An independent, peer reviewed journal for policy makers and practitioners in agriculture and related industries, assessing the interactions between population growth, resources, the environment and climate change.
Summary
The use of nitrogen (N) and other fertilisers has been one of the keys to achieving food security in China. Grain production almost doubled in China between 1980 and 2010, yet total fertiliser use increased more than four-fold in the same period. This disparity is partly due to changes in cropping, with a large increase in the area devoted to horticultural crops (vegetables and fruit trees) that are given large rates of fertiliser, especially N. But it also reflects the extremely high …
Introduction
China’s GDP has increased steadily since 1949, reaching 63,646 billion Renminbi (1038 billion US dollars) in 2014 to become the world’s second largest economy (1) (Fig. 1).
In recent years, China’s food security has received attention from researchers and policy makers (2, 3). In 2011, China had 20% of global food production (4). Future trends in grain production, consumption and import will affect food prices in the region (5) and food security is a high priority of …
