Agricultural Development in China: Comparison with Japanese Experience

Feeding an enormous population has been the greatest challenge for Chinese agriculture, and China has achieved remarkable development in agriculture since the late 1970s. Technological and institutional transformations are significant driving forces of continuous development in agriculture. Meanwhile, small-scale farm households, whose farmlands tend to be fractionated and spatially dispersed, still mainly operate farm management in China. These characteristics of Chinese agriculture are generally common in East Asian counties, including Japan. This chapter aims to compare the development path and agricultural policies of China and Japan. The results reveal that the development of agriculture tends to follow a common trajectory, but the socio-economic conditions and practical policies of Chinese agriculture have unique features. China follows the same path as Japan, transforming from land-saving to labor-saving technology, but specialized operators using large/medium-sized tractors provide mechanical services in China. The share of leased farmland in China has surpassed that of Japan, and administrative enforcement has facilitated further transactions in China. Moreover, China has experienced an agricultural policy cycle, and thus, the protection of agriculture by raising minimum support prices for major grains has been intensifying since the late 2000s, which is also practiced in Japan but to a lesser degree.