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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Changes in Agricultural Land Requirements
for Food Provision in China 1990-2020:
A Comparison Between Urban
and Rural Residents
1
Institute For Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone Development, Chongqing Technology and Business University,
Chongqing 400067, PR China
2
Qinghai University Library, Qinghai university, Qinghai 810000, PR China
3
College of Environment and Resources, Chongqing Technology and Business University
4
Institute of nationalities, Guizhou Academy of Social Sciences, Guiyang 550002, PR China
5
School of Economics and Management, Taiyuan Normal University, Taiyuan 030619, PR China
6
School of Economics and Management, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, 235000, PR China
7
Chinese Graduate School, Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Nonthaburi, 111200, Thailand
Submission date: 2023-12-10
Final revision date: 2024-04-07
Acceptance date: 2024-04-13
Online publication date: 2024-05-29
Publication date: 2025-01-09
Corresponding author
Bei Lyu
School of Economics and Management, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei Normal University, No. 100, Dongshan Road,, 235000, Huaibei, China
School of Economics and Management, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei Normal University, No. 100, Dongshan Road,, 235000, Huaibei, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(2):1027-1037
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
China’s rapid income growth and urbanization have led to significant changes in food consumption
patterns, and these dietary changes may increase the demand for agricultural land for food supply.
This study explores the changes in urban and rural residents’ cropland demand based on dietary data
of Chinese residents from 1990 to 2020, using dietary nutritional analysis and a cropland footprint
method. The results show that during the study period, the total cropland demand of rural residents
decreased by 31.02%, from 61.31 million hm2 to 42.29 million hm2, while the total cropland demand
of urban residents increased by 246.83%, from 22.91 million hm2 to 79.46 million hm2. The results
reveal that the primary drivers of increased cropland demand are urbanization and rising animal-based
dietary patterns. However, the contribution of increased agricultural productivity to decreased demand
for cropland is relatively small and inadequate to compensate for the increased demand. In short,
the pressure to protect arable land in China will continue to rise, and protecting existing arable land,
improving cropland productivity, and making full use of international resources are the main ways
to alleviate the pressure on arable land protection.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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