Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Jiani Tian

Permanent Representation of P.R. China
Italy

Dear CFS Secretariat,



Please kindly find China's template in the attachment.



Kind regards,



Jiani





Proponent

Li Xiande, Chen Yangfen



Main responsible entity

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)



Date/Timeframe



Funding source




Location

China



Background/Context

Chinese rural population has migrated to cities in huge numbers since the onset of China’s opening-up and reform in 1978. Urbanization rate of the country raised from 17.9% in 1978 to 57.4% in 2016. Chinese Government has provided support to hundreds of millions of these migrant population, as well as equally large numbers of rural population, to improve their food security and nutrition levels.



Focus/Objectives

1) to effectively promote public and private investment in agriculture and rural development by way of industry nurturing agriculture and cities supporting countryside, with a view to increasing food supply and its stability;

2) to carry out appropriate re-adjustments to cropping structure in the light of the transformation of consumption patterns of urban and rural population, on the pre-condition of ensuring absolute security of food grain supply, so as to produce agriculture products that meet the demand of consumers;

3) to facilitate the voluntary transfer of arable land tenure from migrant population to specialized farming households building on the basis of implementing land tenure registration and safeguarding farmers tenure rights, so as to increase the income level of both transferors and transferees and to avoid abandonment of land;

4) to strengthen agricultural infrastructure and promote socialized service for agricultural production, and to ensure that the migrant population with need can do part-time crop farming so as to minimize food security risk;

5) to provide training and support to farmers, particularly youth, women, elderlies, in order to strengthen migrants’ capacity of getting employed, to develop specialized food producers and to improve farmers’ livelihoods.



Key characteristics of the experience/process

1) Increasing investment in agriculture and rural areas so as to facilitate and optimize the allocation of urban and rural productive resources in farm and non-farm sectors, with a view to achieving mutual complementarity between industry and agriculture, and interaction between urban and rural;

2) Adherence to the combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, encouraging context-specific innovative development models and rolling out support policies in accordance with actual need;

3) Emphasis on protecting farmers’ tenure and rights, safeguarding farmers’ production and management right, and facilitating farmers’ production and management through diverse means;

4) Enhancing policy design and enforcement. Multiple so-called ‘No. 1 Documents’ of the CCP’s Central Committee have focused on urban-rural integrated development, aiming at promoting the liberalization and flow of labor, land the capital, and at the meantime safeguarding farmers’ livelihoods after they have transferred their land, through the establishment and improvement of rural social protection network and better regulating the access of industrial-commercial capitals to the agriculture sector.



Key actors involved and their role

1) Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant government ministries and departments, in areas of policy-making, financial allocation/investment, training, etc.;

2) Private-sector companies, in areas of private investment and improving farmers’ access to markets;

3) Cooperatives, in areas of farmers’ market access and socialized service provision;

4) Migrant population, in areas such as enhancing non-farm employment skills;

5) Farmers, in areas such as improving food farming capacity.



Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems

1) Food production has increased in consecutive years, reaching 616,239 million tons in 2016, far higher than 304.77 million tons in 1978. During 2004-2015, food production has increased for 12 years in a row;

2) Unit food yield has reached 5452.1 kg per hector, much higher than 2527.3 kg per hector in 1978;

3) Farmers’ income has increased rapidly, with rural per capita disposable income reaching 12363 yuan in 2016, far more than 133.6 yuan in 1978 (in nominal terms). The urban-rural income gap has been narrowing since 2009;

4) As of the end of 2016, over one-third of China’s land has been transferred.



Challenges faced

1) The out-flow of rural population, mostly youth, has led to a relative drop in farming labor quality, having some impact on agricultural production;

2) With industrial-commercial capital entering into agriculture and capital replacing labor, smallholder production has been impacted to some extent;

3) In open market environment, price fluctuation of food market has become greater, exerting some impact on agricultural production and consumption in both urban and rural areas.



Lessons/Key messages