Programme description

Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)
Country: China
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)
Overall term: February 2002 to July 2009

Context

For several years, China has been self-sufficient and a net exporter of agricultural commodities, which has been achieved by very intensive agriculture. The main problems of intensive agriculture, especially intensive vegetable production, in China today are the excessive use of chemical fertilizers, the abuse and misuse of pesticides, which damage the environment - especially the ground and surface water, and lead to high pesticide residues on the crops at harvest. All these problems increasingly cause great concern to the government and consumers in China.

Objective

The objective of the project is to develop and implement methods for facility vegetable production which reduce the inputs considerably without diminishing the income of the farmers and at the same time contribute to a better environment and avoid negative consequences to the health of the rural population. Additionally, another objective of the project is that the improved marketing should lead to higher prices for products which meet higher quality standards.

Approach

The project has been implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture of China and GTZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in the following counties of Hebei province: Gaocheng, Xushui, Yongqing, Suning and Taocheng. All these counties lie up to 300 kilometres south of Beijing.

A set of technology packages has been developed which render reduced usage of water, pesticides and fertilizer:

• In traditional flood irrigation, most of the fertilizer is washed out and not absorbed by the plant. Drip irrigation carries the nutrients directly to the roots of the plants. Therefore water consumption is reduced considerably and less fertilizer is required; in addition, humidity is reduced in greenhouses, and diseases occur less frequently, hence the usage of pesticides is reduced. 
• Various measures have been introduced to reduce the use of pesticides: Traditionally, greenhouses are ventilated by opening them. This allows insects to enter. The use of insect nets permits ventilation without giving insects access to the greenhouses. Further reduction of harmful insects has been achieved by setting traps and introducing natural enemies of harmful insects.

After the concept had been developed and its technical and economic feasibility demonstrated, it was transferred to farmers in an intensive dissemination process. Initially the employees of the extension service were trained. The project did not exclusively concentrate on technical training, but, through farmer field schools, improved the farmers’ ability to observe, analyse, and take independent decisions.

Results achieved so far

By 2007, five thousand farmers had applied the concept and with the extension of the project a total of 20,000 farmers will be reached by the end of the project.
Technical analysis shows that the use of fertilizer can be reduced by 72%, the use of pesticides by 89% and water consumption by 34%, if all technologies are properly implemented and applied.

Although this concept needs some investments and more expensive fertilizers, the economic analysis shows that the net income has increased by 35%. This can be attributed to the reduced inputs and the increased yields. The pay-back period of the investment is less than one year. The higher prices which products conforming to higher product standards will fetch have not yet been considered in these calculations. Improved marketing of the products will be one focus of the final phase. In addition, the beneficial effects on the environment must be considered.

Downloads

• Chinese project description
  cn-umweltstrategien-fuer-intensive-landwirtschaft-nordchina.pdf, 0,09 MB (Chinese)

Further information

• Website Environmental Strategies of Intensive Agriculture in the North of China
  www.gtz-esia.com