Search

Food concerns national livelihood and food security is vital for national security. In the context of “dual circulation” (i.e., domestic and international economic circulation) in China, clarifying the basic situation and challenges of food security and exploring effective strategies for food development are crucial for ensuring stable national development. Using national macro statistics, we first analyzed the basic situation of food security in China and the challenges it faces in the context of “dual circulation”. Subsequently, we made a macro study on national food security and proposed the goals, strategic paths, major projects, and feasible countermeasures for ensuring national food security. Our study indicates that there exists a large gap between food supply and demand, a high degree of external dependence, and a large amount of imports of feed protein in China, as well as challenges including the difficulty in substituting feed protein domestically, rigidness of environmental restrictions on soil and water resources, low incentives for farmers to grow grains, and insufficient risk-resistant capabilities of the food security system. Moreover, we proposed a series of major projects, such as demonstration for upgrading grain production capacity, new protein resource substitution, green and lowcarbon planting and breeding circulation, development and utilization of international grain resources, and research and development demonstration of future foods. Several development strategies were further suggested, including the establishment of a food security guarantee system, moderate expansion of cultivated land areas, sustained increase in oil-bearing plant production, steady resumption of a multiple cropping system in South China, and sustained advancement of a rotational cropping system in North China.

As cropland and water resources are most valuable, the rational development and utilization of agricultural water and land resources are crucial for national food, ecological, and resource security. Therefore, obtaining timely and accurate information about the quantity and utilization of these resources is vital for national stability and socio-economic development. Here, we summarize the status quo and problems of the monitoring and information services of agricultural water and land resources in China, and expound on the framework of a monitoring and information service system. Additionally, we propose the strategic goals, namely, realizing automatic, intelligent, and unmanned monitoring of agricultural resources and environment and marketing the monitoring information services. These goals can be achieved by increasing the efficiency and outcomes of water and land use and optimizing the spatial allocation of agricultural land and water resources. Moreover, we analyze the technological routes for agricultural water and land resource monitoring in the context of the deep integration of information technology and agriculture, and propose specific projects from the aspects of infrastructure construction, core technology development and integration, and information services. Furthermore, we propose the following policy suggestions: (1) strengthening the top-level design, (2) enhancing scientific and technological innovation, (2) building a sharing platform for agricultural resource monitoring, (4) deepening the interaction of government, industry, universities, research institutes, and users of agricultural resources, and (5) promoting high-level talent training. Our study is expected to provide theoretical references for the development of the agricultural water and land resource monitoring in China.

The balance of supply and demand for agricultural resources in China is becoming increasingly tight due to the multiple effects of high-quality agricultural production, transformation and upgrading of food consumption structure, and climate change. Therefore, it is crucial for China to integrate the international and domestic resources and markets to ensure food security in the medium and long term. Based on a comparative analysis of agricultural resources in China and abroad, we investigate food consumption demand, consumption structure, and supply structure in China by 2035 and 2050. The agricultural resource utilization targets for China by 2035 and 2050 are proposed based on an analysis of the agricultural resource supply-demand gap as well as import potentials and sources of virtual water and virtual arable land. We find that the import of virtual arable land by China will reach a peak around 2048, with nearly 6.147×107 hm2. Virtual water imports will reach a peak around 2045. If estimated by blue water, virtual water imports will be 1.136×108 m3, accounting for 30% of the total agricultural water consumption in 2017. The increase in the import potentials of China’s arable land will mainly come from South America and Africa.