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Jikun Huang, Jun Song, Fanbin Qiao and Keith O. Fuglie. 2003. Sweetpotato in China: Economic Aspects and Utilization in Pig Production. International Potato Center (CIP), Bogor, Indonesia. 72 pages. |
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ABSTRACT |
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The role of sweetpotato in China’s agricultural economy is changing rapidly. Once an important food staple, sweetpotato in China is now mainly used as animal feed and as a source of starch for food and industrial products. In this paper the authors characterize the changing pattern of China's sweetpotato production and utilization, examine the incentives governing sweetpotato production, and analyze the efficiency of substituting sweetpotato for maize as feed in pig production. |
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Some
of the salient facts about sweetpotato in China are: v
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China produces 86 percent of global sweetpotato production v - Sweetpotato accounts for about 5 percent of China’s total grain production and is the second most important feed
crop after maize v - About 41 percent of China’s sweetpotato production is used as animal feed, 33 percent for starch and starch
products, and 14 percent directly as food v - Most of the sweetpotato used for feed is locally grown and consumed, mainly by small-scale “backyard” pig
producers raising 1-3 pigs per year |
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Using a farm survey of 200 rural households from the two most important sweetpotato producing provinces in China (Sichuan and Shandong), the authors examine the economic incentives facing farmers’ choice of sweetpotato versus maize as the principal feed in pig production. The results of a Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) revealed a large divergence between the private and social cost of producing sweetpotato. Agricultural and trade policies in China have discriminated against sweetpotato and protected maize producers. This has discouraged the substitution of sweetpotato for maize as feed. In addition, the use of sweetpotato as feed tends to fall as the scale of pig production increases. Given a falling market share of small-scale “backyard” pig producers and policy disincentives, sweetpotato use for animal feed appears likely to decline in the future. It will take an increase in investment in sweetpotato research and extension to improve sweetpotato productivity and a removal of policy distortions to improve terms of trade in order to realize the full potential of sweetpotato in China’s agricultural economy. |
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