BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/51
The cultivated land area for grains increased slightly last year to 113 million hectares. Constraints on available farmland have become one of the biggest problems facing Chinese agriculture. The amount and quality of available farmland reflect China’s widespread environmental problems, which have been caused by industrial pollution and excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Soil contamination and lack of access to clean irrigation water limit agricultural productivity. The small size of the average farm also hurts farm productivity. Farm subsidies support the raising of crops in areas poorly suited for farming or a particular crop. Chinese grain production is centred in the eastern provinces. Nearly 30 % of the total harvest comes from the Heilongjiang, Henan and Shandong provinces.