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Does Fallowing Cultivated Land Threaten Food Security? Empirical Evidence from Chinese Pilot Provinces

Author

Listed:
  • Qingyuan Yang

    (School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

  • Renhao Yang

    (Division of Geography and Tourism, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Yahui Wang

    (School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

  • Kaifang Shi

    (School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

Abstract

Facing worsening problems, including the decreasing amount, quality, and deterioration of land ecosystems, cultivated land needs protective measures. China has been conducting an experimental fallow policy to deter these problems in five pilot provinces since 2016. However, inadequate and inconclusive studies of the impacts of fallow policy on food security have motivated the authors to fill this knowledge gap and to provide evidence for policy-making. Using the modified cultivated land pressure model, this study explores the cultivated land pressure at three scales (nation, province, and prefecture) to determine the capacity of feeding people using cultivated land, and examines the impact of fallowing cultivated land. There are three main findings. First, the cultivated land pressure in China continually decreased during the period of 2000–2016, and would remain in a decreasing trend during 2017–2020 even if the measures implemented doubled the fallowing scale every year. Second, the spatial patterns of the cultivated land pressure between the provincial and prefectural scale show a similar overview, with some nuanced disparities. Finally, the five pilot provinces show various amplitudes of variation in cultivated land pressure, ranging from 0.017% to 9.027% under three fallow scale scenarios. Thus, the results of this research support the argument that fallow policy will not threaten food security at a national and provincial scale, based on the current fallow scale and enlargement pace. The deeper understanding of the impact of fallow policy provides a scientific reference for policymaking and calls for further studies focusing on a more comprehensive measurement of cultivated land pressure and optimization fallow scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Qingyuan Yang & Renhao Yang & Yahui Wang & Kaifang Shi, 2019. "Does Fallowing Cultivated Land Threaten Food Security? Empirical Evidence from Chinese Pilot Provinces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:10:p:2836-:d:232301
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hualin Xie & Lingjuan Cheng & Tiangui Lv, 2017. "Factors Influencing Farmer Willingness to Fallow Winter Wheat and Ecological Compensation Standards in a Groundwater Funnel Area in Hengshui, Hebei Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Xie, Hualin & Wang, Wei & Zhang, Xinmin, 2018. "Evolutionary game and simulation of management strategies of fallow cultivated land: A case study in Hunan province, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 86-97.
    3. Samuel T. Partey & Robert B. Zougmoré & Mathieu Ouédraogo & Naresh V. Thevathasan, 2017. "Why Promote Improved Fallows as a Climate-Smart Agroforestry Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-12, October.
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    5. Yong-sheng Wang, 2019. "The Challenges and Strategies of Food Security under Rapid Urbanization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-11, January.
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    8. Qiu, Guo Yu & Zhang, Xiaonan & Yu, Xiaohui & Zou, Zhendong, 2018. "The increasing effects in energy and GHG emission caused by groundwater level declines in North China’s main food production plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 138-150.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dan Lu & Yahui Wang & Qingyuan Yang & Huiyan He & Kangchuan Su, 2019. "Exploring a Moderate Fallow Scale of Cultivated Land in China from the Perspective of Food Security," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Yuanqing Li & Kaifang Shi & Yahui Wang & Qingyuan Yang, 2021. "Quantifying and Evaluating the Cultivated Areas Suitable for Fallow in Chongqing of China Using Multisource Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, January.

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