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Hishamunda, N.; Subasinghe, R.
Aquaculture
development in China: the role of public sector policies.
FAO
Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 427. Rome, FAO. 2003. 64p.
ABSTRACT
This report analyses the reasons and factors, including the
role of public sector policies, behind aquaculture development in China. The aim
is to understand the future of this development and to make the Chinese
experience available to the rest of the world, especially developing countries
as they strive to develop the sector as a part of their efforts to achieve food
security and economic growth. China’s aquaculture growth seems to have been
driven by national policies towards food self-sufficiency and economic reasons.
These include employment generation, especially for rural communities, creation
and accumulation of real assets and wealth at the national, local and individual
levels and earning the much-needed foreign exchange to purchase capital goods
for the reconstruction of the economy after the country’s emergence from
foreign domination and civil strife in 1949.
The development of the sector occurred mainly through two
policy regimes: the egalitarian model under the Centralised State Planning from
1949 to 1978, and the Open Market Economy Regime from 1978 onwards. In the first
model, tight government controls from all stages of production to marketing, and
therefore the lack of input from producers and consumers as well as attention to
market forces and other signals in the production and consumption
decision-making processes were the norm. With this model, the development was
slow. In the second and most efficient model, economic and policy reforms were
performed to allow producers to make production and marketing decisions.
Emphasis was on full employment of productive resources including the human
factor, suitable water surfaces, mudflats and water-logged lands. Investment in
research and technology, diversification of cultured species including
indigenous and introduced species, promotion of high commercial value species,
establishment of a nationwide aquaculture extension network down to the
grassroots level, and establishment and constant improvement of the enabling
policy, legal and regulatory frameworks were also promoted.
With continued pro-active government policies, adequate
advanced planning, scientifically designed production technologies, sound
management and the increasingly important world demand for aquaculture products,
aquaculture in China can be and is likely to be productively stable, sustainable
and competitive both domestically and internationally. There are valuable
lessons which can be learnt from the Chinese experience: (1) aquaculture can be
developed in a sustainable manner to generate food and jobs, and improve income
and livelihoods of rural and urban populations, thus alleviating hunger and
poverty; (2) the engine for an economically resilient and sustainable
aquaculture is the Government’s will and determination to establish sound
policies in support of the development of the sector, especially issue specific
policies; it is also the market determined demand for the product; (3) full
employment of productive factors, including human resources, continuous
improvements in legal and regulatory framework for the development of the
sector, and scientific breakthroughs in production technologies will strengthen
aquaculture and ensure its sustainability, thereby making aquaculture a good
contributor to the country’s overall economic growth.
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