China to Lease Farmland

kokoda · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 24, 2006 Posts: 297

What do you do when you have over a billion people to feed, dwindling water supplies and cities and industry overrunning your existing farmlands?

The sad truth is that with increased industrialisation China is losing the ability to feed itself.

It answer to that problem is to look at leasing land for food production in other countries.

The reasoning I suspect is to protect food production and to try and keep prices under control.

I wonder how close China is to having some major food shortage problems.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7373213.stm

pup55 · Expert Joined: May 26, 2004 Posts: 3211

Why not? If you don't have enough land, but have enough money, you can buy the land. Lock up the means of production.

Our Irish PO.com visitors will tell you about what happened to them when the Brits tried this strategy in the 19th century.

The locals were starved so that the crops could be exported to feed the land owners.

The result: 150 years of resentment.

Silly humans.

Denny · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:34 pm Post subject: Re: China to Lease Farmland

More on this subject here

One thing that surprises me, so much is in Africa. In a sense, it is colonization. I thought Africa was always pushing back against Europeans for this kind of thing?

"In Congo, a Chinese telecommunications giant, ZTE International, has bought more than 7 million acres of forest to plant oil palms. In Zimbabwe, state-owned China International Water and Electric Corp. reportedly received rights from the government to farm 250,000 acres of corn in the south."

DomusAlbion · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: Re: China to Lease Farmland

The Chinese are trying to "Drink our Milkshake". We must snip their straw and bash their collective brains in with a bowling pin. Twisted Evil

_________________
"Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett

"It will be a dark time, But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock

Lumpy · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:46 pm Post subject: Re: China to Lease Farmland

Nickel · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:13 pm Post subject: Re: China to Lease Farmland

First thing I thought I saw when I looked at the thread was "China to lease FINLAND". Took me a sec to get it right. But the fact that that sprang to mind so instantly is some indication of how things are going these days! Laughing