Forage‐livestock policies designed to improve livelihoods in Western China: a critical reviewColin Brown; Scott Waldron; Liu Yuman; John Longworth
2009 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/17561370910989220
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how the promotion of integrated forage/ruminant‐livestock industries forms a key plank in efforts to improve rural household livelihoods in Western China. Design/methodology/approach – The paper critiques how this industry development has proceeded in the case of Qingyang prefecture in Gansu. The way in which the industry policy has manifested from central to local levels of government is outlined along with how the industry policy relates to other measures intended to improve household livelihoods. Findings – The outcomes of this forage‐livestock industry policy do not always match the intention, and the paper examines the various disconnects that arise between government agencies, government and households and households and the market. The foremost challenge for policy makers is in connecting households and markets. Originality/value – Identifying the impacts of policy and institutional settings associated with forage‐livestock systems is crucial if improvements are to be made and as these systems become more widespread in Western China.
The transition of state‐peasants relationship From the fiscal perspective in three decades of reform in ChinaYang Zhao; Tian Xiujuan
2009 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/17561370910989239
Purpose – The relationship between state and peasants are reflected as the distribution of the economic benefits to each party. The purpose of this paper is to explore the essential change of the relationship from the fiscal term since the beginning of the new century. Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing first‐hand survey data, this paper illustrates the changes of relationship between state and peasants by certain qualitative and quantitative approaches. Findings – Recent positive changes in China have seen the creation of a new public finance system designed to improve equality within basic public services not only for the world's largest population but also the world's largest number of peasants. This development has produced a change in the relationship between state and peasant from “take more” to “take less.” Research limitations/implications – The sample size used in the empirical studies in this paper is relatively small. In addition, the studies focus only on the effects of relationships in the fiscal term while the social impacts are neglected. Originality/value – This paper provides evidence that the recent positive changes in China have seen the building of a new public finance system, with the intention of enabling a huge number of peasants to experience equality within basic public services.
Food demand in China: income, quality, and nutrient effectsKuo S. Huang; Fred Gale
2009 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/17561370910992307
Purpose – China's remarkable income growth has changed the food landscape in recent years. Chinese consumers are demanding greater food quantity and quality and changing the nutrient content of their diets. Most food demand studies are based on data from earlier time periods before these structural changes had taken hold. The purpose of this paper is to show how the rapid change in food markets and surprisingly slow growth of food imports warrants a new assessment of food demand in China. Design/methodology/approach – Engel equations measuring elasticities of food quantity and quality purchases with respect to household income are estimated. These estimates are then converted to nutrient elasticities to show how the availability of nutrients varies with income based on the Engel demand relationship. Findings – The income elasticities diminish as income rises. Households in the top tier of the income distribution appear to have reached a saturation point in the consumption of most food items. As income rises, most additional spending is on foods with higher unit values that may reflect better cuts of meat or branded items. The pattern of food purchases for households at different income levels suggests that protein, saturated fat, and cholesterol intake rises with increased income. The change in diets prompted by rising income is most pronounced for low‐income households. Originality/value – This paper applies a unique approach to measure income, quality, and nutrient elasticities within the same framework of Engel relationship. The finding has important implications for opening new market opportunities of imported foods and understanding dietary change in China.
Meat demand in ChinaDavid L. Ortega; H. Holly Wang; James S. Eales
2009 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/17561370910989248
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough analysis of meat demand in China and predict future trends in meat consumption. Design/methodology/approach – Expenditure as well as Marshallian and Hicksian demand elasticities of various meats in China are evaluated using the linear almost ideal demand system. Findings – Results from this paper show that pork, the primary meat in Chinese diets, has become a necessity and that poultry, beef, mutton, and fish are considered luxuries within the meat budget allocation of Chinese households. Furthermore, the results predict that for any increase in future meat expenditure, the largest share of that increase will be allocated to pork consumption. Originality/value – This paper fills a gap currently present in the empirical literature regarding time series meat demand analysis in China. This paper makes use of newly available time series data on Chinese meat consumption and prices to estimate expenditure as well as own‐price and cross‐price elasticities. Implications for both domestic meat producers and grain exporters are discussed.
A multi‐regional representation of China's agricultural sectorsGlyn Wittwer; Mark Horridge
2009 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/17561370910989257
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline a version of SinoTERM, a multi‐regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of China that has been updated and disaggregated further to enhance the agricultural detail. A version of the model is publicly available and will be useful to CGE modelers studying Chinese agricultural issues (www.monash.edu.au/policy/sinoterm.htm). Design/methodology/approach – The paper outlines data sources for building SinoTERM. It contains a CGE application to agriculture in China. Unlike the national input‐output table published by the National Bureau of Statistics, the master database of SinoTERM contains many agricultural sectors. Findings – CGE models that represent a nation as a single economy may offer rich insights into winners and losers from particular policy scenarios. Multi‐regional analysis takes this a step further by comparing outcomes for regions in which particular industries are a relatively large part of the economy. Research limitations/implications – This paper builds on the first SinoTERM paper in several ways. First, the database is disaggregated further to represent tea, sugar cane and silkworms as individual sectors in the CGE database. Second, given the extraordinary economic growth in China, the national and regional database has been updated to 2006 using data from the 2007 yearbook. Third, the paper contains an application to agriculture: it examines the impacts of productivity growth in different agricultural sectors in China. Originality/value – The regional CGE model used in this application could be used to explore many other policy issues concerning agriculture in China.
The farmland property rights deformity: the history, reality and reformBiliang Luo; Bo Fu
2009 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/17561370910989266
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize the institutional evolution of China's farmland property rights deformity with its internal logic, analyze its property rights deformity and the invasions of these rights under the family operation background, and puts forward fundamental suggestions for reforming farmland property rights in China. Design/methodology/approach – The concept of “public domain” raised by Barzel in 1989 is used and extended to analyze China's farmland system. Findings – There exist five sorts of public domain and two apparent characteristics of property rights deformity: the unclear final controlling rights for some valuable attributes of goods of the “public domain”; and the “public domain” deliberately created by the government. The public domain caused by technical factors and owner's real capability are herein excluded. Originality/value – China's past and present farmland system is a result of the government's compulsory system arrangements instead of market evolution. The expansion of public domains III and V has directly shrunk peasants' residual property rights. The concept of “public domain” is developed to reveal the essence of China's farmland property rights deformity.
Review of China's agricultural integration development: 1978‐2008Kaiwen Feng; Jinhua Zhang; Huang Yingwei
2009 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/17561370910989275
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw conclusions about China's agricultural integration (CAI) by looking back its processes stage by stage, discussing the problems related to CAI, in order to learn salutary lessons for the future of agricultural development, for the increase in rural income, and especially for the promotion of CAI. Design/methodology/approach – The paper comprises three stages: analyzing the process of CAI from the household responsibility system, to agricultural industrialization, until the stage of CAI led by farmers' co‐operatives; discussing the related practice together with literature; and historically proving that there is no better way to promote CAI than letting it be led by farmers' co‐operatives. Findings – The paper finds that, the development of China's agricultural economic organizations is owing to CAI, and can be studied stage by stage; the process of CAI proves that it needs to be promoted as a new style led by farmers' co‐operative in order to increase rural income; literature review also gives eloquent proof of the above viewpoint; agricultural integration led by farmers' co‐operative should be taken as a better way to upgrade CAI and to increase rural income, for it can decrease the benefit disputes that usually happened in the former type of agricultural industrialization. Originality/value – The obvious value of the paper is to show, by a historical review, a way to promote CAI and to increase farmers' income. A literature review finds these countermeasures comprehensively, historically, and theoretically. The information about CAI will be beneficial for people who are interested in the topic.