Beijing proclaims the goal of food self-sufficiency at a 95-percent level on a grain basis but there is inadequate data upon which to judge this feat. Goro Takahashi at Aichi University calculates that China’s food self-sufficiency is declining at more than 1 percent per year (see graph below). The Japanese would know since they have struggled with their own food self-sufficiency that has declined from 80 percent in 1960 to 37 percent today.  While China claims agricultural production on a high percentage (54.7) of its land area, the amount of arable land available per person is less than half that of Japan. Key issues are soil quality and water availability. In recent years, China’s food exports have declined by 34 percen...

TAGS – Feed Grains, Livestock, China