Sustainable residue management agricultural transition in China

20 November 2019

Rapid economic development and socioeconomic transformations have led to a quickly transforming agricultural sector. Agricultural transformation however is challenged by the conflicting human, economic and environmental interests. The management of externalities in animal husbandry and crop farming provide insights into structural problems and potential solutions. Following questions shall be answered: What are the trends of environmental externalities among the surveyed farms. What are important influencing factors and what impact have environmental policy on the residue management behavior of farmers? This research is based on 2013 date from Chinese pig and corn farmers and focus on the impact of farm characteristics and public policies on the residue management of the surveyed farms. The results reveal deficiencies of existing policies that fail to provide proper incentives for compliances. Other programs like machinery subsidies or demonstration sites are more successful and highlight the need for further state support to farmers in transition from traditional smallholder systems to modern agricultural production. Recently, a series of interviews with various stakeholders focuses on the emergence of markets for residue from pork production in biogas production.

Researcher: Lena Kuhn, Axel Wolz

Cooperation Partners: Beijing University, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences