Policy Decision Support for Sustainable Adaptation of China's Agriculture to Globalization
Although China has had a large agricultural resource base and a solid record of productivity increases in past decades, fundamental changes in its national food policies are needed to ensure future food security, accommodate changing urban food preferences, mitigate widening rural–urban and regional income disparities, and prevent massive environmental pollution.

In 2001, the year China acceded to the World Trade Organization (WTO), IIASA’s Land Use Change and Agriculture (LUC) Program, in collaboration with five partner institutes, initiated a research project sponsored by the European Union (EU) entitled Policy Decision Support for Sustainable Adaptation of China’s Agriculture to Globalization (2002-2005). Based on analysis of a range of development and policy scenarios over a 30-year time horizon, CHINAGRO aimed to establish an informed policy dialogue between Chinese and EU institutions to improve food security and farmers’ income, and to promote sustainable agricultural development in China.

A multi-regional general equilibrium setup was the defining framework of the project, and welfare optimization was the principal economic tool applied to evaluate a range of scenarios and policy options to assess the technological feasibility, economic costs and environmental effects of food policy changes in China. The study developed a regionalized food and agricultural model, which uses statistically estimated results and takes into account agro-ecological conditions at county-level. CHINAGRO was jointly implemented with Chinese and European partner institutions.

Collaborators in partner institutions
Key issues and major policy concerns
Final policy workshop
How we forecast the future of China's agriculture
Sustainable livestock
China's agricultural prospects and challenges (pdf, 2008)
Final report (pdf, 2006)
Asia "Options" (pdf, 2005)
China "Options" (pdf, 1999)

Responsible for this page: Elisabeth Kawczynski
Last updated: 09 Nov 2009