THE CHARACTER AND CHANGE TENDENCY OF AGRICULTURAL LAND USE IN THE ZHUJIANG DELTA-A CASE STUDY OF SHUNDE CITY

Key words: 
• land use /
• export-oriented economy /
• Zhujiang Delta

Abstract: In this paper, Shunde City is selected as a typical region standing for the Zhujiang Delta because of its excellent location and dike-pond system.There are three main characters of agricultural land use in this region. First, the most typical land use form is dike-pond system. It is a special form of artificial ecosystem of land-water interaction. Second, sandy field is also an important land type in this region. Third, land use is greatly influenced by export-oriented economy. Recently, with economic reforming and the opening up of the Zhujiang Delta, the structure of agricultural land use has been changed greatly. The area of mulberry dike has decreased and a variety of planting crops has increased.Various structure of dike-pond farming has emerged in the Zhujiang Delta such as "fruit dike-fish pond", "flower dike-fish pond", "grass dike-fish pond", "vegetable dike-fish pond". The area of water has slightly increased and its development tends to modernization due to the use of modern equipment and advanced breeding ways. The area for "three high"(high yield, high quality and high efficiency) agriculture has increased greatly.