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Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
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Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
December 2, 2002
In Beijing and Shanxi the team met with scientists, faculty and students at
the National Agricultural University (Beijing), Shanxi Provincial Academy of
Science (Taiyuan), and Shanxi University (Taigu), who briefed us on China’s
agricultural situation and conservation policies. In Shanxi, the team traveled
from Taiyuan southward through the Fen River valley to Taigu and made stops at
the revolutionary model village of Da Zhai and the historic town of Pingyao.
Poor weather limited the number of field observations on this part of the trip.
The weather was fine in Shaanxi and the team was able to carry out more
extensive field observations. The team traveled a distance of more than 250
kilometers from Xian (the capital of Shaanxi) to Yan'an, a modern city with a
population of nearly 2 million located north-central Shaanxi. The route passed
through three distinct geographic regions – the heavily populated and extremely
fertile Guanzhong plain (where Xian is located), the dissected loess plateau,
and the heavily eroded ridge-and-valley region on the edge of the plateau. Flat
tableland, terraced fields, traditional cave homes, sharp ravines, narrow river
valleys, and patches of forest characterized the landscape of the plateau
region. We visited an experimental farm south of Yan'an, an agricultural testing
station near the town of Ansai, and surveyed the extensive terraces near Zhidan.
On the return trip to Xian we went through the mountains and stopped at Hukou, a
massive cataract on the Yellow River. Finally, the team met with agricultural
experts from the Northwest University of Agriculture and Forestry and visited a
state-of-the-art rainfall simulation laboratory at the Yangling Research Park
located near Xian.
We also wanted to gather background information on Shandong’s cropping patterns
and farming techniques and to speak with local farmers about current conditions
and their response to economic and policy changes. We stayed in Jinan, the
capital of Shandong province, and explored the region for three days. On the
first day we drove south to Jining and stopped at Qufu, the ancestral home of
the Confucius family. This area was a mixture of rainfed and irrigated grains,
cash crops, and rapid urban/industrial development. On the second day we toured
the Yellow River floodplain, a well-irrigated and prosperous area featuring a
wide variety crops (corn, beans, vegetables, cotton, silk, peppers, and others),
many rural industries (lumber, manufacturing, transportation, construction) and
busy markets. On the last day we looked at the agricultural situation in the
mountainous region southeast of Jinan, near the city of Tai'an
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