![](\"\/pardee\/files\/2017\/10\/IIB035.jpg\")
By Junda Jin\nSeptember 2017\u00a0(8 Pages)
\nDownload PDF<\/a><\/p>\n
Rapid economic growth and urbanization in China have led to challenges in maintaining food sufficiency, as\u00a0land, water, and other resources are reallocated\u00a0away from agriculture in an already water-scarce country. Water is becoming a particularly problematic constraint on food production, as China’s renewable water resource per capita is only 28 percent of the global average and 60 percent of arable land in China is located in water scarce areas. In this Issues in Brief<\/em><\/a>, Junda Jin explores the feasibility of implementing “virtual water”\u00a0policies in China, specializing in producing foods that require less water and importing those that use more. He discusses the advantages and challenges of pursuing such\u00a0a strategy\u00a0to optimize food production, and concludes that virtual water can be a solution to both water scarcity and the threat of food insecurity in China, but that effective implementation would require a less fragmented\u00a0governance structure and more coordinated regulation.<\/p>\n