Impacts of Urbanization and Industrialization Impacts of Urbanization and Industrialization on Agriculture in Zhujiang Delta (ZD)on Agriculture in Zhujiang Delta (ZD)

Dr. Ng Sai Leung ( 伍世良 )Department of Geography and Resource Management

The Chinese University of Hong Kong September 2001

Outline

Introduction Agriculture in ZD Urbanization and Industrialization

Impacts on ZD’s Agriculture

Zhujiang Zhujiang (珠江 , in Chinese, means Pearl

River) is named because of the Pearl Rock (走珠石 , a red Cretaceous sandstone exposure located at Guangzhou).

Zhujiang is not a single river, but a river network.

3 major rivers and 8 outlets (三分河道,八分河口 )

ZD is a compound delta (複合三角洲 )

Zhujiang and Agriculture Zhujiang Delta has a total area of 453,000 km2.

3/4 of land is flatland with fertile soil and sufficient supply of fresh water.

Traditionally, it is the most important and one of the ten most important grain production areas in in Guangdong province and China.

Zhujiang Delta has experienced remarkable economic growth since 1978.

Significance of Agriculture in ZD

Whether or Zhujiang Delta can sustainably develop, agriculture plays a vital role.

Agriculture is of importance to 20 million people in the region not only in the sense of providing foods and grains but also in offering job opportunities.

Agriculture is important in terms of environment and ecology.

Favourable factors to agriculture Climate Soil Arable land Natural ecology River network Location

Climate Subtropical monsoon maritime climate (plently

precipitation and >10oC the accumulative annual temperature is greater than 7500oC).

Long cropping season and multiple cropping (3 seasons for rice and the 4th for bean, 三造稻四收荳 ).

Guangdong and Hainan are two only regions in China, which can produces tropical crops.

Soil The deposits of the delta are generally 20-

40m in thickness. Sediments are rich in organic substances

(about 0.6 million tones per year). Long soil formation period enables to

accumulate nutrients.

Arable land Zhujiang has a discharges approx. 7 times of Yellow

River. Sediment content is 0.13-0.34kg/m3, total loading is 85 mill ton.

The coast extends 100 m outward every year, translating into a total area of 15 thousand hectares.

More than 0.3 million hectares have been recreated from reclamation since 1949.

Because of large river discharge, salt content in soil can be removed quickly and easily.

Natural Ecology

Terrestrial habitats because of topography

Estuary habitats because of sedimentation

River networks River networks High accessibility of Zhujiang River

provides fast and convenient transportation for the region. There are many advantages:

Cut down the cost of transportation Reduce damages of grain and cropsMaintain the freshness of produces

Location Close linkage with Hong Kong and Macau in

terms of culture, economics and technology A large outlet for agricultural produces.

Characteristics of agriculture in ZD

Fragmented Intensive Integrated Special techniques: tidal irrigation,

ecological dyke ponds, etc.

Landuse types Area

(X mill ha)

% of total area (1993)

Arable land 107 17.15

Orchard 32 5.10

Woodland 264 42.30

Grassland 26 4.22

Residential area 51 8.12

Transportation 11 1.77

Water body 73 11.69

Others 60 9.65

Total 624 100.00

Landuse in Guangdong

Paddy field (水田 ) Mainly for cultivating paddy rice (about 80%) and sugar

cane (about 10%). Sustain three crops a year. Cultivation sequence is rice-rice-

vegetables (or rest) or rice-sugar cane rotation. Series of paddy field align along the coast-inland transact:

Xiantian (saline field, 鹹田 ), shatian (sand field, 沙田 ), weitian (reclaimed field, 圍田 ), langtian (field on the hill, 塱田 ), tungtian (field on the basin, 垌田 ) and hangtian (stony field, 坑田 ).

Only two crops (paddy rice) are allowed in low productive fields, e.g., saline field.

Dry field (旱田 )

Distribute over plateaus and undulating with an elevation of 1-40m, slope is relatively steep (5-15o).

Parent materials are usually granite or reddish siltstone.

Difficulty in irrigation and soil erosion are main concerns.

Orchard (菜地 )

Including land for vegetables and fruits. They are not large in area, usually <100 acres They are usually scattered at the fringes of cities and market towns.

“Four fruits of Lingnan 嶺南四果” are tangerine, banana, pineapple and lychee.

Woodland

Original subtropical monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest has almost disappeared.

Secondary forest (characterized by pines and shrubs) is the dominant type now.

Small pieces of Fung Shui woodland can be found in remote villages.

Wind break can also found in coastal areas while mangrove found in mudflats.

Grassland

Grassland is a relatively primitive ecological habitat.

It is an “artifact” of human disturbance. Natural grasslands are found at hilly areas

and low hills. Artificial grasslands developed in recent

years, mainly for cow and fish feeds are scattered over the dyke pond area.

Dyke pond (基塘 ) The excavated soils are used to construct the

dykes. Dikes are usually 0.5-4m in height, ponds are

30m in width and normally 100m in length. According to area of dyke, proportion of dyke to

pond can be classified into: 3:7, 4:6 (commonest) and 7:3.

Dyke ponds which are classified based on the dominant crop grown. There are 4: mulberry, sugar cane, fruit, and miscellaneous.

Tidal flat

Tidal flat is shallow beach at coastal area, it mainly located at Humen, Jiaomen, Hengmen, Modaomen.

According to the sediment size, it can be classified into sand beach, muddy beach, grass beach and mangrove area. Sand beach can be found at the river month while other three can be found adjacently.

Impacts of Economic on Agriculture

Loss of arable land Pollution Structural transformation

Year Population

(million)

Arable land

(mill acre)

Less than (mill acre)

Less than 1984 (%)

Arable land

per head

(acre)

1984

1987

1990

1991

1992

1993

17.528

18.488

19.560

19.926

20.221

20.854

14.02

13.51

12.90

12.70

11.88

10.71

--

0.52

1.12

1.33

2.15

3.32

--

3.7

8.0

9.5

15.32

23.64

0.80

0.73

0.66

0.64

0.59

0.51

Loss of arable land

Environmental problems Over-emphasis on economic growth,

failure in central policy planning and ignorance of environment

3 wastes: water, air and solid pollution Point source vs non-point source pollution Ecological degradation: habitat loss,

pollution and human disturbance China’s accession to WTO

Structural transformation Manpower Market economy

Decline in grain productionRise of economic crops.Three “highs” (三高農業 )

Year Population

(million)

Food production

(t)

Less than

1984 (t)

Less than 1984 (%)

Food production per head

(kg)

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1993

17.528

18.134

18.829

19.560

20.221

20.854

6313387

5703224

5703224

6174022

5983278

4311932

--

603762

610163

139365

794138

2001450

--

9.6

9.7

2.2

12.6

31.7

360

315

303

316

273

207

Shrinkage of grain production

Development of Zhujiang Delta

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