Subsidies for machinery, for example, should be given only to farmers who use machinery. Since farming is still done mostly by households on small scales in China, the use of agricultural machinery in most cases is often restricted to about 10 days of the year. Hence, instead of giving every farming family a set of machines, the government could offer them prepaid vouchers to rent the machinery they need. This practice used by most of the developed countries is one China needs to adopt.

Another worrying development is that the use of fertilizers in China is increasing at a faster rate than that for grain output. The widespread use of antibiotics and fertilizers is endangering the environment and thus people’s health. So, authorities have to change the present agricultural development pattern and adopt one that conserves resources. The European Union uses a “seed coating technique” to limit the impact of pesticides and fertilizers on the soil and agricultural produce — to put it simply, a coating around the seeds prevents the spread of contamination to other areas.

The spray irrigation system, which aggravates the already serious water shortage, is another practice that China should abandon, and adopt drip irrigation instead, because it uses only one-tenth of the water required for spray irrigation.

Moreover, sustainable technologies have to be developed to ensure sustainable growth. An article published in Nature magazine offers some useful advice. It says that though the output of organic farming is 50-80 percent of fertilizer-and-pesticide-induced agriculture, it causes a lot less harm to water and soil. If we consider factors such as output, investment, pollution and sustainability of the use of resources, organic farming is far more efficient and eco-friendly than the cultivation methods we follow. In Denmark, for example, livestock farmers cannot use antibiotics. But they still breed and maintain healthy livestock and run profitable dairy and meat industries. Therefore, incentives and support should be extended for technological innovation that will help realize sustainable agriculture in China.

The author is a professor at the School of Agriculture Economics and Rural Development at Renmin University of China.