Success Stories in Asian Aquaculture

The stories presented in this book reflect the unique nature of Asian aquaculture, providing first-time insight into how and why it has become so successful. Overall, the book demonstrates how the resiliency, adaptability, and innovation of small-scale aquaculture farmers have been crucial to this success. It also places aquaculture development in Asia into a wider global context, and describes its relationship to natural systems, social conditions, and economics. The book is unique in its in-depth presentation of primary research on Asian aquaculture, and in demonstrating how aquaculture can have a lasting positive impact on livelihoods, food security, and sustainable development

Ethical issues with development status of modern agricultural production

This article analyzes the legally collected real data and explains the analysis process and results of the unregulated third-party traceable agricultural product sales data in the current environment. We use a hybrid method that combines qualitative and quantitative analyses to process the regional data and quantitative analysis to process the count and proportion of data. To the greatest extent, it helps businesses obtain more information. At the same time, it discusses the development status and ethical issues of traceable agricultural products in China based on the literature and analysis process

Chinese Consumers’ Perception and Willingness to Pay for Traceable Dairy Products

To reduce food safety risks and prevent serious food safety incidents, and enhance consumer confidence in food safety, the Chinese government has undertaken various policy measures to improve the safety and quality of dairy products in recent years. The implementation of traceability systems could lead consumers to perceive a higher value and to be willing to pay a premium price for dairy products. This research contributes valuable information to the dairy product supply chain, providing insights to producers, distributors, and other actors of the dairy production chain. Results showed that the importance of information about food traceability for improving market demand for traceable dairy products. Further work will be needed to improve consumers' understanding of the potential benefits of traceable systems in the dairy product quality and security system. Moreover, encouraging producers to produce diversified traceable dairy products, decrease the production cost, decreasing the price of traceable dairy products may be the most effective way of increasing the traceable dairy food market share

Prevailing construction and demolition waste management practices : a China study

The construction industry is regarded as one of the largest generators of solid waste in the world. These large amounts of construction and demolition waste generated by continuous construction activities have harmful effects on the environment. China is the largest producer of construction and demolition waste, with an annual generation of 2.4 billion tonnes. Moreover, with the continued development of their construction industry, the total volume of construction and demolition waste generated in China is forecasted to reach 3.96 billion tonnes by 2020. However, without proper management, a significant amount of construction and demolition waste has inevitably occupied land resources. In the current age of enhanced environmental awareness, transformation to sustainable management in the construction sector is needed. Despite the increasing awareness of recycling in industry, the average recovery rate of construction and demolition waste in China is only approximately 5%. Few developed countries have a sustainable society with an orderly, reasonable, and effective construction and demolition waste management system. However, as most of the waste in China is directly dumped or landfilled, it lags far behind these high-performance countries. The objectives of this study were to obtain information about the current status of construction and demolition waste management in China from comparative analyses and case studies, and to identify the obstacles to the promotion of recycling. Recovery rates of construction and demolition waste were collected from 35 countries, and the existing policies, standards, and official documents at a national level in China and seven selected countries with high performance (including Japan, South Korea, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, and the United Kingdom) were reviewed. The comparative analysis revealed the reasons for China’s unsatisfactory performance. These reasons included the following: (1) inadequate guidance on recycling, (2) an underdeveloped recycling market, (3) incomplete knowledge of stakeholders’ responsibilities, (4) ineffective cooperation among governing bodies, (5) a lack of penalty for other stakeholders, and (6) an ineffective supervision system. Few studies have been performed to evaluate construction and demolition waste management performance of different Chinese cities, although case studies have been performed on specific cities. In the present study, site visits to 10 different Chinese cities were conducted: Shanghai (Direct-administered municipalities), Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province), Suzhou (Jiangsu Province), Chongqing (Direct-administered municipalities), Chengdu (Sichuan Province), Xi’an (Shaanxi Province), Changsha (Hunan Province), Shenzhen (Guangdong Province), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province), and Zhoukou (Henan Province). Construction and demolition waste management performance, as well as the obstacles for waste management, varies among these Chinese cities. These obstacles included the following: (1) a lack of sources of construction and demolition waste, (2) a lack of guidance on the application of building materials recycled from waste, (3) a lack of land use for fixed industries, (4) a lack of precise estimations of the waste amount and distribution, (5) a lack of guidance on the classification of construction and demolition waste, (6) unrestrictive landfilling, (7) inconsistent cooperation among different official governments, (8) inadequate research on the use of recycled products and waste separation, and (9) an incomplete waste traceability system. If these obstacles are more fully understood, recommendations can be provided to enhance construction and demolition waste management in China. Policymakers in China can consider the following suggestions: (1) ensuring the stability of construction and demolition waste sources; (2) precise estimation of waste generation and distribution; (3) an effective waste tracing system; (4) improvements in related technology; (5) expanding financial incentives; (6) prioritising the recycling of waste and promoting waste reduction; (7) completion of waste classification and relevant standards; (8) strict landfill bans; (9) consistent cooperation among governmental departments; and (10) expansion of the recycling market

AGRICULTURE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM AND FOOD SECURITY: STRATEGY OF ADOPTION OFAGRICULTURE MECHANIZATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES THROUGH “BELT AND ROAD” INITIATIVE CHINA

In this article, we study the influence of Agriculture Innovation ecosystem on food security through the contribution of Belt and Road Initiative. We identify strategy which foster agriculture mechanization adoption in developing countries.  The innovation ecosystem is the large and diverse range of resources and participants that are necessary and contribute to continuous innovation in an economy. These include investors, entrepreneurs, technical and business development service providers, and researchers amongst others. We engage with agriculture Innovation Ecosystems thinking to consider the ways in which it might enhance efforts to create multi-actor, cross-sectoral innovation that are capable of supporting transitions to sustainable agricultural systems across multiple scale, hence achieving food security (Pigford, Hickey, & Klerkx, 2018). According to the world health organization (WHO) in the state of food security and nutrition in the world 2018, new evidence this year corroborates the rise in world hunger observed in this report last year, sending a warning that more action is needed if we aspire to end world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Through the “belt and road” initiative by the Chinese government, many international students got the opportunity to study in China, and act as a bridge between their respective countries and China (Yu, Qian, & Liu, 2019). In addition, as home country of great number of manufacturing companies, China promote agriculture mechanization and provide agricultural machinery to belt and road countries (de Soyres, Mulabdic, Murray, Rocha, & Ruta, 2019). These strategies have an impact in achieving food security worldwide (Zhang, Zhang, Tian, Liu, & Zhang, 2018). We speak of food security "when all people, at all times, have economic, social and physical access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that satisfies their nutritional needs and dietary preferences to enable them to live active and healthy lives" stated by Food and Agriculture organization. For this research, we attempted to show how “belt and road” initiative contribute to food security. Keywords: Agriculture Innovation ecosystem, Agricultural mechanization, China, belt and road, food security. DOI: 10.7176/IKM/11-4-03 Publication date:May 31st 202

Sustaining export-oriented value chains of farmed seafood in China

This thesis is intended to improve the understanding of China’s evolving export-oriented farmed seafood systems, and in particularly, shrimp and tilapia farming value chains in Southern China. An integrated, systems thinking and interdisciplinary approach in which both top–down and bottom–up approaches were combined. The research moved from system reviews, to field surveys and workshops, and then to improving sustainability by Action Research (AR), in order to form a holistic understanding of sustainability at both national and local scales. In the new millennium, the aquaculture sector has matured, and many factors now slow the growth rate of Chinese aquaculture production, such as increasing culture of high-value species and an emerging trend of extensification. There are been some strategy shifts in the aquaculture industry such as changing from a high production to high profit orientation and from causing environmental damage to ecological remediation. A key conclusion is that high growth rates, regularly used in policy dialogues, are misleading indicators and do not reflect, realistic or sustainable, growth profiles. Although overall Chinese aquaculture production is likely to further increase to meet an increasing and changing market demand, growth rates will decrease further. China already is and will continue to be a fisheries products net importer, however, if fishmeal excluded China will remain as a seafood net exporter. The status and development of four internationally-traded farmed seafood, tilapia, penaeid shrimp, macrobrachium prawns and striped catfish in China were reviewed. China is the largest producer of tilapia, penaeid shrimp and macrobrachium prawns, and striped catfish is not produced in significant quantities due to climate limitations. Meanwhile, China is the largest exporter of tilapia, the second largest exporter in the volume and third in value of shrimp in the world, while macrobrachium prawns mainly support domestic markets. Tilapia and penaeid shrimp were selected for further research. An analysis of tilapia and shrimp farm scale indicators and their relationship to farming system and market orientation, farm intensification and performance was made. Farm area, both land and water area, labour, including paid and unpaid were effective indicators to distinguish farm scale. Small-scale farms had higher land productivity in production terms but no difference in value output term, and they had much lower labour productivity than medium and large-scale farms. Farming systems were also correlated with land and labour productivities. Market orientation was closely linked to farm scale as most farms with an export orientation required registration with CIQ (China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine) and were mainly large-scale. An assessment of local stakeholder sustainability perspectives along value chains revealed that more than 80% shrimp and tilapia farmers didn’t want their children to continue basing their living on aquaculture; because they considered it hard work, high risk and poorly remunerated. Farming was comparative stable with few changes in the five years prior to the survey. Major sustainability factors identified by stakeholders included input costs, profit, water availability & quality and the weather, most of which were outside their control. The measurement of these sustainability factors was firstly proposed by stakeholders and then developed to a set of sustainability indicators (SIs). Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used as evaluate the environmental performance of tilapia, pig and integrated tilapia-pig farming systems in China. Pig farming had higher environment impacts based on most impact categories than tilapia, and integrated farming systems. Sensitivity analysis showed that improvements of 5% and 10% higher feed efficiency, reduction of fishmeal in feed to 1% level and use of EU electricity could significant reduce overall environmental impacts. An action research (AR) approach was used to assess the practice of farm record keeping with farmers which were found to be generally low and a major constraint to improving product traceability increasingly demanded by consumers. Large scale and CIQ farms were more likely to keep records and for them to be detailed and analysed to inform improved management. Farmers’ motivation, ability and capability and background had significant correlation with record keeping practice. Two major dilemmas were identified by the analysis. Easy-to-use farm record-keeping system more suitable for less formally educated farmers was a clear requirement but useful storage and analysis of farm data capacity requires sophisticated management tools such as a computer system. Another dilemma is the need for coercion by regulatory authorities or encouragement through provision of education and training in increasing on-farm record-keeping to a level required for international trade and, increasingly, domestic markets. “Precision aquaculture”, value chain integrated solution, and further social-economic reforms were discussed. Finally, sustainable intensification, diversification, and extensification were proposed as strategies for China to meet the challenges of globalization and the growing demands of export and domestic value chains. In order to enhance sustainability of the sector and provide opportunities for small-scale farmers, the current status and changes of the Chinese social, economic context, food safety and environments issues were discussed. Farmers’ organizations, future consolidation, and land reforms were identified as key to the required changes of farmed seafood value chains

Web-based system for the traceability of cultivated Nile Tilapia based on ISO 12877: 2011

Objective: Present the systematization of the nilotic tilapia cultivation process, using a computer system for traceability of production and marketing based on the ISO 12877: 2011 standard. Design/methodology/approach: A documentary and field investigation was carried out to learn about the Nile tilapia production process currently applied; Traceability monitoring was evaluated based on the case study of the Double T and María del Carmen aquaculture farms located in the municipalities of Manzanillo and Armería belonging to the state of Colima; The process was contrasted with the ISO standard and the system was developed and implemented. Results: There is a system that systematizes the registration of backward, internal and forward traceability activities in the cultivation and marketing of tilapia. The system favors food safety by registering care by lot based on the aforementioned ISO standard, thus evidencing the traceability in the cultivation and commercialization of the species. Limitations on study/implications: The results presented concern the development and implementation of the system, still requiring an evaluation of its impact on the production and commercialization of cultivated tilapia, as well as the efficiency of traceability. Findings/conclusions: The system was made, taking into account the necessary indicators for an ISO certification. In this way, apart from facilitating the registration and consultation of information, the producer company has the advantage of obtaining a certification for the aquaculture production process, generating added value to its products.Objective: To describe the systematization of the Nile tilapia cultivation process using a computer system for production and marketing traceability based on ISO 12877:2011 standard and web technologies. Design/methodology/approach: A documentary and field investigation were conducted to learn about the Nile tilapia production process currently applied; traceability was evaluated based on Double T and María del Carmen study cases, aquaculture farms located in the municipalities of Manzanillo and Armería located in the state of Colima, México; the process was contrasted with the ISO standard and the system was developed and implemented. Results: A Traceability System that records backward, internal, and forward procedural activities in the cultivation and marketing of tilapia. The system improves food safety control by registering lot care based on the ISO standard, resulting in well-defined traceable processes in the production and commercialization of the Nilotic tilapia. Limitations on study/implications: The results shown are related to the development and implementation of the system; however future work is yet to be carried out to assess its effect on the production and commercialization of farmed tilapia, as well as the efficiency of traceability. Findings/conclusions: The system was developed taking into consideration the necessary indicators for an ISO certification. Hence, aside from simplifying the registration and consultation of information, the producing company has the benefit of earning a certification for the aquaculture production process, creating additional value to its products

Research Status and Future Prospects of Coordinated Development of Rural Revitalization and New Urbanization

Agricultural and rural development is an important component of national development, and is of great significance to national food security, economic development, urban-rural integration, social harmony, and ecological environment protection. The coordinated development of rural revitalization and new urbanization, like “the wings of a bird and the wheels of a car”, is an intrinsic requirement for promoting national development. However, in the process of urban-rural development, the urban-biased policies have continuously widened the gap between urban and rural areas, which has seriously hindered the pace of national modernization. Based on the current academic research, this paper compares the views of scholars at both domestic and international, and makes a comprehensive collation of relevant concepts. At the same time, it combines dual economics, regional economic development, and the theory of urban-rural relations of Marx and Engels to make an in-depth analysis of the coupling mechanism between the rural revitalization and new urbanization. Eventually, in view of the existing problems, this paper proposes that future research should be deepened in the following three aspects: the connotation and interactive mechanism of China’s rural revitalization and new urbanization, the coupling relationship between the two items, and the construction of an evaluation index system for the coordinated development of them

Food Safety and Agro-Environment in China: Perceptions and Behaviors of Farmers and Consumers

The prediction of China's rise is the subject of this book. The main ideas of this book are derived from Kanshokufuji, a new concept proposed by the chief editor of Prof. Nanseki, pertaining to a sound food system in a sound agro-environment. It implies that food supply and demand are non-separable in terms of location due to the importance of retaining the suitable condition of the environment and biodiversity in the region. This concept is necessary and useful for coping with environmental issues and related food safety issues. From this view point, several integrated surveys in both rural and urban areas of China were conducted by the food risk research group at the Research Institute for East Asia Environments (RIEAE), Kyushu University to reveal the current status of the environment, food, and agriculture in this country. The results of the surveys are introduced in this book, along with implications and recommendations. We hope this book be referential for policy-makers, researchers and industry personnel relating to food, agriculture and environment