China has long been obsessed with finding ways to ensure there is enough food for its population, and with good reason.
With almost a fifth of the world¡¯s people, limited farmland and the increasing challenge of climate change, President Xi Jinping¡¯s government has exhorted farmers to maximize harvests and consumers to minimize waste. It¡¯s built up huge stockpiles to cope with shortages and created new seeds to boost output.
Even so, the country still buys about 60% of all the soybeans that are traded internationally, and ranks as the biggest corn and barley importer. It has also recently emerged as one of the world¡¯s largest wheat buyers. That makes soaring global crop costs and, potentially, a looming world food crisis very much a matter of concern for the government, especially in terms of how local prices perform. Here are some of the food security challenges China faces:
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