Exploring options for agricultural development : a case study in China.

China’s agriculture faces a series of challenges, i.e. guaranteeing national food security, increasing farmer’s income and reducing the adverse effects on environment and human health associated with the use of fertilizers and biocides. At the same time, the availability of resources (e.g. agricultural land) decreases. The objective of this study is to operationalize a methodology to assess the effectiveness of new crop and livestock technologies in attaining rural development goals, using Jiangxi Province as a case study area.

Cropping and livestock systems, quantified in terms of inputs and outputs, are used as the smallest unit of analysis in this study...