Sustainable agricultural development in China: an assessment of problems, policies and perspectives

The voices of Chinese farmers are generally absent in the debate and in the strategies for sustainable agricultural development proposed by government and scholars. This research assess in how far the Chinese governmental strategy for agricultural development and major alternative strategies address the sustainability problems of China’s agriculture in a comprehensive way. In addition, this research assess the perspectives on economic, social and environmental problems and solutions of Chinese farmers from different ages, levels of education, farm household types, and agro-ecological contexts. Finally, we assess the extent to which the Chinese governmental strategy for agricultural development and major alternative strategies address the problems as experienced by farmers from a broad range of contexts, and to determine how such strategies better could account for farmers’ perspectives. We concluded that, to be effective, a strategy for sustainable agricultural development must account for the perspectives and diverse conditions of Chinese farmers.