Publication: Toward a Greener China: A Review of Recent Agricultural Support Policies and Public Expenditures
Date
2022
ISSN
Published
2022
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
In recent decades, the Chinese
government has placed great importance on developing
agriculture and rural areas, adopting policies, and
increasing public expenditures targeting these. China’s
agricultural policies and support mechanisms have evolved,
responding to emerging challenges and reflecting shifts in
broader national policy and strategic efforts. These
interventions had a modest impact on grain production and
provided a more significant boost to rural incomes yet gave
rise to significant market distortions and unintended
consequences. The composition and patterns of public
expenditures for agriculture reflect this dynamic evolution
and changing priorities concerning the development of
China’s agriculture and rural areas. This report analyses in
some depth the changing scale and structure of pertinent
public expenditures and briefly synthesizes the available
evidence regarding the efficacy of certain expenditures (and
the policies to which they are connected). Among the major
observations made in the report regarding
agriculture-related public expenditures are the following:
first, the central and local governments have allocated
considerable resources over the past two decades to support
agricultural and rural development. Second, the composition
of public expenditure classified as agriculture, forestry,
and water conservancy (AFW) has changed dramatically in
recent years. Third, the public expenditure involving direct
support for agriculture peaked in 2015 and has since
declined, while public expenditure on general support
services has increased and diversified. Fourth, public
eco-environmental expenditures have increased considerably
and taken on a wide range of different forms. Finally,
spatial differences in public expenditures supporting AFW
and green agricultural development are worth noting and
require additional attention, given the increasing dominance
of local governments in delivering agricultural programs and investments.
Citation
“World Bank. 2022. Toward a Greener China: A Review of Recent Agricultural Support Policies and Public Expenditures. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/38446 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”