An institutional process of the drastic shrinkage of farmland in mainland China: the Pearl River Delta case

Between 1991 and 1994, China has experienced an unprecedented upsurge of various land development programs characterized by nationwide 'development zone hits' and 'real estate and property hits.' The Pearl River Delta region of China has been leading this development which has resulted in massive lost of prime agricultural land. This paper attempts to analyze the problem from an institutional perspective. A schematic framework has been constructed to scrutinize the major causes leading to farmland shrinkage in the Pearl River Delta area, one of the most prosperous and dynamic regions in China. The focus is on the work of the institutional process that forms a vicious circle that puts China's land increasingly at risk. It is argued that to better protect the limited farmland resource and to solve the land degradation problem, China needs fundamental structural changes of the current socio-economic-political system.