The food production in China is worth noting. Food security has been a priority on government agendas in recent decades.
In this context, apples are one of the products that make up this basic food basket. How does the Asian country ensure fruit for 1.4 billion people?
Exemplary food production in China: the case of apples
For the administration of Xi Jinping, apples are one of the products that make up China’s basic food basket.
Therefore, for some time now, the production of this fruit has been growing rapidly. Everything indicates that it will continue to do so according to the investments made to support this type of policy.
Statistics show it. In the last 20 years, the apple harvest has grown by just over 80%, from 26 million to 48 million tons.
According to international studies, Beijing aims to reach 55 million tons by 2030, so it will need to increase its production by another 15% in this short period.
The “Apple Revolution”: how China will increase production
This challenge is now part of the context of the “trade war” that has just unfolded between China and the United States, as a result of the tariffs imposed first by the Donald Trump administration.
The Asian giant will lead the so-called “Second Apple Production Revolution.” It is a project that was launched on a small scale in early 2022 and is now in a development stage.
This initiative complements the work started decades ago, which aimed to increase the low levels of productivity shown by apple farms in order to feed the entire population without the need for imports.
Apple plantations in China are developed in various regions of the country. The ancestors of the cultivated apple trees appeared about 9000 years ago in Central Asia, in the Almaty region, in Kazakhstan.
However, it was in the early 19th century when this pomaceous fruit began to be produced for commercialization in markets.
The so-called first apple production revolution began just over two decades ago when the government decided to increase production by applying basic technology to increase yields per hectare on the already established infrastructure.
The challenge for food production in China.
Thus, they sought to grow in volume while maintaining the planted area, and succeeded.
This second edition aims to improve specific areas where productivity was lacking. The goal is to achieve a minimum of 25 tons per hectare and make them profitable to strategically support families in rural areas, away from large cities.
Regions where apples are produced
Currently, apples are mainly produced in the Bohai Bay, Loess Plateau, and in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shandong, Gansu, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Liaoning, and Xinjiang.
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