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Green food industry in China: development, problems and policies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2009

Ling Lin ,
Deyi Zhou  and
Caixue Ma
Ling Lin*
Affiliation:
College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China.
Deyi Zhou
Affiliation:
College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China.
Caixue Ma
Affiliation:
College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China.
*
*Corresponding author: linling8633@yahoo.com.cn
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Abstract

Organic food is the development trend of food in the world today. China's green food is a kind of food with pollution-free, safety, high-quality and nutritious properties, similar to organic food in the international market. The Chinese government has paid attention to the sustainable development of agro-ecosystems under the pressures of population growth and agricultural expansion since the 1980s and began to develop a green food industry in 1990. After the development of about two decades, now the Chinese green food industry has already entered a fast-growth stage. It has reached a considerable scale and is expanding rapidly. The share of green food in the global market is continuously increasing and a two-tier certification system has been established. However, green food's further development is still facing some difficulties and problems. This paper mainly analyzes those problems and discusses reasonable solutions. Specifically, this paper first gives a detailed introduction to green food and the green food industry in China, and then analyzes the major problems impeding the further development of green food industry, such as unreasonable product structure and enterprise structure, incomplete market system and backward certification system. Finally, suggestions on product structure, enterprise structure, publicity, market, certification system and governmental policies are put forward.

Keywords

green foodgreen food industrysustainable agriculturepolicyChina
Type
Review Article
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 25 , Special Issue 1: “Food for Life”: Looking Beyond the Horizon , March 2010 , pp. 69 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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