China Organic Agriculture Development And Security System

Food is the top priority of people’s lives. Food security directly associates with population survival, and food safety matters fundamentally the sustainable development of a nation. Developing organic agriculture is not only needed for the improvement of people’s living standard or for the increase of farmers’income through industry development, it is also needed for China’s national defense and sustainable development.Organic agriculture has experienced over half a century’s development in developed countries. But in China it is still a new industry emerging after the Reform and Open Policy took place, especially in the new millennium. According to our investigation, China’s organic agriculture development has the following major characteristics:1) the fast-paced growth and accelerating product R&D,2) remarkable elevation of the overall standard and continuing improvement of product structure,3) newly appeared regional comparative advantage with some areas becoming focus production zones for organic food,4) continued progress in more advanced regions and quicker follow-up by less advanced regions,5) entrance of industrial and commercial capital to organic agriculture, providing limited support to organic agricultural development,6) general trend from the production-and-export driving pattern to the consumption-and-domestic-sale driving pattern, with the combination of scale development and decentralized management. Generally China’s organic agriculture is still at the initial stage compared to developed countries. Currently the organic food market share is less than0.1%, far lower than the global average level of2%. Therefore organic agriculture has great potential and room to further develop in China. Developing organic agriculture is in accordance with the world trend and China’s unique national situation, especially when the whole world is facing food safety and environmental crisis today.Based on the feasibility and necessity of China’s organic agriculture development, the report conducted sufficient research and systematic organization of industrial strategies adopted in domestic and overseas organic agriculture development. From the combination of the strategies and macro-economic theories, a series of suggestions and measures are proposed. Some of the main ideas are listed below:Firstly, organic agriculture is not the return of conventional agriculture. It absorbed the essence of advanced agricultural development patterns such as ecological agriculture, organic fanning, and natural agriculture. It is an inclusive and innovative form of agriculture with combined strengths from other forms, leaving their weaknesses avoided or eliminated. During the process increasing comprehensive agricultural profit and improving agricultural products’competence are the purpose. Comprehensive agricultural profit includes three aspects:economic profit, ecological profit and social profit. It focuses on consistency and compatibility of the profit in quantity, quality, ecology, economy and society. Organic agriculture is different from the single goal of other agriculture forms where conventional agriculture’s focus on quantity, organic farming’s focus on quality, sustainable agriculture’s focus on ecology. Organic agriculture aims at improving ecology and increase profit at the same time of guaranteeing the quantity and quality of food supply. It achieved resource optimization based on modern science and technology as well as mechanism innovation by way of linear programming for the optimal result of multiple targets.Secondly, besides the inherent fragility of agriculture as an industry, organic agriculture has higher standard of safety claim and environment responsibility as well as stricter requirement of resource input and management, which decides its higher cost and poses negative influence on its competitiveness. Organic agricultural product increases the efficacy of the product itself. But the market value of the increased part of efficacy would not be realized without a well-established quality assessment system, quality publicity system (such as label specification), and balanced information for both the selling and purchasing parties. In this case the organic producers would not be able to retrieve the extra cost, and their motive to continue with organic agriculture would be hurt. It is fair to say that organic agriculture is fragile and needs guarantee of matched mechanism. On the other hand, developing organic agriculture has the exterior feature of ecological environment protection. Since the improvement of ecological environment from the organic agriculture development brings benefits to the whole society, the contribution is supposed to be supported and subsidized by the government.Thirdly, as people’s living standard keeps rising and food safety issues happen frequently, people start to hold high expectations to organic food, green food and pollution-free food. China is providing support in aspects including capital, funding, technology, and tax. Yet viewed from the current situation, the state support should be further amplified, strengthened, broadened and elevated at this initial stage of organic agriculture development.Fourthly, the frequent breakout of food safety issues makes us aware that only policy support is not enough for the organic agriculture development to pace into a benign circle. Design of the credit system and mechanism has to be solved on the basis of state support and subsidiary and in the meanwhile of promoting the construction of the market economy system. Chinese credit system and social credit system should be constructed with the support of morality, on the foundation of property rights, and with the guarantee of laws, in order to create a sound market environment for the wholesome development of organic agriculture. Measures should be taken on the following aspects:1) to establish and complete legal guarantee system,2) to build government inspection system,3) to construct media supervision system,4) to encourage civil monitoring,5) to found special teams against fortification,6) to complete the certification system and establish the inspection over certification authorities.Fifthly, the essential purpose of these efforts is the Bayesian Nash Equilibrium in the dynamic game among the government, producers, the market and consumers, which will safeguard and promote the sustainable, rapid and healthy development of organic agriculture in China.