SPEAKING FREELY China's farmers need a second liberation
By Lin Gan
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their say.
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China is in a rapid transition toward industrialization and integration into
the world economy. However, this development has had a high price, particularly
on the environment, and has put heavy pressure on local energy resources and
ecosystems.
In addition, the gap in income and living standards between urban and rural
areas, and between the eastern and western regions of China, has widened and
the unemployment rate is increasing. Many are concerned that long-term
prosperity of the country may
be harmed by these social disparities. It is projected that unemployment will
grow to 100 million people by 2010, and most of it will be in the poor western
regions, where farmers are desperately seeking to survive and create better
lives for their families. It is clear China will have to look for alternative
solutions to develop its agriculture sector, as some 900 million farmers depend
on it.
Agriculture in China has developed at a much slower pace than industry over the
past two decades, which has led to increasing disparity between rural and urban
residents. The majority of the migrant workers from the agriculture sector come
to cities for economic reasons: the loss of their lands to urban expansion,
increased mechanization in agricultural production, and low income from selling
agricultural products.
In particular, major challenges to sustainable rural development occur in the
western regions, where severe problems co-exist. Farmers lag in income behind
those in the coastal regions; ecosystems are vulnerable; poverty is still a
social problem; the majority of the farmers still rely on traditional use of
agricultural residues, forest biomass or coal for cooking and space heating,
which have severe indoor air-pollution problems that damage health. Above all,
the current focus on exploitation of raw materials for industry and fossil-fuel
resources cannot make farmers rich, but will rather leave them with pollution,
land damage and, above all, depletion of their means of living.
The Chinese government has realized that it must urgently search for
alternative solutions. Under the banner of the so-called "harmonious society",
the government is looking into new options, namely sustainable rural
development, achieved by using resources more efficiently and prioritizing new
and renewable energy sources with wider market applications.
With its vast territory and diversified geographic regions, China has large
stocks of biomass resources from agricultural and forest residues, and also
large wastelands that can potentially be used for bio-energy development: small
and decentralized electricity and heat generation, household applications, and
biofuels development.
Bio-energy has become a top priority in the government agenda as the Renewable
Energy Law was implemented starting in January 2006. The current focus is on
electricity generation from surplus agricultural residues, which were estimated
at 200 million tonnes yearly. The government has set a long-term target of 30
gigawatts of electricity generated from biomass by 2020, which will require
billions of US dollars in investment.
There is a growing interest in biofuels development as well, such as bio-diesel
and ethanol, with the intention of replacing imported oil, which accounts for
more than 40% of the country's total oil supply today and may reach more than
50% by 2010. That's why, to most people's surprise, the Chinese government has
announced that it will import a million tonnes of ethanol each year from
Brazil. Without doubt, these announcements pave the way for new business
opportunities, both in China and internationally.
But this strategy is being defined too narrowly, with the missing part being
the fulfillment of the needs of the poor and disadvantaged social groups. Newly
built biomass-burning electric-power plants could be good news for those living
in remote areas without access to electricity as decentralized power generation
would help improve their quality of life. But the current plan, with dozens of
demonstration biomass power plants being built, is mainly in economically
developed regions, such as in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces.
The key point is that rural residents can only benefit from bio-energy
development if it takes place where they live and takes their daily needs into
account. The fact is that most farmers still use biomass for cooking and
heating in traditional ways, especially in poor remote regions.
While farmers suffer from severe health impacts due to the burning of coal
inside their households, fluoride poisoning, for example, is a common health
problem in Guizhou province. Some 19 million poor farmers there, mostly
minority ethnic groups, are affected, especially women, children and old
people.
Traditional use of biomass also wastes a lot of energy because it uses family
stoves whose efficiency rates are only at 5-8%. For example, one rural family
in remote Yunnan province uses 14-16 tonnes of firewood per year on average,
thus causing major damage to natural forests. Modern biomass stoves can achieve
30-40% efficiency rates. Implementation of such stoves would benefit the global
environment, save resources, and also increase revenues for rural enterprises.
China needs to make a massive transition from traditional to modern uses of
biomass as part of its strategy to develop rural areas in a sustainable way.
This leapfrogging requires innovative policy support from the government. By
doing so, it will benefit farmers through reduced fossil-fuel use, improvements
in living conditions and health, job creation, and income generation.
Most agricultural residues today are burned in the fields, which pollutes the
air and wastes energy. With the same amount of investment now used to develop
biomass power plants, household-based biomass utilization could generate five
to 10 times as many local jobs and five to nine times as much income for rural
residents and small companies, in addition to other environmental and social
benefits.
So far the Chinese government has not paid adequate attention to these points,
especially how to use biomass resources more efficiently and related
sustainability issues. Strong policy incentives should be established to
provide favorable conditions to get investors, innovators and small enterprises
involved in the social and technological transition toward sustainable rural
development. Such energy policies could also play a large role in mitigating
climate change, a more fruitful move than building pollution-creating
coal-burning plants, as is done in China today at an increasing rate. By
implementing policies to support household-based biomass use, pressures on
rapid urban development could ease.
Internationally, bio-energy has become a dynamic driving force, with many
committed players - governments, industries, aid agencies and increasingly
private investors - wanting to get involved in China's land of opportunities
that will spring from this transition. In the end, it will bring a new
perspective to integrate reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions with sustainable
rural energy development in China, which will also be a valuable experience for
other biomass-rich developing countries in the move to reach social-development
and environmental-protection goals.
Dr Lin Gan is senior research fellow at CICERO (Center for International
Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo) and former director of climate and
energy programs for World Wide Fund for Nature in China. Gan received his
bachelor's degree in library science from Shanxi University in 1982 and his
master's degree in science and technology policy from the University of Lund,
Sweden, in 1989. He received his PhD in public administration from Roskilde
University, Denmark, in 1995.
(Copyright 2007 Lin Gan.)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say.
Please click hereif you are interested in contributing.
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