comparative study.pdf

96 Ecological Economy (2010)6:96-104 A comparative study of organic agriculture development between China and South Korea QIANG Bai-fa 1 , HUANG Tian-zhu 2 * 1. College of Humanities, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, P. R. China 2. School of Management, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xian 710021, P. R. China Abstract: Human activities including modern agriculture have caused environmental pollution, so people begin to pay attention to safe food. As a result, organic agriculture has emerged. Organic agriculture in South Korea (here- inafter referred as Korea) and China has developed rapidly since the appearance of organic agriculture in 1970s and 1980s respectively. Organic agriculture in China and Korea has developed steadily through agricultural support policies, certifi cation management, institutions construction, etc. In the development of organic agriculture, China and Korea are now facing some technical and extension problems. In general, however, the development of organic agriculture in China lags behind Korea. China can learn from the experience about the development of organic agri- culture in Korea to solve contradiction between development of organic agriculture and food safety, to strengthen the organic food certifi cation, to introduce a system of agricultural direct payment and other positive measures, thus will guarantee steady and healthy development of organic agriculture in China. Keywords: South Korea; Organic agriculture; China; Comparison 1 Introduction Increasing population, higher incomes, and in- creasing consumption of animal proteins have in- tensified pressure on land and required intensive cultivation in China and Korea. During the past several decades, there has been a significant in- crease of agricultural production due to advances in technology. These new technologies have led to the increase in use of inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and water; these have triggered environ- mental degra