CROP-LIVESTOCK INTEGRATION FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN CHINA: THE HISTORY OF STATE POLICY GOALS, REFORM OPPORTUNITIES AND INSTITUTIONAL CONSTRAINTS

Highlights

● This paper examines the historical evolution of crop-livestock integration in China with a specific focus on its role in mitigating non-point source pollution.

● Extensive examination of existing literature has unearthed the roots of crop-livestock integration dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 to 771 BCE), ultimately culminating in a multifaceted and intricately interwoven system of rural development policies seen in contemporary China.

● This paper illuminates the diverse contributions of crop-livestock integration in different epochs of rural development within China, which contributes to a nuanced and more theoretically grounded comprehension of circular agriculture.

Abstract

This paper examines the historical evolution of crop-livestock integration in China with a specific focus on its role in mitigating non-point source pollution. Extensive examination of existing literature has unearthed the roots of crop-livestock integration dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 to 771 BCE), ultimately culminating in a multifaceted and intricately interwoven system of rural development policies seen in contemporary China. This paper identifies and characterizes four distinct stages in the historical trajectory of crop-livestock integration: the era of self-sufficient subsistence production in traditional times (1046 BCE to 1948); the period where crop-livestock integration emerged as a pivotal strategy for augmenting grain and meat production under collectivist policies (1949‒1977); the phase marked by the industrialization and expansion of the livestock sector during the early years of economic reforms (1978‒2011); and the present era in which crop-livestock integration is harnessed as a mechanism for pollution control and ecological preservation in contemporary China (2012 to present). This paper illuminates the diverse contributions of crop-livestock integration in different epochs of rural development within China, which contributes to a nuanced and more theoretically grounded comprehension of circular agriculture. This understanding has the potential to be leveraged to promote sustainable rural development in broader contexts.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

crop-livestock integration / non-point source pollution control / nutrient cycling / policy intervention / sustainable development

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Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation Youth Project “Research on the Realization Mechanism, Enriching People Effect and Path of Agricultural Carbon Reduction and Increase Value under the Background of Double Carbon Target” (22CJY030).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Danmeng Feng, KouRay Mao, Yujie Yang, and Yu Hu declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2023. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)