China is under extreme pressure to meet the growing demand for high-value and safe food of middle- and high-income households. Food security - crucial for socio-political stability – and upgrading food quality and safety have been prioritized by the Chinese government. This offers business opportunities for the Netherlands. The supply capacity and knowledge of the Dutch agri-food sector can contribute to a more diversified and sustainable food supply of trustworthy quality in China. At the same time, however, Dutch companies operating in China experience considerable risks, ranging from an unlevel playing field with Chinese state-owned companies, ill secured intellectual property and rights, unfavorable ownership regulations, barriers for market entry, and foreign competitors. This report aims to provide an impetus for a more strategic Dutch agri-food policy towards China. It discusses the merits of reciprocity as a basis for more intense cooperation between the Netherlands and China based on shared interests in the agri-food domain. It has been commissioned from HCSS and LEI Wageningen UR by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs with the aim of exploring ways in which the Dutch Topsectors Agri & Food and Horticulture & Propagation Materials can strengthen their position in China.

This book documents frontier knowledge on the drivers of agriculture productivity to derive pragmatic policy advice for governments and development partners on reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The analysis describes global trends and long-term sources of total factor productivity growth, along with broad trends in partial factor productivity for land and labor, revisiting the question of scale economies in farming. Technology is central to growth in agricultural productivity, yet across many parts of the developing world, readily available technology is never taken up. We investigate demand-side constraints of the technology equation to analyze factors that might influence producers, particularly poor producers, to adopt modern technology. Agriculture and food systems are rapidly transforming, characterized by shifting food preferences, the rise and growing sophistication of value chains, the increasing globalization of agriculture, and the expanding role of the public and private sectors in bringing about efficient and more rapid productivity growth. In light of this transformation, the analysis focuses on the supply side of the technology equation, exploring how the enabling environment and regulations related to trade and intellectual property rights stimulate Research and Development to raise productivity. The book also discusses emerging developments in modern value chains that contribute to rising productivity. This book is the fourth volume of the World Bank Productivity Project, which seeks to bring frontier thinking on the measurement and determinants of productivity to global policy makers.

This report explores how the Dutch government could strengthen the resilience of the Dutch agro-food system and mitigate risks to the supply of critical raw material imports.

The problem is not President Trump, Brexit, Far Right politicians, racism or Islamophobia. It’s the “Global Shift” from America and Europe to China, India and beyond. As an economist Dr. Mirza is fascinated by the Rise of China from a “dirt poor” country in 1980 to the World’s second largest economy today. This revolutionary achievement has not yet sunk in with Western leaders, economists, the media or the public at large. Imagine living in Europe when Columbus sailed West to find China. European leaders either ignored him or heaped scorn on his bravado. Dr. Mirza believes that Western leaders today are as ignorant of today’s “Global Shift” from West to East as the Eastern leaders of the Ottoman Empire, China and India were, during the 16th-18th centuries of the “Global Shift” then from East to West. This book intends to shed light on that ignorance. It traces the beginning of this “Global Shift” from the Mexican Maquiladoras to China’s SEZs to India’s Call Centres to Indonesia, ASEAN, Brazil and Africa. Dr. Mirza also explains how this “Global Shift” is responsible for the Rise of populism in the West, of President Trump, Brexit and Far Right politicians.

African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa can feed itself in a generation and can help contribute to global food security. To achieve this Africa has to define agriculture as a force in economic growth by advancing scientific and technological research, investing in infrastructure, fostering higher technical training, and creating regional markets.