Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

China is setting up an ecological police system (生态警务机制) that combines citizen surveillance with law enforcement and prosecution to crack down on "environmental and resource crimes" as a strategy for beautifying the countryside.  The system is led by the Ministry of Public Security--highlighting the focus on law enforcement--in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, the central government's planning ministry, and ministries responsible for environment, agriculture, water management, grasslands, forests, and the coast guard. The plan set forth in an "Opinion on Building an Ecological Police Mechanism" (关于加强生态警务机制建设的意见 which does not seem to be publicly available) aims to have the basic mechanism in place by 2027 and fully operational by 2035.  The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said the policing system will severely punish environmental pollution, destruction of wild flora and fauna resources, damage to ancient and famous trees, illegal fishing, i...

An official of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection dared to think clearly about environmental and energy issues. Recognizing that both coal and grain production require large amounts of water, the official recommended that China could scale back grain production in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang to free up water for coal production. Instead, China could import more grain from overseas, the official suggested. The daring proposal was made by an environmental assessment inspector  at the "2014 China international energy summit" held in Beijing July 28-30. The official was inspired to think the "forbidden thought" of importing grain when he visited Italy and found farmers protesting outside the parliament over the cancellation of a plan to export grain that had collapsed because they couldn't find a market. The environmental official notes that many people in China say the country should never import grain. But he doesn't see w...

One of the "dirty" secrets of China's pork industry is the widespread degradation of water quality. The advantage of pigs--and the reason they are the source of over 60% of meat in China--is that they can and do eat just about anything. Their disadvantage is that their digestive system is inefficient. Lots of undigested matter comes out the other end. In past decades pig manure was spread on fields as organic fertilizer. But in the age of concentrated pig production--hundreds of pigs in a single location--the manure is concentrated. Plus, you have to clean out pig facilities to keep them sanitary and prevent disease. This requires lots of water which has to go somewhere after the cleaning is done. This blog reported on pig pollution last year , again exactly one year ago , and in 2010 . Many localities have tightened up regulations on pig farms  and the Ministry of Environmental Protection called attention to the problem in 2010 . Officials show visiting delegations nic...

Earlier this month Industry and Economic News Net posted an article signaling that 2012's rural policy emphasis will be on building water infrastructure . The article includes quotes from the head of Renmin University's School of Rural Development, who said the 2012 "Number 1 Document" will focus on construction of water-management infrastructure. The article doesn't specify what kinds of projects this includes, but other sources cite irrigation infrastructure, pumping stations, repair of degraded reservoirs, and rural drinking water projects. The 2011 "No. 1 Document" also included a focus on water management. However, the article emphasizes that rich cities need to send money down to poor rural counties to facilitate investments in irrigation and water infrastructure. The Renmin University scholar says it would be a terrible thing to leave the water management construction task half-finished. The article focuses on financing problems, specifically...

According to a preliminary announcement from China's Ministry of Finance , government spending on rural affairs will exceed 1 trillion yuan ($156 billion) for the first time next year. Only 140 billion yuan ($22 billion) of the total is for subsidies to farmers. The article says grain subsidies are now 100 yuan per mu (about $38.50 per acre) and it is estimated that costs of inputs (fertilizer, pesticide, plastic sheeting, fuel, etc.) are about 300 yuan. So, the article says, the government pays about one-third of the production cost. (This doesn't include the cost of labor and land.) This year the rhetoric has shifted from subsidies to farmers to subsidies to local governments and water projects.  Chinese authorities have recognized that local officials also need incentives to implement central government policies. The operative term appearing in the Chinese literature this year is "dual incentives" (两个积极性）for local government officials and for farmers. This ye...

China is constructing a massive South-to-North water diversion project, a system of reservoirs and canals that will divert water from central China to the parched northern provinces. The official web site for the project is here . Since there are people living just about everywhere in China, the hardest part about these projects is moving people who are in the way and finding another place to put them. The project will begin in northern Hubei and southern Henan where some 300,000 people will be moved and resettled. This is the second-largest resettlement after the Three Gorges dam. The dam required moving over 1 million people over 14 years. This time they will move fewer people, but in a shorter time period. Above is a map of the middle route of the water diversion project begins in Hubei's Danjiangkou City, then passes through Henan and Hebei provinces to reach Beijing and Tianjin Officials in Hubei and Henan Provinces have been hard at work making preparations to move the first ...

Read Steven Mufson's Washington Post article on water shortage and troubles with the South-to-North water diversion project, if you dare. The article doesn't mention the severe drought currently going on in southwestern China.