Eric Eveleigh - Food Issues In China

Food Issues In China

Source: http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4c779b297f8b9af96a760000/china-drought.jpg
Chinese Ministry Warns of Decade-Long Food Shortage

With the large population it contains, it is no wonder that China may have problems feeding its population. After all, "With memories still fresh of the famines that killed tens of millions of people in the early 1960s, the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to ensure the world's biggest population has enough to eat, but its long-term self-sufficiency was questioned by UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter" (Watts, 2010). Recently, Kumar (2012) notes that, "According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food insecurity is a major global concern today as 1 billion people are suffering from starvation, under nutrition and malnutrition, and we are still far from reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015". This includes China. Therefore, one of the major reasons for potential food shortage in China is due to decreasing farmland availability. According to Fernando (2010), "The nation has one of the lowest ratios of arable land relative to population, and the situation has been exacerbated as industries consume scarce water resources necessary for farming." Also, Watts (2010) has written, "China's ability to feed a fifth of the world's population will become tougher because of land degradation, urbanisation and over-reliance on fossil-fuels and fertiliser." It is evident, then, that actions need to be taken by the Chinese government to circumvent existing farmland from becoming worse. Just one action which has been employed by China is the suspension of a reforestation project. Watts (2010) states, "The sacrifice of a key environmental restoration project for crop production highlights the growing problem of feeding the world's biggest population as cities expand into farmland." The government is not saving existing land. Really, they are taking land which has previously been marked as regrowing forest, and changing the mandate to be farmland. This simply delays the impacts of the issue, it does not pose a solution for it. Another aspect of the Chinese food shortage issue is preference. As Watts (2010) notes, "urban residents consume more meat and vegetables [than the rest of the population]." So the issue now becomes not just one of available farmland for grains such as rice, but also the availability of land for grazing and the like. Meats come from animals which in turn need to be fed. They are fed by either grazing large plots of land, or eating the grains which may soon not be abundant enough the feed the population, if the population only ate grains. The obvious problem with this is that meats are far less efficient with the available food supply. Since certain populations already noted prefer to eat meats, and these populations are increasing, food preference is becoming an increasing issue within the potential food shortage issue in China. Another pressing issue, relating more to food shortage in general is, baby milk. Many Chinese families are purchasing foreign powdered baby milk, because "melamine-tainted baby milk led to the death of six children and caused hundreds of thousands of other children to fall ill" (Petroff, 2013). This puts a strain on the markets "as far afield as the U.K." (Petroff, 2013). This issue in itself is pressing because it points to worse problems. What happens in the future when China runs out of land sufficient to feed its staggering population? What happens if more food is contaminated? The final result of both of these is outsourcing. China will be forced to outsource its food supply chain in the future when it can no longer feed its own population. If simple baby milk can put such a strain on the U.K., far away from China, then what would a global explosion in the demand for food for China do? No one can really say for certain, however, it would most likely be a major crisis. This problem may actually be imminent, as "Officials have said that China might not be able to meet government agricultural output targets for the next decade" (Fernando, 2010). If anyone will benefit from such a crisis, it will be foreign (to China) business. As Fernando (2010) writes , "[for] America's vast agricultural industry, a shortage of food in China could easily result in a boom for business over the next ten years and beyond."

References

Fernando V. (2010, August 27). Chinese Ministry Warns Of A Decade-Long Food Shortage - Business Insider. Business Insider. Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-ministry-warns-of-decade-long-food-shorage-2010-8

China is running out available of farmland to grow food and feed their massive population. Minister Zhang says that the country might not be able to meet its food goals for the next decade.

Kumar P. (2012, December 6). Asia, Africa face food shortage crisis - The China Post. China Post Online - Taiwan, News, Breaking News, World News, and News from Taiwan. Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2012/12/06/363247/Asia-Africa.htm

Discusses food supply issues for Africa and Asia. Food security decreases as the price for food increases.

Petroff, A. (2013, April 10). China draining world baby milk supply - Apr. 9, 2013 . CNNMoney - Business, financial and personal finance news. Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/09/news/world/china-baby-milk-rationing/index.html

The massive population of China turns to foreign milk to feed its babies. Fears of contaminations in Chinese milk have caused this.

Watts, J. (2010, December 23). China's ability to feed its people questioned by UN expert | Environment | The Guardian . Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/23/china-ability-to-feed-population-warning

The UN believes that China's capacity to feed its population, one fifth of the world, is becoming increasingly difficult as a result of “land degradation, urbanisation and over-reliance on fossil-fuels and fertiliser.” This is highlighted by rising food prices.

Watts, J. (2009, June 23). China suspends reforestation project over food shortage fears | Environment | guardian.co.uk . Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/23/china-food-shortage

China has abandoned a key environmental restoration project in fears that they will enter a food crisis. Crop production is being raised at the expense of the Chinese environment.