For the reason that Nineteen Sixties, China’s inhabitants has greater than doubled. Regardless of having greater than twice as many mouths to feed, the quantity of meals it produces per individual has elevated dramatically.
Higher seeds, irrigation, pest administration, and improved farming strategies have all helped improve the nation’s agricultural productiveness. However the addition of vitamins by means of fertilizers has additionally made an enormous distinction. The chart exhibits the speedy uptake of fertilizers in China from the Nineteen Sixties by means of the early 2000s.
Whereas fertilizers can play a vital function in feeding extra folks and utilizing much less land, in addition they have damaging environmental impacts. Extra vitamins run off into rivers and pollute coastlines, and fertilizers can emit nitrogen oxide, a robust greenhouse fuel. Utilizing fertilizers extra effectively helps develop meals whereas chopping air pollution.
China has made essential progress on this within the final decade. As you may see within the chart, its fertilizer use peaked in 2014 and has fallen since then. On the identical time, the nation’s agricultural manufacturing has continued to extend.
In 2015, China launched its “Zero-Progress Motion Plan for Fertilizer”, and its authorities insurance policies have performed a vital function on this turnaround.
Subsidies beforehand made fertilizers very low cost in China, which inspired farmers to overuse them. Reducing these subsidies whereas providing incentives for agricultural equipment, precision applied sciences, farmer schooling, and bigger farms (which have a tendency to make use of much less fertilizer per hectare) has made China’s farming sector far more environment friendly.
Learn extra in my article “How efficient are insurance policies in lowering the environmental impacts of agriculture?” →
