New Opportunities for Biosecurity Development in China

Xinxin Duan

Biosecurity is intrinsic to globalization. Effective biosecurity provides protection for a country's ecology and environment, enables development of sustainable agriculture and trade, and maintains and improves conditions necessary for human health and wellbeing. In China, as the world’s largest developing country, biosecurity management is still controlled at the national and political level, but lags at the grassroots (e.g., local government and on-farm) level. Thus, this study explores the problems and opportunities surrounding biosecurity management at the grassroots level in rural areas of China. Agricultural biosecurity is a global issue, with considerable focus on national and international policies. As international trade barriers to the import and export of fresh agricultural produce fall, the risk of spreading pests and pathogens increases. While China has strengthened border security measures alongside the increase in cross-border trade, addressing this issue involves both science, in the identification of the high-risk pests and pathogens, and social science, in the implementation of laws and regulations, are priorities as much as grassroots awareness. This research outlines a three-step approach to introduce biosecurity measures in rural areas of China, considering the influence of China's ancient agricultural culture and political system. Firstly, an analysis is conducted to define biosecurity in the Chinese context. Subsequently, the research explores the interactions between biosecurity and top-level developmental strategies in China. Finally, practical guidelines are proposed for the implementation of biosecurity measures in rural regions. This research offers an analysis of the meaning and scope of biosafety and biosecurity in China, thereby relating the domestic discourse to global developments, exploring notions of safety and security in public policies more broadly, and embedding a key policy initiative, China’s new Biosecurity Law, into attempts by China’s leadership to develop a holistic national security strategy. This research found that biotic threats have more recently been reframed as matters of national security, in ways that undeniably go beyond conventional understandings of biosecurity and that blur the boundaries to more incident-focused biosafety measures. Given China's political and economic importance, this apparent trend to securitize biotic risks is likely to impact on global trade relations, international transport and passenger traffic, not the least in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. The implementation of the Biosecurity Law of the People's Republic of China in 2021 has brought biosecurity to the forefront of national priorities. The political discourse of both environmental protection and rural development is critical for biosecurity implementation in China, based on a document analysis. This research explores to what extent biosecurity and its political vision is compatible with Chinese leading political discourses of ‘ecological civilization’ (shengtai wenming⽣态⽂明) and ‘rural revitalization’ (xiangcun zhenxing乡村振兴). This research found that the interactions between biosecurity, ecological civilization and rural revitalization are reciprocal. Biosecurity preserves biodiversity and promotes the building of ecological civilization. Biosecurity receives policy support from ecological civilization. This also provides local governments and other socio-economic organizations a rationale to invest in and implement biosecurity measures in rural areas. Biosecurity drives the establishment of pest and disease control systems for rural revitalization. Similarly, biosecurity relies on rural revitalization to create favourable conditions for its implementation, such as through New Agricultural Business Entities and farmland consolidation. However, biosecurity measures may have potential conflicts with environment-friendly development, such as extensive chemical control measures. Based on the findings of this research and the ongoing planning of national strategies for ecological civilization and rural revitalization, this study proposes recommendations from three aspects: institutional establishment, policy sustainability, and planning for technology and management. Farmland is the fundamental basis of the agricultural industry, and therefore rural areas must be involved in implementing biosecurity measures. As China undergoes urbanization and pursues rural revitalization, a significant portion of rural farmland has been transferred to the New Agricultural Business Entities (NABEs). This entities comprise leading agricultural enterprises, family farms, and farmers' professional cooperatives, representing a modern agricultural management system with enhanced professional expertise and policy support. Recognizing the unique characteristics of NABEs, this research proposes three hypotheses to promote the implementation of biosecurity in rural Chinese agriculture. Hypothesis 1. Biosecurity will be enhanced through increasing the average size of farmland holdings; Hypothesis 2. Biosecurity will be improved through centralized management of farmland; Hypothesis 3. Biosecurity will be strengthened through stronger relationships between NABE and government. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that NABEs in China provides favourable conditions for the implementation of biosecurity in agricultural land. Keywords: Agriculture, Biosecurity, China, Ecological civilization, Farm biosecurity, Farmland transfer, Grain crops, Modern agriculture, New Agricultural Business Entities, Public policies, Rural revitalization

New Opportunities for Biosecurity Development in China

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