Construction And Application Of Comprehensive Evaluation System Of Food Security

Evaluation constitutes one of the key steps to get an in-depth knowledge about a nation's regional food security. Guided by food security and ecological theories, this thesis constructs a multi-purpose evaluation index system of food security including production safety, ecological safety and social economy safety. This paper intends to explore regional contributions to or influences on national food security. This study analyzes the state of food security of 31 provinces in China from 2004 to 2013 based on the above-mentioned evaluation system. Major findings are as follows.(1) Combined with the current circumstances of food in China, the integrated evaluation index system of food security consists of three dimensions which are production safety, social economy safety and ecological safety based on food security, ecological and system theories. Production safety dimension is composed of five indicators which are food-sown area, total food output, total agricultural machinery power, effective irrigation area and labor productivity. Social economy safety dimension comprises natural population growth rate, Engel's Coefficient of rural areas, food sales price index, per-capita share of food as well as per-capita disposable income. Ecological safety dimension includes consumption of agricultural films per unit of area, application of pesticides per unit of area, amount of fertilizer used per unit of area, land area suffered natural disaster and controlled land area.(2) This thesis assesses the state of food security of 31 provinces in China from 2004 to 2013 by applying the evaluation index system established and Principal Component Analysis method. The results reveal that average score of regional production safety and social economy safety from 2004 to 2013 is in a steady uptrend, while that of ecological safety continues to decline and that of food safety rises slowly. Among the three dimensions, production safety affects composite score of food security most weighting 0.475 followed by economic security weighting 0.344 and ecological safety weighting 0.135.(3) Significant differences have been found in food security circumstance s of 31 provinces in China. State of food security shown by the evaluation r esults is as follows:Heilongjiang(1.718), Henan(1.461), Shandong(1.295) are i n the best state; Jiangsu(0.864), Inner Mongolia(0.741), Jilin(0.740) and Hebei (0.964) are fairly good; Anhui(0.535), Sichuan(0.333), Hunan(0.251), Liaoning (0.120), Hubei(0.011) and Jiangxi(-0.049) are above average;Yunnan(-0.153), S hanxi(-0.191), Zhejiang(-0.198),Guangdong(-0.256), Guangxi(-0.325), Shanxi(-0. 331), Xinjiang(-0.351), Chongqing(-0.415), Beijing(-0.426),Shanghai(-0.438), G ansu(-0.445), Tianjin(-0.472) and Guizhou(-0.520) are below average; and Fuji an(-0.669), Ningxia(-0.782), Tibet(-0.887), Qinghai(-0.938) and Hainan(-1.191) are of the lowest scores.(4) This paper analyzes main factors affecting provincial food security through comparisons of level differences. It is concluded that food production mode and relevant policies should be regulated pertinently according to regional comparative superiority and specific condition of food security.