China Invests Billions into Agricultural Research to Ensure Food Security

China is home to the largest population in the world. Feeding a population of over 1.3 billion and ensuring food security is no easy task. The Chinese government is, therefore, increasingly looking toward technological solutions to ensure food security. The latest development in this regard has been its intention to use the genome-editing tool CRISPR to enhance its agricultural produce. CRISPR was discovered as a potent genome editor by European and American labs a few years ago. Ever since then, almost all the labs and research facilities across China have been using the tool in their agricultural research. Chinese researchers’ interest in the use of CRISPR stems from the urge to provide a permanent solution to their food security issue. There have been twice as many CRISPR related research papers coming out of the Chinese research circles than from the US itself.

However, the Chinese government has not yet approved the use of CRISPR in agricultural production. The Chinese consumer is not quite appreciative of genetically modified food. As a result, there are restrictions on the imports of a number of genetically modified food products. The only genetically modified food being domestically produced is papaya.

Then there are ethical questions surrounding the use of genetically modified plants. For example, a European court in a landmark ruling last year ordered that these plants are genetically modified organisms (GMO) and should be subjected to stricter regulations. The US, however, exempt these genetically modified foods from the regulations applied on GMOs. Observers are hopeful that China will take a course similar to the one taken by the US.

The Chinese government is by no means oblivious to the need to ensure food security. There have been massive investments in agricultural research over the last decade. Two years ago, China bought out a Swiss firm, Syngenta. Syngenta was in the top four agribusinesses of the world. Along with the $43 billion acquisition came a huge R&D infrastructure and a team that had been working with CRISPR. This acquisition marked the largest spending ever by China to acquire a foreign-based business. This further went on to forge a tight working relationship between academia, government, and industry.

The agricultural sector in China generates 23.3% of the GDP and employs 36% of the labor force. China has been quite aggressive with its investment in agricultural research. As early as in 2013, it was investing over $10 billion into setting up and running agricultural research facilities. This was more than twice the amount of the United States’ public spending in the area of agricultural research.