Spatial-temporal variations of food provision in China

In this study, Cropland Food production data of China in recent 25 years were collected and spatialized with ArcGIS tools. Then all food productions were converted to food nutrition index, showing how much food nutrition China can supply. The spatial structure of food provision in China was shown in the result maps. Food provision related mean centers and population mean centers were calculated with ArcGIS tools. The dynamic evolvement of each kind of food provision mean centers was analyzed contrastively; aiming to find out the situation and change trends of food provision and the relationship between food and population. Results show that, in 2000, the cropland in China produced 1.469 x 10(15)kcal of food calorie, 4.315 x 10(7)t of food protein and 1.314 x 10(7)t of food fat, which can supply for 1754, 1751 and 444 million persons under primary well-to-do life. Food calorie and food protein were far more than self-sufficient but food fat faced with great deficiency. Food-provision-related mean centers all distributed in the North China Plain, while population mean center was located in Central China, south to the centers of food provision. From 1980 to 2005, food mean centers showed a generally northwards moving trend: mean centers of cropland, grain production, food calorie, food protein and food fat moved 199km north-westwards, 270km northwards, 230km northwards, 360km northwards, and 290km northwards, respectively. From 1990 to 2005, mean centers of crops, meat and population showed the following moving trends: rice 118km north-eastwards, wheat 59.6km southeastwards, maize 311km south-westwards, soybean 267.1km north-eastwards, oilseeds 33.7km south-eastwards, meat 433.2km north-eastwards and population 12.1km south-eastwards. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of School of Environment, Beijing Normal University.