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Changes in quantity and quality of cropland and the implications for grain production in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China

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Abstract

Understanding land use changes and their implications for grain production are important for the maintenance of food security. We analyzed changes in quantity and quality of cropland in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China during the last 30 years and the implications for future grain production. Several categories of data were used, including long-term remote sensing images (1990–2005), spatial datasets of soil quality levels (1980s), spatial datasets of irrigation area (2000), data from hydrological stations (1978–2003) and meteorological stations (1950–2007) and statistical datasets of grain production, grain yield, area sown to grain, fertilizer use and effective irrigation area (1978–2008). The results showed that annual grain production losses due to shrinkage of cropland area over the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain were 4.30 and 2.63 million tons during 1990–2000 and 2000–2005, respectively. The greatest decline in cropland area occurred as a result of the expansion of economically developed metropolises or in provinces with large areas of urbanization. Furthermore, more “above average” quality and irrigated cropland was abandoned, i.e. sacrificed to urbanization or other non-agricultural uses, than that obtained by reclamation. Conversion of fertile and irrigated land to non-agricultural uses due to rapid urbanization appears to be a potential threat to the food security of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain - even the whole of China. Most of the increase of grain production in the Plain can be attributed to increase in yield per hectare, which was due to improvement of crop varieties, a ~400 % increase in fertilizer use and a ~20 % increase in effective irrigation area. Policies to optimize utilization of land resources to ensure the soil fertility of cropland and to maximize nitrogen and water use efficiency are required to sustain current grain production and to achieve further increases.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 41001057), the “Strategic Priority Research Program” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues” Grant No. XDA05090310, the National Program on Key Basic Research Project, China (Project No. 2010CB950902 and 2009CB421105), and the project supported by State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (2011-KF-06). Fulu Tao acknowledges the support of the “Hundred Talents” Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Warwick Harris (Landcare Research, New Zealand), Drs Wei Song, Jinwei Dong and Yuqi Chen (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS), the Journal editor and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, suggestions and language revisions.

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  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A, Datun Road, Anwai, 100101, Beijing, China

    Wenjiao Shi, Fulu Tao & Jiyuan Liu

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  1. Wenjiao Shi
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Correspondence to Fulu Tao.

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Shi, W., Tao, F. & Liu, J. Changes in quantity and quality of cropland and the implications for grain production in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China. Food Sec. 5, 69–82 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-012-0225-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-012-0225-9

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