China Headlines: China caps fertilizer, pesticide use

Fertilizers and pesticides have done so much damage to China's ecosystem and brought an array of food safety issues that their use is to be capped from 2020.

China feeds its huge population with very limited agricultural resources. Annual grain output has grown for 11 straight years, but achievements have come at great cost. The target is part of the national drive for efficient, eco-friendly farming.

BALANCING ACT

The northeastern province of Heilongjiang produces about one tenth of China's grain but acute problems including soil acidification and hardening are raising costs while reducing yields. Farmers blame overuse of fertilizers and pesticides but face the dilemma that cutting down on chemicals will cause an even sharper fall in yields.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, at least 16 percent of China's soil contains more pollutants than national standards allow; less than one third of fertilizers and pesticides are absorbed by crops; less than two thirds of plastic film is recycled; less than half of livestock and poultry waste is processed; and straw burning is still widespread. This all adds up to an agronomic nightmare and an environmental situation staggering from bad to worse.

The ministry is also concerned about desertification, water resources, industrial contamination, and maintain sufficient arable land.

The State Council, China's cabinet, announced on Wednesday plans to improve low-yield farmland and increase irrigation. Less water must be used in agriculture and treatment of sewage and waste must improve. Fertilizers and pesticides are just a small part of a big problem.

BIGGER IS BETTER

Much of China's agricultural production comes from small farmers or groups of small farmers working communal land. Large, well established agricultural concerns are seen as one way of boosting food production and processing. Better use of technology, another feature of large commercial endeavors, is another prerequisite to better efficiency.

The development pattern of agriculture in developed countries focused first on yields before any thought was given to environmental protection,and China is now heading down that same path. Natural resources are limited and moderate economies of scale can cut the cost of management and reduce fertilizers and pesticides, according to Li Guoxiang, a researcher with the rural development institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

A sustainable development plan released by the ministry this May is a general guideline for the agricultural development over the next 15 years. By 2030, resources should be used more efficiently and frugally and the natural environment in agricultural regions should be sound, with yields stable.

DUCKING THE ISSUE` Since the beginning of this year, China has been experimenting with self-sufficiency by combining crops with livestock in some northern regions.

According to Li Guoxiang, planting feed instead of grain has proved a great success in Inner Mongolia, where farmers started to cultivate alfalfa and corn to feed livestock. Subsidies and technological assistance be in place to motivate local government officials and farmers.

Instead of using fertilizer and pesticide, a company in Heilongjiang has experimented with raising ducks in rice paddies. The ducks eat weeds and pests while stimulating the growth of rice as they swim. The ducks' droppings are also an organic fertilizer that provides everything rice needs.

This "duck rice" has been a limited success on the market with a sale price of 60 to 80 yuan (13 U.S. dollars) per kilo, ten times the price of rice grown with fertilizers and pesticides. Endi