Food security, food safety and pesticides: China and the EU compared

Maria Bruna Zolin (), Matilde Cassin () and Ilda Mannino
Additional contact information
Maria Bruna Zolin: Department of Economics, University Of Venice CÃ Foscari
Matilde Cassin: Department of Economics, University Of Venice CÃ Foscari
Ilda Mannino: Venice International University

No 2017:02, Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari"

Abstract: To control pests that may damage crops during production, storage or transportation, chemical pesticides are usually used. On the one hand, the use of pesticides can help to reduce yield losses caused by pests, pathogens, and weeds and thereby help feed the world's population; on the other hand, such agricultural practices can profoundly affect limited natural resources. Starting from these premises, the main objective of this paper is to explore the relationship between food security and food safety, while pointing out the role played in this relationship by pesticides, focusing on the case studies of the EU and China. To this purpose, the paper outlines the international framework on pesticides and the legal framework in the EU and China, analyzes pesticide markets, and considers the concerns related to their use. The overview of the situation in the EU and China allows us to identify challenges and opportunities for future developments in terms of food security and safety and food trade relationships between Europe and China. Tension and mutual disputes have occurred in the past due to increasing risks for consumers and workers handling pesticides, food scandals and difficulties in the mutual recognition of food quality certification schemes, which call for sustainable production methods.

Keywords: Agriculture; Sustainability; Pesticides; Integrated Pest Management; Food security; Food safety; EU; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 N65 O13 O53 Q15 Q18 Q24 Q25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cna and nep-env
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.unive.it/web/fileadmin/user_upload/dip ... in_mannino_02_17.pdf First version, anno (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ven:wpaper:2017:02

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari" Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sassano Sonia ().