China's Agriculture Pollution under the Spotlight

The Chinese government has vowed to reduce agricultural pollution. It has made it one of the top priorities in its proposal for the country's next Five Plan, in an effort to balance environmental protection and the booming economy.

Our reporter Shuangfeng has more.

China's first census on pollution, which involved 570,000 people and completed earlier this year, showed that the country's farms cause more pollution than factories.

According to the survey, agriculture is responsible for 43.7 percent of the country's chemical oxygen demand, 67.4 percent of phosphorus and 57.2 percent of nitrogen discharges.

Over the past two years, East China Normal University has established a village observation platform, selecting 4000 households in 258 villages and putting them under continuous observation. Water pollution in rural areas is among the observation projects.

Professor Zheng Dacai is a researcher with the Center for Chinese Rural Studies at East China Normal University.

"Our research indicates that water pollution is increasing. The study shows that 8.3 percent of the farmers think the water is of low quality, while 2.5 percent of them say the water quality is very bad. It means one out of ten farmers is not satisfied with water quality."

The volume of China's agricultural production has rapidly increased in recent years, using only 9 percent of world's farmland to feed 22 percent of the global population. However that 9 percent uses 35 percent of world's fertilizer and 20 percent of pesticide. This means agricultural chemicals per unit area are much higher than the world average.

Professor Zheng Fengtian is Deputy Director of School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the Renmin University of China. He explains the reasons behind the problem.

"For Chinese farmers, they believe that fertilizers have to be used to increase agriculture production, but they are not educated about how to scientifically apply nutrition-balanced fertilizers. There have no guidelines to control the use of fertilizer. What's more, the government conducts supervision over industry in cities, instead of agriculture in rural areas."
Zheng Fengtian points out that it is important to instruct peasants how to farm scientifically.

"Not like point source pollution in cities which is easy to control, it is non-point source pollution in agriculture. It is harder to control because farmland covers a vast area. We need to teach farmers and let them use fertilizer scientifically.

This problem can only be solved when they are better educated and well aware of the danger of the over-use of chemicals."

In addition, he has called on the government to enhance administrative supervision on agricultural pollution.

For CRI, I am Shuangfeng.