Keywords

farmlands, irrigation water, private land, agricultural prices, land ownership, agrarian reform, grains, irrigation, land economics

Abstract

Chinese officials and newspapers express considerable concern about the country's capacity to feed its huge and still growing population. The rhetoric will be familiar to people in Western countries as a blend of "agrarian fundamentalism" and "Malthusianism." But beyond the official rhetoric, we will argue that reforms in land ownership and irrigation water pricing and management could have highly salutary impacts on agricultural output that could alleviate food shortages far into the future.

Original Publication Citation

Are There Ways to Enhance China’s Food Security, (with Yaohui Zhao) Choices, (First Quarter, 1999: 18-24.