A modification of the strict land-transfer rights and the introduction of private ownership of land would introduce a market for arable land. Small farmers, who in the meantime already generate their main income from employment in rural industries, could sell their property rights to larger, more productive farms. This would lead to a consolidation of China's farm structure, which would boost productivity. Economically, it makes no sense to increase pressure on farmers for producing ever more grain in order to achieve a very high self-sufficiency ratio. China might even use these areas for a highly profitable production of export crops.
Floods are a serious threat to food security in China.
Between 1988 and 1995 China has lost some 856,000 hectares of cropland due to disasters - primarily flooding. Some 33,000 medium and smaller dams and dykes in China need urgent repairs, better maintainance, or even reconstruction. Research in bio-technology should be further supported China is already one of the leading countries in advanced rice biotechnology research. Since the mid-1980s, Chinese research centers have begun to develop advanced biotechnological tools, such as recombinant DNA technology. In the West, this often takes the form of agricultural subsidies, price regulation or production quotas.