| Chapter : | Introduction: Putting Ecological Economics into Sustainable Agricultural Practices |
|
|
chapters 1 and 2, respectively. After elaborating ecological economics as a policy science in chapter 3, the essence of ecological economics will be summarised in chapter 4.
Sustainable Agricultural Development
Sustainable agricultural development has become one of the most active research topics around the world in recent decades. Its primary goal is to develop farming systems that simultaneously promote three key areas—farm profits, agroecosystems, and local communities—rather than just one, which means it has to consider trade-offs among them (Chapman, 1999). This alternative perspective has challenged conventional agriculture's core values of economic growth and the domination of nature. A fundamental contribution of the sustainable agriculture agenda has been the explicit recognition of the linkages of agricultural production to the environment and society (D'Souza & Gebremedhin, 1998). As sustainable agricultural development has increasingly become an international trend in recent years, a focus on the analysis and operationalisation of its practical dimensions is imperative. This book will study these dimensions in the context of Chinese ecological agriculture (see chapters 5, 6, and 8). As looking for ways to achieve agricultural sustainability is now a focus point for agricultural researchers, government leaders, and policy makers, it has been given top priority status on most countries’ research and policy agendas.
Ecological Agriculture in China
With more than 20% of the world's population (1.32 billion people in 2007, of which 0.77 billion lived in rural areas) and less than 9% of the world's arable land (1.22 million square kilometres in 2007), China's efforts to realise the sustainable development of its agriculture have significant implications for the world's future (Cheng, 2005). As Chinese agriculture is increasingly challenged by the population, resource, and environmental constraints that have emerged from its modern development, it is imperative to explore a sustainable agricultural paradigm that could accommodate economic and sociocultural needs within an already