Study On Virtual Water And The Optimization Of The Structure Of China Food Trade

Water is not only basic natural resources but strategic economic resources.A country's water resources and water environmental carrying capacity,water use,water supply and demand balance is in the relationship to national economic development and social stability.The traditional solution to water scarcity has always turned to engineering and technical means,while using economic,regulatory and institutional means to resolve the water crisis is also available.The concept of virtual water plays an important role in the efficiency of allocation of global water resources.This paper used CROPWAT8.0 software,CLIMWAT crop database and meteorological databases that UN Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) has recommended and Chinese related practical data,then estimated the virtual water content of products and China's grain trade,finally,analysed the structer of the food trade.The results show that:First,from the perspective of virtual water,the water consumption in the process of production is different for different food products,which are divided into water-intensive products,and water scarcity products.Importing water-intensive products and exporting products of water scarcity can expand the virtual water imports to reach the purpose of saving water resources.At present,China's agricultural trade structure is basically consistent with the evaluation criteria,but there is still room for further adjustments.Secondly,according to calculations of agricultural trade,China has average annual net imports of 46.363 billion cubic meters of virtual water from 2001 to 2008,and the net import quantity has a increasing trend year by year,showing China's agriculture depends on external water use to some extent,and has a rising trend.The current virtual water trade alleviate pressure in agricultural water use,but there is a serious shortage of water resources in China that still need to further expand the virtual water flows.Third,China's virtual water trade of grain imports is in a relatively stable but single structure,so while the expansion of trade volume,we should enrich the imported varieties further,to protect of resource security.Fourth,adjusting regional distribution of grain production,meanwhile strengthening the domestic virtual water trade between regions,to achieve sustainable use of water resources in the region,ease the pressure of its own shortage of water resources and get better conditions for agricultural production within the region to ensure better food production.