in the arid area of Northwest China was basically stable, which only increased slightly in spring and winter. In space, the areas with the variation rate of water vapor content from fast to slow were North Xinjiang, South Xinjiang and Hexi Corridor. In winter and spring, the growth rate of water vapor content in North Xinjiang was the highest, while in summer and autumn, the growth rate of water vapor content in South Xinjiang was the highest. 2) During 2003-2013, the water vapor content did not significantly decrease, whose rate of decline was -2.061 mm/10 a, while precipitation efficiency increased significantly at the rate of 0.136%/10 a, which showed that the efficiency of water vapor’s transforming into precipitation improved significantly. Meanwhile, the increasing rate of precipitation efficiency in North Xinjiang was obviously higher than those in other areas. 3) The precipitation efficiency and precipitation in each season were significantly correlated in the arid region of Northwest China, while the correlation between water vapor content and precipitation had obvious seasonal difference that the correlation in spring was higher than those in summer and autumn and the correlation in winter was the lowest. In addition, precipitation variation was positively correlated with both water vapor content and precipitation efficiency in Xinjiang, while precipitation in Hexi Corridor was more closely related to precipitation efficiency.
  • Resource Evaluation
    HUANG Xian-fei, ZHOU Yun-chao, ZHANG Zhen-ming
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save

    To study the relationship between the spatial distribution characteristics of soil organic carbon (SOC) and land use in karst river basins, 22 057 soil samples from 2 755 soil profiles were collected with a grid-sampling method at a 150 m scale in the Houzhai River Basin. The SOC density characteristics under different land uses were analyzed. The results indicate that human disturbance, soil thickness and rock outcrop are critical factors to SOC density in the Houzhai River Basin. The land uses in the Houzhai River Basin with SOC density (0-100 cm) in descended order are paddy lands, arid lands, artificial fruit forestlands, garden lands, grasslands, abandoned lands, sloping croplands, arbor-shrub mixed forestlands, arbor forestlands, uncultivated lands, shrub lands and shrub-grass lands. The average SOC density in the top 1 m soil of Houzhai River Basin is 8.70 kg/m2 which is a little lower than the average SOC density in China (10.83 kg/m2), and the SOC storage in the Houzhai River Basin is 5.39×108 kg. In conclusion, scientific and reasonable rearrangement and management of land uses could enlarge the SOC storage capacity in a karst river basin.

  • Resource Research Method
  • Resource Research Method
    TAO Huan, LI Cun-jun, ZHOU Jing-ping, DONG Xi, WANG Ai-meng, LÜ Hong-peng
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Accurate and up-to-date forest vegetation mapping can provide a better understanding of forest resources and support decision-makers in implementing sustainable forest management. Unfortunately, the distribution information of forests plantation with high accuracy and fine spatial resolution is still not yet conveniently available. Remote-sensing technologies are common used in mapping forest vegetation owing to their real-time data acquisition ability. However, extraction of forest vegetation information using single date remote-sensing imagery has been unsuccessful since the existence of similarity in spectrum feature between forest and field crops. Combination of seasonal variations of spectral response and phenological differences between forest vegetation and field crops presents a unique opportunity for forest mapping. Therefore, a method for extracting forest vegetation using multi-temporal GF-1 imagery was proposed and validated in Bengbu City. Based on the phenological changes of forest and dominant field crops in the study area, the whole region was separated into 2 sub-regions (sub-region A and sub-region B), and 5 phases of GF-1 imagery were utilized. Then, 2 sets of decision rules were built and applied to the corresponding sub-regions. In addition, we implemented forest extraction by non-partitioned decision tree for comparative analysis. The results show that the overall accuracy of both partitioned and non-partitioned decision trees are over 85%, which means that decision tree method using multi-temporal GF-1 imagery can acquire good accuracy when extracting forest vegetation in the large scale and mesoscale. Partitioned decision tree achieves overall accuracy of 90.72% and kappa coefficient of 0.81, which are 3.80%-4.65% and 0.07-0.10 higher than the overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of non-partitioned decision tree, respectively. Free GF-1 imageries with a fine spatial resolution, wide coverage, and low revisit period have great potentials in forests extraction which can benefit forestry aviation plant protection.
  • Resource Research Method
    YANG Yan-ping, LUO Fu-zhou, WANG Bo-jun
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save

    In order to explore the planning and design model of ecological restoration in mining area under the concept of sustainable development and push forward the innovation of ecological restoration technology in mining area, this article introduced the permaculture design concept to the planning strategy and operation process of ecological restoration of coal mine wasteland. Taking the ecological restoration of the Wangshiwa coal mine, “the eldest son of the Republic”, as a case study, this paper analyzed the application status of zoning planning, sector analysis and cycle layout of the permaculture design in detail. The ecosystem service value of the Wangshiwa coal mine during 2014-2016 was estimated. It is found that the variability degree of the ecosystem service values of various ecosystems is rather balanced, among which the forest ecosystem had the greatest contribution to the total service value of ecosystem in mining area with the contribution rate being 69%, 77% and 79% in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. The contribution of the grassland ecosystem was the second, whose contribution rate in each year was 15%, 13% and 12%, respectively. The contribution rate of farmland ecosystem in each year was 16%, 10% and 9%, respectively. The results show: 1) The permaculture design, which has ecological ethics substitution, is an effective planning model for ecological restoration of coal mine wasteland; 2) the permaculture design takes ecological risks into consideration, thus it can count the heavy metal pollution area in the zoning of ecological construction; 3 ) the permaculture design promotes the balance in the construction of ecological restoration system of coal mine wasteland and realizes the evolution of zonal natural ecosystem; 4) the permaculture design completes soil nutrient accumulation through biological elements and incorporates the ecological rehabilitation system of coal mine into biogeochemical cycle; and 5) the permaculture design can achieve the sustainable development of ecological, economic and social integrated systems of coal mine wasteland. The results of the research can provide a reference for the theoretical research and practice activities of mining ecological restoration planning and design.

  • Experts Interviews
  • Experts Interviews
    SUN Hong-lie, ZHENG Du, XIA Jun, CHEN Fa-hu, CHENG Sheng-kui, SHEN Lei, WANG Yan-fen, LIN Jia-bin, JIANG Yuan, DONG Suo-cheng, CUI Bin, ZUO Qi-ting, LEI Jia-qiang, HE Xi-wu, MIN Qing-wen, LI Xiu-bin, KANG Yue-hu
    Download PDF ( ) HTML ( )   Knowledge map   Save

    The proposal or implementation of major resource development and utilization project often receives widespread concerns from the whole society. How to correctly understand and scientifically evaluate various hot research topics about resources and environment is the key point of discussion. This paper argues that the development project of any major resources must follow natural laws, ecological laws, resource laws, and economic laws. We must carry out systematic and comprehensive pre-stage surveys based on the country’s strategic needs and geopolitical relations, evaluate the ecological safety and the resource engineering safety from the perspectives of multiple disciplinarians, and make correct judgments on the scientific value, social value and economic value of the project. Authors strongly suggest that: 1) the future construction of resource and environmental engineering projects should not make forward in great leaps; 2) for protecting the beautiful home of the earth, we need to recognize laws of natural resource systems through scientific study; 3) resource scientists should fulfill their social responsibilities; 4) academic contending should be advocated on the basis of scientific research and scientific attitudes; 5) scientific issues are better to be discussed by scientists; and 6) it should be very cautious to support researches on controversial scientific topics by public welfare funds.