Description

Over the last twenty five years, China has made huge progress in meeting its agricultural policy objectives: agricultural production has risen sharply, rural industries have absorbed a large part of farm labour, poverty has fallen dramatically, and the level and quality of food consumption has improved significantly. In line with the improving economic situation, government priorities have shifted from increasing production, especially of food grains, to rural income support and, most recently, to environmental concerns.

This review examines China's agricultural policy context and trends while measuring the extent of support provided to its agriculture on the basis of consistent and internationally comparable analysis. It provides an objective assessment of the opportunities, constraints and trade-offs that confront China's policy makers.

The data used for the calculation of the level of agricultural support in China (PSE/CSE), including reference prices, exchange rates and complete documentation of definitions and sources are available at: www.oecd.org/agr/support.