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Beijing (China)Introduction: City Context Beijing is the capital of P.R. China. It lies in the northern tip of the North China Plain at N 39º56’ and E 116º20’ and enjoys a moderate continental climate. The average rainfall is about 500mm yearly. The temperature is in the range of -15-38 ºC.
Urbanisation is high due to the rapid economic development in the last twenty years, with an average annual increase of 2.48 %. Due to this, arable land in Beijing metropole reduced from 413000 ha in 1990 to 26000 ha in 2003. Beijing is a city facing water shortages, especially in the past 8 years. Rainfall is less than 600mm yearly. Water quota per person is less than 300 cubic meters, which is one eighth of China and one thirtieth of the world average. Surface water is gradually drying up and the level of groundwater is declining. Agriculture is a big consumer of agriculture, in its water use 90 percent relies on groundwater. Beijing is the capital of R.P. China. It lies in the northern tip of North China Plain and is situated at N 39º56’ and E 116º20’. So it enjoys a moderate continental climate. The average rainfall is about 500mm yearly. The temperature is in the range of -15-38 ºC. Most important types of Urban Agriculture Development in Beijing Urban and peri-urban agriculture appeared in the Beijing Municipal Development Plan as early as in 1994. Urban agriculture plays a role in improving the quality of the food, maintaining urban green spaces and using the land and water resources intensively and economically. The main types of urban and peri-urban agriculture activities so far include small-scale and large scale agricultural production and processing, agrotourism, intensive horticulture such as greenhouses and so called high tech agriculture (see also UA-Magazine 15). In Beijing there are over 940 larger scale enterprises engaged in the agricultural production and processing, More than 285 leading agricultural gardens and 155 large ecological resorts are active in agricultural tourism. The number of hi-tech agriculture enterprises amounts to 375 in 2001. They are mainly located in the peri-urban areas and outer city districts and counties. There are currently about 4 million migrants in Beijing, of which about 3 million are employed in various economic sectors, including about 100,000-200,000 employed in urban agriculture. Most migrant farmers are renting land and producing vegetables in the peri-urban areas. Their living conditions, are quite poor as compared to the local farmers, although their income is generally much higher than what they would earn back home (see also UA-Magazine 17).
Urban and peri-urban agriculture supports an annual growth rate of 4.7% on the gross output value of agriculture during 1995-2003. Peri-urban agriculture encourages many people to stay or work in the peri-urban areas. While migrants, women and vulnerable groups can earn a living. Multi-stakeholder Policymaking and Action planning on urban agriculture (MPAP) in Beijing and ongoing projects The RUAF partner Institute of Geographical Sciences & Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is cooperating with the China Urban Agriculture Association, the Beijing Municipal and sub-level governments, universities and other institutes to implement a Multi-Stakeholder Policy Development & Action, supported by Planning process in Beijing. The aim is to facilitate the integration of urban agriculture in city development plans and policies and to design longer term actions plans to support the development of sustainable urban and peri-urban agriculture in Beijing. In 2005, a professional participatory training for farmers, local governments, researchers, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders was undertaken. As part of the Beijing Action Plan the following activities are undertaken: 1. Development of an Agricultural Cooperative in Peri-urban Beijing 2. Agro-tourism development in Peri-urban Beijing 3 Livelihood of migrant farmers in peri-urban Beijing Many migrant farmers are involved in agriculture in peri-urban Beijing. They rent farmland. Based on rapid assessment regarding economic development and status of migrant farmers, 3 villages located in inner (Chaoyang district) and interim (Shunyi district) Beijing were selected as the study sites. An indepth analysis was undertaken with 15 migrant farmers households and other actors such as local government, enterprises, merchants, transporter, farmers organisations, consumers, NGOs and a village council. Through these interviews the main issues of the migrant farmers were identified. Policies based on the participatory assessment will be designed and suggestions to city poverty reduction activities and gender equality are also put forward. Linkages to regional websites, key documents, photos, maps etc. So far, a detailed study on agro-tourism in Peri-urban Beijing has been conducted and the report in Chinese will be published in Chinese Urban Agriculture Website at address http://www.cnruaf.com.cn/. Besides, other related projects are also ongoing, including land use planning, sponsored by Beijing municipal government, and planning guidelines for agro-tourism parks, funded by the Ministry of Sciences and Technology of China. Click here to return to the worldmap. The partners of the RUAF China network on urban agriculture are:  ( categories: Beijing )
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