China's meat and grain imports during 2000–2012 and beyond: A comparative perspective

This paper provides a review on China＇s meat trade for the 2000–2012 period and discusses its future development, with reference to China＇s grain trade. With marginal decreases in meat exports and slight increases in their imports, China＇s net imports of major meat products（including pork, beef, mutton and poultry but excluding meat offal） were just below 1 million tons in 2012, dwarfed by China＇s net imports of grains which reached 66.7 million tons in the same year. This slow growth in meat trade seems to contradict earlier expectations on increasing meat demand and imports, based upon projected shifts in consumption patterns driven by rapid per capita income growth. Several plausible explanations of this paradoxical trade pattern are offered, including mass imports of feed grains, persistent（but shrinking） gaps between Chinese and international meat prices, tariff barriers, and non-tariff measures. In the near future China may not be able to maintain such a lower profile on the world meat markets, as per capita income is projected to continue to rise and domestic production cost advantages erode due to rising labor costs. A model-based projection exercise indicates that under plausible assumptions China＇s meat imports may rise sharply by 2030.

Study on Influencing Factors of Farmer 's Adoption Behavior for New Maize Variety in Huaxian,Henan Province

Adoption of new agricultural variety is an important way to improve the efficiency of agricultural production and farmer's income.According to survey data on the 279 farmers in Huaxia,Henan Province,this paper made an empirical analysis on influencing factors of the farmer's adoption behavior for new maize variety by using the binary Logistic model. The results showed that farmer's educational level,whether or not demonstration family,the main source of household income,the maize planting area,farmer's awareness of new variety,farmer's risk attitude as well as the times to contract with agricultural inspector all had significantly positive effects on adoption of new maize variety. Whether or not the family had cadres had significantly negative effect on the adoption of new maize variety.