China turns important corner in food production
CHINA became the world’s third-largest food
aid donor last year, the same year it stopped receiving assistance from the
World Food Program.
Rice harvesting, Hainan Province
CHINA became the world’s third-largest food aid donor last year, the same year it stopped receiving assistance from the World Food Program, while the United States and the European Union remained the top two contributors, the UN agency said today.
Donations from China almost tripled to 577,000 metric tons (636,000 tons) and accounted for more than half of the rise in overall food aid donations last year, the World Food Program said in its annual report.
It’s always a bit of a surprise when incremental changes result in a qualitative change. The Chinese government admits that bringing farmers into the 21st Century is one of their toughest tasks. Eliminating farm taxes, this year, was part of what they’re trying.
Wheat and wheat flour were the main commodities donated [by all countries], followed by coarse grains like maize and maize meal, and rice.
“Donations of food made the difference between life and death after the tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake and in Sudan, so we are extraordinarily grateful to all who gave last year,” James T. Morris, the WFP’s executive director, said in a statement.
As I recall, China’s longterm goals include modernizing food production enough to allow for about half of today’s rural population to continue to move to something more like the urban proportion of Western industrial societies.
Posted: Thu - July 20, 2006 at 05:20 PM