Originating in the Persian Gulf, jasmines were introduced into China during the West Han Dynasty. Ever since, they have been cultivated in China for over 2000 years. Fuzhou is most famous for their cultivation as the city boasts the most favorable climate for the many species. It‘s in this city...

This book discusses the policy, strategic, methodological, technical and programmatic issues associated with food-based approaches, proposes “best practices” for the design, targeting, implementation and evaluation of specific nutrition-sensitive, food-based interventions and for improved methodologies for evaluating their efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and provides practical lessons for advancing nutrition-sensitive food-based approaches for...

The International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) has uncovered well-grounded resolve to place family farmers as protagonists in addressing a number of challenges we face, from eradicating hunger and poverty to conserving natural resources. Nothing comes closer to the sustainable food production paradigm than family farming. The diverse set of...

This article discusses the different mechanisms that sustain labour-driven intensification in contemporary Chinese agriculture. They include: labour investments directed at improving resources; the intensification of cropping schemes; fine-tuning production processes, resulting in yield increases; embedded specialization; the reorganization of space; and on-farm processing, which gives more value-added per unit of...

Excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer in crop production in China leads to environmental problems, and farmers’ lack of knowledge is the primary constraint. The public extension system, however, lacks the accountability and capability to deliver ecoagricultural extension services to farmers. Previous studies show that extension staff had little incentive to...

This paper explores the situation of women left behind in villages when men out-migrate for work and what it implies for gender relations in rural China. It is based on questionnaire survey data that covers 400 left-behind women and extensive interviews in 10 rural communities. It reveals how the women...

The Kuaijishan Ancient Chinese Torreya Community is located in the north of Zhejiang Province, N29°25′-29°47′and E120°17′ -120°38′. It includes 59 villages in 12 townships in Zhuji City, Shengzhou City and Shaoxing County. The total area is 402Km2 . There are around 1.05×105  ancient Chinese Torreya trees. Among them, 7.2×104 are...

发展循环农业是实现农业清洁生产、农业资源可持续利用的有效手段, 也是解决现代农业发展困境 的必然选择。文章系统地阐述了循环农业的内涵、特征、理论基础与遵循原则, 指出其本质特征是资源节约 和产业链条延伸，是遵循循环经济理念的生产方式、资源节约和高效利用的农业经济增长方式、产业链延伸 的农业空间拓展路径和环境友好的新农村理念。分析了循环农业的发展动力与物质流程框架, 指出循环农业 的产业链循环包括农业生产过程中农产品的顺时针外循环路径和可再生资源的逆时针内循环路径，其发展动 力主要是产业链内固有的价格机制和竞争机制产生的拉动作用和产业链外资金、技术、政策等对产业发展产 生的推动作用。文章总结了国内发展循环农业的实践和相关的模式, 提出了循环农业今后的研究重点包括循 环农业的机理研究, 循环农业发展的制度创新和补偿机制研究以及循环经济闭合循环链条体系的构建。

Garden cultivation of Xuanhua milk grapes, with a long history of 1,300 years of cultivation in the local area, and which mainly includes the traditional technology of funnel frames and polyclonal hole-planting methods, has extremely important historical value and cultural connotations. The plantations are mainly distributed in Guanhou village, Penyao...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

This book documents a unique series of 19 case studies where agricultural biotechnologies were used to serve the needs of smallholders in developing countries. They cover different regions, production systems, species and underlying socio-economic conditions in the crop (seven case studies), livestock (seven) and aquaculture/fisheries (five) sectors. Most of the...

In the wake of the food crises of the early 1970s and the resulting World Food Conference of 1974, a group of innovators realized that food security depends not only on agricultural production, but also on the policies that affect food systems from farm to table. In response, the International...

Agricultural mechanization is a crucial input to agricultural crop production. It is frequently very capital intensive, compared to other (usually annual) inputs and it has repercussions on the efficiency of all other inputs used in crop production, including seeds, fertilizer, water, and time/labour. It is also much more complex in...

About 70–80 percent of all those actors involved in fish farming worldwide are considered small-scale. The small-scale aquaculture (SSA) sector, is recognized as making an important contribution to food security, poverty alleviation and socio- economic development. However, assessing its contribution in a systematic way has been an uphill task. An...

家庭农场，一个起源于欧美的舶来名词；在中国，它类似于种养大户的升级版。通常定义为：以家庭成员为主要劳动力，从事农业规模化、集约化、商品化生产经营，并以农业收入为家庭主要收入来源的新型农业经营主体。[1]  家庭农场是指以家庭成员为主要劳动力，从事农业规模化、集约化、商品化生产经营，并以农业收入为家庭主要收入来源的新型农业经营主体。2008年的党的十七届三中全会报告第一次将家庭农场作为农业规模经营主体之一提出。随后，2013年中央“一号文件”再次提到家庭农场，称鼓励和支持承包土地向专业大户、家庭农场、农民合作社流转。 [2]  2013年中央一号文件提出，坚持依法自愿有偿的原则，引导农村土地承包经营权有序流转，鼓励和支持承包土地向专业大户、家庭农场、农民合作社流转，发展多种形式的适度规模经营。

Scientific evidence is mounting that rangeland degradation is intensifying and expanding in China’s rangelands, as a consequence of 30 years of inappropriate policies, as well as climate change. Such policies have simultaneously brought negative impacts to herder livelihoods and to the development of pastoral society. Policies have included grasslands property...

The lost decades for China in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s look remarkably like the lost decades of Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. Poor land rights, weak incentives, incomplete markets and inappropriate investment portfolios. However, China burst out of its stagnation in the 1980s and has enjoyed three decades...

Along with its rapid economic growth, increasing urbanization, and accelerating integration into the world market, China has experienced rapid transformation of its food value chains. There has been a surge in the number of its supermarkets and hypermarkets. The advent and rapid expansion of the modern self-service store has transformed...

Yunnan Province of China is the world’s provenance of tea trees. It’s also the province that boasts the largest area of wild tea tree communities and ancient tea plantations with the largest amount of old tea trees and wild tea trees. The area along the Lancang River is the center...

Large, decimated ecosystems can be restored. Bringing large areas back from environmental ruin is possible, and the results are key to stabilizing the earth's climate, eradicating poverty and making sustainable agriculture a reality. Under the guidance of a few people who have knowledge and vision, local uneducated rural poor can...