Comparative Study on the Change of Farmland Quantity between Mainland and Taiwan

Farmland is one of the main effective factors on the economic sustainable development. This paper attempts to compare the change of farmland quantity between Mainland and Taiwan in the 1952-1998, and explains it from the angle of economy development policy. The study shows that different macro-economic strategy lead to contrary trend of decreasing rate, the decreasing rate of farmland in Taiwan shows an increasing trend with the development of economy, but the rate in Mainland is decreasing. At the background of globalization, it is significance for Taiwan to releases some farmland to meet the need of non-agricultural development, but for Mainland, the quantity of farmland is still very important considering the food security. As a result, some valuable policy recommendations are presented for Mainland's farmland preservation.