2010 China World Congress
July 1-2, 2010 Ningbo, China
Agriculture, Rural Development and Urbanization: Reaching the Right Balance:
A Background of Chinese Agriculture
China has been undergoing an unprecedented scale of transformation from traditional to modern agriculture production, particularly in the past three decades. Labor immigration from rural to urban has begun to spark a profound change. Though improving quality of life for the Chinese, these developments have also raised new questions regarding sustainable economic and environmental development.
The longtime status quo of China has rested on high numbers of farmers and limited arable land areas. Therefore, development of urbanization is necessary in easing the farmer/land area issue while improving living conditions for farmers. Urbanization has helped nearly 30% of China’s farmers moving out of rural areas into cities or towns, and also has significantly absorbed residual farming manpower. It has also improved farmers’ incomes and mitigated the stresses tied to a rural lifestyle. Meanwhile, as incomes continue to rise, domestic consumption and market opportunity are dramatically increasing. Due to urban residents’ preference of more protein, processed and diversified foods, the changing structure of food basket has improved the level of innovation in technology and modern agriculture.
Concurrently, urbanization has forced China to face new challenges. Questions arise about how to effectively allocate immigrant laborers transferred from rural to urban areas; correspondingly, how will the country enable mass institutional change? Increasing numbers of urban residents, higher incomes, and improving conditions of urban heating and city transportation have caused serious concerns of environment and climate change. Importantly, agriculture is among the most vulnerable sectors in regard to the impact of extreme weather events. Though bio-fuel production is encouraged to reduce levels of emission, it presents a conflict in land usage occupied by agriculture for the purpose of feeding the population.
China has implemented numerous reforms to transform their rural and urban economies and strengthen their agriculture and agri-food sectors. Given the challenges raised be the enormous scale of Chinese urbanization and size of the rural migrant population, the deliberations of the Congress are not only of critical importance for sustainable Chinese development, but will also impact substantially on global development. The 2010 China World Congress brings together policy makers and key leaders from around the world to arrive at a more profound understanding of complex issues of development so as to benefit the process of transformation being sought in China’s urbanization reforms.
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Theme and Session Topics
Agriculture, Rural Development and Urbanization: Reaching the Right Balance
2010 China World Congress Agenda
July 1-2, 2010 Ningbo, China
Agriculture, Rural Development and Urbanization: Reaching the Right Balance:
A Background of Chinese Agriculture
China has been undergoing an unprecedented scale of transformation from traditional to modern agriculture production, particularly in the past three decades. Labor immigration from rural to urban has begun to spark a profound change. Though improving quality of life for the Chinese, these developments have also raised new questions regarding sustainable economic and environmental development.
The longtime status quo of China has rested on high numbers of farmers and limited arable land areas. Therefore, development of urbanization is necessary in easing the farmer/land area issue while improving living conditions for farmers. Urbanization has helped nearly 30% of China’s farmers moving out of rural areas into cities or towns, and also has significantly absorbed residual farming manpower. It has also improved farmers’ incomes and mitigated the stresses tied to a rural lifestyle. Meanwhile, as incomes continue to rise, domestic consumption and market opportunity are dramatically increasing. Due to urban residents’ preference of more protein, processed and diversified foods, the changing structure of food basket has improved the level of innovation in technology and modern agriculture.
Concurrently, urbanization has forced China to face new challenges. Questions arise about how to effectively allocate immigrant laborers transferred from rural to urban areas; correspondingly, how will the country enable mass institutional change? Increasing numbers of urban residents, higher incomes, and improving conditions of urban heating and city transportation have caused serious concerns of environment and climate change. Importantly, agriculture is among the most vulnerable sectors in regard to the impact of extreme weather events. Though bio-fuel production is encouraged to reduce levels of emission, it presents a conflict in land usage occupied by agriculture for the purpose of feeding the population.
China has implemented numerous reforms to transform their rural and urban economies and strengthen their agriculture and agri-food sectors. Given the challenges raised be the enormous scale of Chinese urbanization and size of the rural migrant population, the deliberations of the Congress are not only of critical importance for sustainable Chinese development, but will also impact substantially on global development. The 2010 China World Congress brings together policy makers and key leaders from around the world to arrive at a more profound understanding of complex issues of development so as to benefit the process of transformation being sought in China’s urbanization reforms.
.
Theme and Session Topics
Agriculture, Rural Development and Urbanization: Reaching the Right Balance
- Congress Theme I: Agriculture and Economic Reforms to Accelerate Rural and Urban Growth
- Policies and Finance Structure to Enable Transformation
- Directions for Agricultural Modernization (Transformation) in Rural Economies
- Industry and Infrastructure Links in Accelerating Growth
- Congress Theme II: The Role of International Trade and Investment in Modernizing Agriculture to Provide Growth and Employment Gains
- Enabling Trade and Facilitating Agriculture and Food Security in the APEC Region
- Creating New Value, Growth Trade, and Employment from Regional Brands and Appellations
- Congress Theme III: Ensuring Food and Environmental Security
- Natural Resource Management and Agricultural Productivity
- The Benefits to the Economy from Efficient Environmental Regulation and Management
2010 China World Congress Agenda
Participant Shares Views on Food and Agriculture
Professor Marcos Fava Neves, a panelist at the 2010 World Agricultural Forum - Latin America and professor at The University of Sao Paulo, Brazil has recently published two articles discussing agribusiness strategies and the food inflation problem. Please read on. Defining an Agribusiness Strategic Agenda for 2010-2020 (pdf) Strategies for Solving the Food Inflation Problem (pdf)
Professor Marcos Fava Neves, a panelist at the 2010 World Agricultural Forum - Latin America and professor at The University of Sao Paulo, Brazil has recently published two articles discussing agribusiness strategies and the food inflation problem. Please read on. Defining an Agribusiness Strategic Agenda for 2010-2020 (pdf) Strategies for Solving the Food Inflation Problem (pdf)
