Changes and Effecting Factors of Grain Production in China

Key words: 
• grain production /
• grain yield per unit area /
• grain sown area /
• land use intensity

Abstract:  Based on the data from the Cost-benefit Data of Farm Produce and the China Agricultural Yearbook, this paper aims to examine
the spatial and temporal change characteristics of total grain production and its affecting factors. The results show that: 1) During 1980
to 2007, total grain production increased from 3.20 × 108 t to 5.02 × 108 t in China, with annual increasing rate of 1.68%. From the
regional disparities, most of the regions present increasing trend of total grain production except for several regions with higher level of
economic development; 2) Grain sown area decreased from 1.17 × 108 ha in 1980 to 1.06 × 108 ha in 2007, which has negative effect
on total grain production; 3) The increase of grain yield per unit area caused by land use intensity changes contributed to the increase of
total grain yield greatly. However, as the land use intensity showed that farmers pay more attention to labor-saving input but not yield-
increasing input, the less enthusiasm of farmers in grain production may become an important constraint on future grain production
increase in China; 4) Based on the results, this paper proposed different land management policies in different regions, for example, the
government should protect cultivated land, promote large scale production. As to the less developed regions, the government should pay
more attention to agricultural subsidies to promote farmers′ enthusiasm in grain production.