Achieving food security in China: past three decades and beyond

Purpose – The paper aims to review and assess China's food security practice over the past three decades with a view of drawing implications for further improving its food security in the future. Design/methodology/approach – A normative food security framework is used to assess China's food security achievements and examine any remaining and emerging issues in its pursuit for food security. Findings – China has done well in achieving grain security in the past three decades. However, it cannot be concluded that China has achieved its food security according to the normative food security framework. This is because there are serious problems in the aspects of food safety and quality, environmental sustainability, and social stability. To achieve long‐term food security, China has to tackle the wide spread issues of unsafe foods and foods of dubious quality, environmental pollution and degradation, and the establishment of a social security system. Originality/value – Examining China's food security practice over the past three decades can generate experiences and lessons valuable not only for China, but also for other developing countries in their efforts to achieving national food security. Issues are identified to which the Chinese government needs to pay attention in order to improve China's food security in the future.