ABSTRACT
China’s agricultural output grew at an astonishing rate during the last 20 years following the government’s 1978 decision to initiate a major economic reform program. By 1998, grain output had risen to 510 million tons, an increase of 70 per cent in just 20 years. During the 1990s, especially in the first half of the decade, growth in China’s grain production declined sharply. As grain production slipped during this period, China suddenly switched from net grain exports to net grain imports, and the net value of China’s grain imports surged to 3.5 billion dollars in 1995.
