China faces major challenges in generating viable and inclusive agricultural and rural development. However, rapid economic growth provides new opportunities to meet the challenges. In particular, the development of higher value agrifood chains provides opportunities for rural households to increase their levels of specialisation, scale and incomes, and for rural areas to broaden their employment and tax bases.

While an agricultural and rural development strategy based on upgrading agrifood chains is widely described and prescribed, it has not proceeded without problems and has been the...