Register      Login
The Rangeland Journal The Rangeland Journal Society
Journal of the Australian Rangeland Society
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > RJ > RJ08011
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 30(2)

Perspectives on livestock production systems in China

X. L. Li A B , Q. H. Yuan A , L. Q. Wan A and F. He A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A The Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing 100094, China.

B Corresponding author. Email: lixl@iascaas.net.cn

The Rangeland Journal 30(2) 211-220 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ08011
Submitted: 5 March 2008  Accepted: 21 April 2008   Published: 3 June 2008

Abstract

This review paper describes the livestock production systems in China, their status and trends, driving factors, and major issues with profound impact. Three distinct livestock production systems are discussed; grazing, mixed farming, and industrial systems. The ‘grazing system’ is generally characterised by harsh climate, rangeland, and low livestock output. Market forces, biophysical constraints and environmental concerns are putting a ceiling on the potential for intensification of the grazing system except in some areas where the agro-ecological potential permits. This system needs to be re-oriented towards adding ecosystem service provision, rather than mere production or subsistence. The ‘mixed farming system’, with the highest share of most kinds of livestock commodities, forms the backbone of China’s agriculture and is undertaking a notable intensification and specialisation process. The ‘industrial system’ is geographically concentrated in areas close to densely populated demand centers. Although growing fast, the share of national livestock output remains relatively small. The past two decades have seen a rapid growth in both consumption and production of livestock food products in China. This new food revolution has been driven to a great extent by the rapid growing economy, personal income and urbanisation. Among the most important issues related to livestock production systems in China are severe rangeland degradation, caused mainly by overexploitation of these lands, increasing demand and competition for feed grain, and environmental and public health risks associated with industrialised livestock production. China will have to cope with such challenges through proper policy and technological interventions to sustain the livestock development and simultaneously secure the natural resources and environmental health.

Additional keywords: consumption, demand, environment, grasslands, rangelands.


Acknowledgements

We thank Andrew Moore, Libby Salmon and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on a draft of the paper.


References


Conner J. R. , Hamilton W. T. , Kreuter U. P. , Sheehy D. P. , Simpson J. R. , and Stuth J. W. (1996). ‘Environmental Impact Assessment of Livestock Production in Grassland and Mixed Rainfed Systems in Temperate, Humid and Subhumid Tropic and Subtropic Zones (except Africa). Vol 1.’ (FAO: Rome.) Available at: www.fao.org/WAIRDOCS/LEAD/X6117E/X6117E00.HTM (accessed 12 May 2008)

Crook F. W. , and Colby W. H. (1998). China’s Livestock Sector Growing Rapidly. Agricultural Outlook/November 1998. Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Available at: www.ers.usda.gov/publications/agoutlook/nov1998/ao256e.pdf (accessed 12 May 2008)

Delgado C. , Rosegrant M. , Steinfeld H. , Ehui S. , and Courbois C. (1999). ‘Livestock to 2020: the Next Food Revolution.’ Food, Agriculture and the Environment Discussion Paper 28. (IFPRI, FAO and ILRI: Washington, DC.)

Deng R., Sun B. (2004) An analysis on production system, supply and demand of livestock products in China. Journal of Anhui Agricultural University 13, 40–52. (accessed 12 May 2008)

FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) (2006). ‘Livestock Report 2006.’ (FAO: Rome.) Available at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/a0255e/a0255e.pdf (accessed 12 May 2008)

FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) (2007). ‘FAOSTAT.’ (FAO: Rome.) Available at: http://faostat.fao.org/default.aspx (accessed 12 May 2008)

Fuller F., Huang J., Ma H., Rozelle S. (2006) Got milk? The rapid rise of China’s dairy sector and its future prospects. Food Policy 31, 201–215.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | (accessed 12 May 2008)

Ke B. (1997). Industrial livestock production, concentrate feed demand and natural resource requirements in China. In: ‘Proceedings of the International Conference on Livestock and the Environment’. pp. 180–190. (International Agricultural Centre: Wageningen.)

King B. S. , Tietyen J. L. , and Vickner S. S. (2000). ‘Consumer Trends and Opportunities.’ (University of Kentucky: Lexington.)

Li X. , He F. , and Wan L. (2007 a). A review of China’s institutional arrangements for rangeland management. In: ‘Rangeland Co-management. Proceedings of International Workshop’. Diqing, Yunnan, China, 13–15 May 2006. (Eds X. Li, A. Wilks, Z. Yan.) (China Agricultural Science and Technology Press: Beijing.) [In Chinese]

Li X., Wan L., He F. (2007b) Potential of grassland agriculture in southern China and its significance to food security. Science and Technology Review [In Chinese] 2007, 9–15. (accessed 12 May 2008). [In Chinese]

NBS (2006). ‘China Statistical Yearbook 2006.’ (National Bureau of Statistics of China: Beijing.) Available at: www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2006/indexeh.htm (accessed 12 May 2008). [In Chinese]

Pan Y. (2006a) Increase in share of feed in grain consumption enhances food security. China Feed [In Chinese] 2006, 15–21. open url image1

Pan Y. (2006b) Issues of balancing feed and food demand and production. China Animal Husbandry Bulletin [In Chinese] 2006, 34–37. open url image1

Peng Z., Tian Z. (2004) Current status and development strategy for food-feed dual purpose maize production. Crops [In Chinese] 2004, 4–6. open url image1

Rae A. (1998) The effects of expenditure growth and urbanisation on food consumption in East Asia: a note on animal products. Agricultural Economics 18, 291–299.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Ren J. (1982) Evaluation of the secondary productivity of grasslands. Journal of Sichuan Grasslands [In Chinese] 2, 1–14. open url image1

Ren J., Hu Z., Mou X. (1979) Animal Product Unit: a new index for evaluating grassland productivity. Chinese Journal of Animal Science [In Chinese] 2, 21–27. open url image1

Ren J. Z., Hu Z. Z., Zhao J., Zhang D. G., Hou F. J., Lin H. L., Mu X. D. (2008) A grassland classification system and its application in China. The Rangeland Journal 30, 199–209. open url image1

Ruthenberg H. (1980). ‘Farming Systems in the Tropics.’ (Clarendon Press: Oxford.)

Ren J., Wang Q., Mou X., Hu Z., Fu Y., Sun J. (1978) The production flow of the grassland and seasonal livestock farming. Scientia Agricultura Sinica [In Chinese] 2, 87–92. open url image1

Schmer M. R., Vogel K. P., Mitchell R. B., Perrin R. K. (2008) Net energy of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 105, 464–469.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Schmidhuber J., Shetty P. (2005) The nutrition transition to 2030. Why developing countries are likely to bear the major burden. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica 2, 150–166.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Seré C. , and Steinfeld H. (1996). ‘World Livestock Production Systems: Current Status, Issues and Trends.’ Animal Production and Health Paper No. 127. (FAO: Rome.)

Simpson J. R. , Cheng X. , and Miyazaki A. (1994). ‘China’s Livestock and Related Agriculture: Projections to 2025.’ (CAB International: Wallingford, UK.)

Steinfeld H. , Gerber P. , Wassenaar T. , Castel V. , Rosales M. , and de Haan C. (2006 a). ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow.’ (FAO: Rome.)

Steinfeld H., Wassenaar T., Jutzi S. (2006b) Livestock production systems in developing countries: status, drivers, trends. Revue Scientifique et Technique 25, 505–516.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Thornton P. K. , Kruska R. L. , Henninger N. , Kristjanson P. M. , Reid R. S. , Atieno F. , Odero A. N. , and Ndegwa T. (2002). ‘Mapping Poverty and Livestock in the Developing World.’ (International Livestock Research Institute: Nairobi, Kenya.)

Wang D., Ba L. (2008) Ecology of meadow steppe in northeast China. The Rangeland Journal 30, 247–254. open url image1

World Bank (2006). ‘World Development Indicators.’ (World Bank: Washington, DC.)

Xie G. D., Zhang Y. L., Lu C. X. (2001) Study on the valuation of grassland ecosystem services of China. Journal of Natural Resources [In Chinese] 16, 47–53. open url image1

Yan Z. (2007). Concepts and procedures in co-management of rangeland resources. In: ‘Rangeland Co-management. Proceedings of International Workshop’. Diqing, Yunnan, China, 13–15 May 2006. (Ed. X. Li, A. Wilks, Z. Yan) (China Agricultural Science and Technology Press: Beijing.) [In Chinese]

Yang X., Zhang K., Jia B., Ci L. (2005) Desertification assessment in China: an overview. Journal of Arid Environments 63, 517–531.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Zhang Z. (1999) Analysis on feed demand for China’s livestock development into the new century. Foreign Animal Science and Technology [In Chinese] 139, 1–4. open url image1

Zhongxin C., Xinshi Z. (2000) The value of ecosystem services in China. Chinese Science Bulletin 45, 870–875.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Zhou Z. , Wu Y. , and Tian W. (2003). Food consumption in rural China: preliminary results from household survey data. In: ‘Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the Association for Chinese Economic Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.’ pp. 1–37.