urban food security (China may be in better shape than the US

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Preparation Forum : One Thread

In China, since the first decades of this century, as a matter of public policy, the various governments have discouraged shipping food long distances and demanded that cities rely on food grown in the region of the city or within the city itself. E.g., Shanghai grows all of the vegetables consumed in the city within the city itself. The rest comes from a 100 kilometer radius circle around the city, and a lot of it comes to town by bicycle or handcart. 40% of the workers in Chinese cities are employed in agriculture.

urban food security in China

In Calcutta, 1/3 of the fish and vegetables consumed in the city are grown in the city. 40% of urban poor surveyed in third world countries say they would starve if it wasn't for food they grow themselves in the cities. 800 million people worldwide are in volved with urban agriculture, 2/3rds of the families in Moscow are growing food.

See also

food security

Farming in Los Angeles

small urban farmers

city farmers in Africa

cities learning to feed themselves

Got printable flyers for distribution during y2k disruptions?

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), October 28, 1999

Answers

Let's see...in Hawaii, we get 80-90% of our food shipped in...the sugar we grow is shipped raw to the mainland for processing and then shipped back! (And people wonder why our mayor is encouraging gardens!)

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 28, 1999.

Anybody familiar with Red China's Civil Defense program with their MILES of tunnels? To quote Mao, "Deep tunnels deep. Store grain everywhere." Some of these tunnels extend DOZENS of miles outside the cities that they serve.

The Great Wall(s) of China are puny little artifacts that required very little material and labor in comparison to their Civil Defense system. In many Red Chinese cities the population can be down in the tunnels and fully protected within about 7 minutes. Lots of entrances, lots of tunnels.

The big questions would be, did they ever stock the tunnel system, or just the ones that they let outsiders tour? Do they remain stocked? I'm sure that both of these are State Secrets.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), October 29, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ