Challenges and perspectives in the food and agriculture sector in post-2020 China

The year 2020 has been a remarkable year for China in many respects. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s grain output reached a record high of 670 million metric tons in 2020. At the end of 2020, China announced it has eliminated absolute poverty. Yet, China will be confronted with several challenges in the years to come: • Achieving carbon neutrality by 2060: China committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. However, this goal cannot be reached by relying solely on a low-carbon transition of the energy system. To achieve this goal, emission reductions in agrifood systems and the potential of land use, land-use change and forestry as a carbon sink (LULUCF) must be considered. • Ensuring environmental sustainability: The “high-input-high-output” approach that has characterized China’s extensive agricultural production over the past decades has placed a heavy burden on China’s ecosystems. A “green” transformation of China’s agricultural production is critical to pursuing long-term environmental sustainability.Protecting the vulnerable and ensuring a smooth transition from smallholder to modern agriculture: A significant share of the population remains vulnerable to shocks and at risk of falling back into poverty. Although the smallholder model is not viable and not sustainable in the long-term, there are still more than 200 million smallholder farmers in China. Protecting the vulnerable and managing the full transition from smallholder to modern agriculture is critical to maintaining social stability in the country. The year 2021 offers China an opportunity to further advance its food and agricultural development model: greener, more sustainable and more inclusive.