According
to the statistics from Food organization of the United Nations and
Agriculture (FAO), the available farmlands of the world declined
to 1.364 billion hectares in 2000 from 1.383 billion hectares in
1990, accounting for 10.2% of the cultivable land. During that period,
the global population increased from 5.2 billion to 6.134 billion
and the farmland per person decreased from 0.265 hectares to 0.222
hectares. The farmlands aren't distributed equally around the world.
For example, the farmland per person in Australia is 2.67 hectares,
compared with Japan's 0.028 hectares.
The global
output of grain is growing steadily. Though the cultivated area
decrease to 0.675 billion hectares in 2001 from 0.708 billion
hectares in 1990, the output per hectare increased from 2.7 tons
to more than 3 tons and the total output went up 1.9 billion tons
to near 2.086 billion tons.
The wheat,
rice and corn are the three pivots in the global production of
grain and their total output account for about 86% of the world
grain production, with their proportion in world grain production
changing from 29%, 27% and 25% to 28%, 28% and 29%. The output
of corn has exceeded the traditional refined grain. There are
other grain plants such as barley, rye and oat, etc.
The five biggest
producers of grain are China, USA, India, Russia and France in
turn, which hasn't changed a lot in these years. The northern
countries don't have the capability of growing rice, with a small
consumption. At the same time, the paddy is the uppermost grain
plant in tropical and subtropical areas, where the residents consume
a relatively few wheat. The corn has a better adaptability to
the weather condition and is growing everywhere.
Though the
grain output is increasing as a whole, the possession per person
decreased from 360 kilograms to about 340 kilograms. The problems
of starvation and innutrition suffered by 0.8 billion people haven't
been solved yet.
The matter
of global grain has always been a hot topic of the world economy.
The output of grain has always fluctuated between 2.06 to 2.09
billion tons for consecutive 6 years (1996-2001).
The causes of the slow growth of the grain production are quite
complicated. First, some countries' grain productions are in surplus,
while the international prices are relatively low and the major
producing countries don't have the stimulus to increase their
output. Second, the trade volume hasn't increased at the same
time because of lack of purchasing power in the countries short
of grain, while many developed countries are restricting the output
and the grain output still has potentials. The world population
increased by 1.2 billion between 1985 and 2000, of which 1.1 billion
in the developing countries and 0.26 billion alone in Africa.
The most important
fibre crop of the world is cotton. But the development of cotton
production is not very fast, with an increase from 14 million
tons in 1980 to 18 million tons in 1990 for the substitution effects
from the chemical fibres. The output of cotton recovered to 21
million tons in 2001. The five major producers of the world are
China, USA, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The other fibre crops
involve flax, hemp, jute and sisal, etc.
With a global
view, the main oil plant is soybean, and rapeseed and peanut in
the next. And the others involve sunflower seeds, gingili, seed
cotton, oil palm and flax seeds and so on. USA, Brazil, China
and Argentina are the leading producers in the world. As for the
vegetable oil, the bean oil's output account for 28% of the total,
leaving 14% by rap oil and 12% by sunflower seeds oil. The woody
oil plants such as oil palm and olive etc also play an important
role, with more than 16 million tons of palm oil and relevant
percentage increasing gradually.
Cotton, oil
and sugar plants are taken as the main economic plants. Vegetables
and fruits are improving gradually. The most producers of vegetables,
gourds and fruits are from warm temperate zone and tropical regions.
The five leading producers are China, India, USA, Turkey and Italy.
The global output of vegetables and gourds have totaled about
0.98 billion tons.
The varieties
of vegetables are uncountable. With a global view, tomato is the
largest one in terms of output, increasing from 75.4 million tons
in 1990 to more than 100 million tons in 2001. Next one is cabbage,
whose output increased from 39.40 million tons in 1990 to 54.50
million tons in 2001. Others with relatively big output are onion,
cucumber, cauliflower, aubergine and green pepper etc.
The output
of fruits are growing rapidly from 0.353 billion tons in 1990
to 0.466 million tons in 2000, with the biggest five producer
ranking as China, India, Brazil, USA and Italy.
There are
various kinds of fruits. The biggest one in terms of output was
banana, of which the annual output increasing from 46.76 million
tons in 1990 to 68.65 million tons in 2001. Others mainly involve
orange apple, mango and pearl. The output of grape is also very
big, while some will be used as the raw material for wine.
The most important
fruit in the world trade is banana, its exporting volume in 2000
reached 14.44 million tons.
