The impact of the global financial crisis on off-farm employment and earnings in rural China

This paper examines the effect of the financial crisis on off-farm employment of China's rural labor force. Using a national representative data set collected from across China, the paper finds that there was a substantial impact. By April 2009 the reduction in off-farm employment as a result of the crises was 6.8 percent of the rural labor force. Monthly earnings also declined. However, while it is estimated that 49 million were laid-off between October 2008 and April 2009, half of them were re-hired in off-farm work by April 2009. By August 2009, less than 2 percent of the rural labor force was unemployed due to the crisis. The robust recovery appears to have helped avoid instability.Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Work&Working Conditions,Tertiary Education,Crops&Crop Management Systems

Linking Small Scale Farmers in China with the International Markets: A Case of Apple Export Chains

This study describes how governance mechanisms were formed that link small-scale apple farmers in China with export markets. These institutional innovations have improved the efficiency of price transmission and generated higher profit margins for various actors in the supply chain, in particular for small-scale farmers. Chinese apple exports are highly coordinated through ongoing long term loyal network relationships and vertical integration. Relevant policy implications and further challenges are discussed in the conclusion

A consumer segmentation study with regards to genetically modified food in urban China

The objective of this study is to identify the underlying subgroups of Chinese consumers in terms of their perceptions and attitudes toward GM foods. In particular, we address the following specific questions: may researchers segment Chinese urban consumers in terms of their attitudes and perceptions toward GM foods? Are there any relationships between segmented consumer groups and other factors - such as their exposure to GM knowledge and socio-demographics? And, what policy implications can be drawn from this research to the future biotech development in China? Based on a large-scale survey data collected by the authors in 2002 and 2003 in 11 cities of China, this research applies consumer research methodologies. The combination of factor and cluster analysis enables us to identify successfully and consistently four Chinese consumer clusters based on their perceptions and attitudes toward GM foods, which include a food safety cluster, a nutritional technologist cluster, a GM skeptic cluster, and a cluster of GM for non-food promoter.Genetically modified food Consumers segmentation China

Subsidies and distortions in China’s agriculture: evidence from producer-level data

Concerned about national grain self-sufficiency and rural household incomes, in 2004 China announced that it was planning to reverse its longstanding policy of taxing farm households and instead began to provide them with subsidies. Over the past five years, annual announcements have trumpeted rises in subsidies. Surprisingly, despite the historic turnaround of policy and the likely implication of this subsidy policy to China’s grain economy, there has been no household-level survey-based research that has sought to understand the effect of China’s subsidy programme on household behaviour. Using data from a national survey of more than 1000 households, we examine in detail a number of different dimensions of the subsidy programme. According to the survey-based findings, we have shown that although agricultural subsidies per farm are low, on per unit of cultivated area basis or total amount of budget, the subsidies are high. Almost all producers are receiving them. Subsidies are mostly being given to the land contractor, not the tiller. Most importantly, the subsidies appear to be nondistorting. No matter if we look at descriptive statistics in tables, scatter plots or regression analyses, there is no evidence that grain subsidies are distorting producer decisions in terms of grain area or input use decisions

Smallholder Incomes, Vegetable Marketing and Food Safety: Evidence from China

Great changes have taken place in China’s agricultural and food markets in the past several decades. However, the impact of the transformation brought by modern supply chains on the welfare of farmers in China is unclear. This paper attempts to understand whether or not the recent changes in China’s food economy have contributed to an improvement in the welfare of small, poor farmer. It also seeks to identify whether or not the main marketing institutions in China’s horticultural economy are consistent with a system that can deliver food safety. To achieve our objectives, we use a data set collected in 2007 by ourselves which includes representative tomato- and cucumber-production farmers in Shandong Province. We use the information from the survey to describe the emergences of production systems and marketing structures. The data are also used to examine whether the small or large farmers (or rich or poor ones) are participating in the expanding horticultural economy, and if so through which different types of marketing channels. We also examine several indicators of producer-trader behavior to understand whether China’s horticultural marketing channels is able to guarantee a safe and traceable vegetable product. The results show that despite the dramatic evolution of the downstream segment of China’s horticultural economy, most Shandong tomato and cucumber-producing farmers are selling through traditional marketing channels. Moreover, small/poor farmers are not being excluded

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Off-farm Employment and Earnings in Rural China

Summary This paper examines the effect of the financial crisis on off-farm employment of China's rural labor force. Using a national representative dataset, we find that there was a large impact. By April 2009 off-farm employment reached 6.8% of the rural labor force. Monthly earnings also declined. However, while we estimate that 49 million were laid-off between October 2008 and April 2009, half of them were re-hired in off-farm work by April 2009. By August 2009, less than 2% of the rural labor force was unemployed due to the crisis. The robust recovery appears to have helped avoid instability.global financial crisis off-farm employment earning rural China Asia

Impacts of Bt rice in China : rice production and farmers' health

The presentation reviews project aims: impacts of Bt rice on pesticide uses and rice yield; as well as impacts of reducing pesticide uses on farmers’ health due to adoption of Bt rice. Findings indicate a positive relationship between use of Bt rice, decrease in pesticide use and a slight increase in crop yields. Medical tests indicate the poisonous impact of pesticide usage on farmers’ health. The fall in insecticide applications due to Bt rice adoption can significantly improve farmers’ health in terms of both visible and “invisible” symptoms

Co-expression analysis reveals dysregulated miRNAs and miRNA-mRNA interactions in the development of contrast-induced acute kidney injury.

The pathogenesis of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is incompletely understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important mediators that normally function via post-transcriptional degradation of target mRNAs. Emerging evidence indicates the appearance of differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs in CI-AKI following the injection of intravenous contrast medium. However, there are differences in the pathological mechanism and incidence of CI-AKI between intravenous and intra-arterial contrast administration. The present study aimed to investigate the critical roles of dysregulated miRNAs and their associated mRNAs in kidney injury following intra-arterial contrast medium exposure. Based on a reliable CI-AKI rat model, we conducted genome-wide miRNA and mRNA expression profiling analysis using deep sequencing. In the study, 36 DE mature miRNAs were identified (fold change > 1.5 and p value 2.0 and p value < 0.05) were identified. Integrated analysis revealed 2037 putative miRNA-mRNA pairs with negative correlations. Among them, 6 DE miRNAs and 13 genes were selected for further quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction validation (n = 6 for each group), and a good correspondence between the two techniques was observed. In conclusion, the present study provided evidence of miRNA-mRNA interactions in the development of kidney injury following an intra-arterial contrast injection. These findings provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of CI-AKI