A Study On The Influence Of Shanghai’s Urbanization Process Upon Its Agricultural Development(from1949to Present)

Economist Kindleberger once said:Urbanization is a global phenomenon, which has an influence both on developed and developing countries, and it’s impossible that there is a trend which is completely opposite to it. Stiglitz, one of the Nobel Economics Prize winners, has an opinion that Chinese urbanization and American high-tech development will have a profound impact to human development. There are three big challenges to China in the21st century, and the top one is the process of urbanization. Therefore, urbanization is the inevitable trend for human society, and Chinese urbanization is an important process which has greatly influenced human society in the21st century.Shanghai, the biggest city in China mainland, takes lead over other cities no matter in urbanization process or industrial structure development. After the fast development in1990s, Shanghai urban area has an earthshaking change:service functions have been showing up, and the concentration ability is further enhanced. According to Shanghai Statistical Yearbook2011, the population of Shanghai is14,123,200by the end of2010, and the agricultural population is only1,573,700, which means urbanization rate has reached88.9%, from which Shanghai has entered into the last stage of urbanization. In the view of industrial structure development, Shanghai has also entered the last stage of industrialization, and the proportion of primary industry keeps shrinking, while the proportion of4he third industry keeps rising and has already reached50%. To look back at its agriculture, Shanghai is not a big agriculture city, but a strong one. By2010, the area of Shanghai’s farmland is201,000hectares, which is the lowest among all provinces; however, in terms of output per unit area, farmers’ income and agricultural production rate, Shanghai ranks high on the list. Shanghai’s agricultural development experience is of great value to other cities’ urbanization. After years’development and accumulation, Shanghai has become a global metropolis, and leads other cities such as Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Nanjing to form the Yangtze River Delta Metropolis Area. Recently, Shanghai has been through all the stages of urbanization and now entering into the last stage. Based on Shanghai’s urbanization and agriculture development trend, this paper goes into three dimensions:population urbanization, economical urbanization and space urbanization, and studies the feature of urbanization in different phases and corresponding impacts on agriculture.From the foundation of PRC to the opening up, Shanghai had transformed from a multi-functional industrial and commercial city to a comprehensive industrial base, from a consumption-oriented city to a production-oriented city. Meanwhile, the urbanization rate of Shanghai had been declining for a lot of reasons, and reached58.75%at1978. At this stage, feeding people and clothing problem were the main issues; therefore, the main function of agriculture was providing major farm products. Vegetables only appeared in rural area and Suzhou riversides, showing some features of city agriculture development. And most area mainly produced grain and cotton, showing typical feature of village agriculture. At the beginning of the foundation of the country, the proportion of employees in the primary industry of Shanghai was obviously higher than the other two. With the rise of urban and rural industry, there was a transfer of labor force from the primary industry to the other two, however, the primary industry still held one third of the total employees. With the development of urbanization, arable land rate kept declining, but was still above50%at1978, which had declined only by4.9%, thus there formed a land structure with farmland being the most important part. From1959to1978, agriculture production of Shanghai grew from227million to1.826billion, but the growing rate was much lower than the second and third industry. It was partly because the government focused on industry. Therefore, to develop industry at the cost of agriculture became a trend, and it was common to use methods like pricing difference to support industry by sacrificing agriculture. Relatively, all resources leaned to industry, and the input to agriculture was certainly reduced, somehow the development of agriculture was affected indirectly.After the reform and opening-up, the developing strategy of Shanghai area was adjusted, the whole city’s position was transferred from a single industry base to a multi-functional city. Urbanization rate rose from60.72%in1979to73.84%in1999. At this stage, feeding and clothing problem had been almost solved, people began to purchase the quality of life, and one of the most important aspects was the fast-growing requirement for fresh vegetables and subsidiary foodstuffs. Accordingly, Shanghai began to show some typical features of suburban agriculture, and the animal husbandry developed at a high speed, later, the suburban agriculture started to sprout. There was a decline in the number of employees in the primary industry, and young people from villages moved into the second and third industry. The proportion of female and old people in labor force kept rising. With the fast-going urbanization process, from1979to1999, arable land rate declined from355,800hectares to290,900hectares, dropping18.24%. However, the agriculture production rose greatly from2.041billion to20.69billion. Among all the factors accounting for the growth of agriculture production, technology input was the most important one. At this stage, trading agriculture for industry had almost been dead. Agriculture and industry tended to support the development of themselves and sometimes the situation of industry supporting agriculture might even occur.After20years’strategy adjustment, Shanghai had become a comprehensive global metropolis when entering the new century, and has been developing as the leader in economy, logistics, trade and transportation. The urbanization rate of Shanghai almost reached75%in2000, and88.9%in2010, with Shanghai entering the last stage of urbanization, In terms of the economic structure, the proportion of the third industry exceeded the second industry in2000for the first time, reached more than50%. GDP per capita of Shanghai exceeded$3,000in2000and reached$10,000in2010, which means that Shanghai has become one of the moderately developed economies. At this stage, life standard of Shanghai people has risen tremendously, they tend to ask more about their living quality, which is mainly conveyed in their requirements for the quality of agricultural products and living environment. Under these circumstances, Shanghai agriculture development has entered the urban agriculture stage, and the multi-function of agriculture began to take shape.On the basis of studying the influence of Shanghai’s urbanization upon its agricultural development at different stages, Chapter Five conducts a systematic reflection and summing up. Firstly, it concludes the major promotion effects Shanghai’s urbanization process brings to its agricultural development from three aspects:the development of urbanization promotes the upgrading of agriculture industry; the development of Shanghai’s transportation construction steams up agricultural trading; the development of agricultural technology guarantees Shanghai agriculture’s sustainable development. Secondly, restriction effects of urbanization upon agricultural development are generalized from the following three points:positioning of the city and the change of its function confine Shanghai’s agricultural development; urbanization process results in a decline in both quantity and quality of Shanghai’s agricultural labor force; urbanization appropriates a lot of farming land. Lastly, in terms of the references this study’s research results could provide to other cities’ planning of agricultural development, the paper offers eight suggestions, which are:to grasp general rules and put emphasis on strategic planning; to increase scientific input and advance production output per unit; to protect farmland effectively and ensure secure supply; to distribute the population reasonably and promote integration of urban and rural districts; to plan transportation construction and strengthen trade flow; to prevent environment pollution and guarantee sustainable development; to take advantage of the secondary and tertiary industries and steam up upgrading of agriculture; to enhance technological innovation and arouse market vitality.