Browsing by Author "Zhong, Taiyang"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Boon or bane? Urban food security and online food purchasing during the Covid-19 epidemic in Nanjing, China
    (MDPI, 2022) Liang, Yajia; Zhong, Taiyang; Crush, Jonathan
    This paper examines the relationship between the rapid growth of online food purchasing and household food security during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in China using the city of Nanjing as a case study. The paper presents the results of an online survey of 968 households in Nanjing in March 2020 focused on their food purchasing behavior and levels of food security during the early weeks of the pandemic. While online food purchasing has increased rapidly in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, little research attention has been paid to the relationship between online food purchasing and household food security. This paper provides detailed insights into this relationship in China. The medium- and longer-term food security and other consequences of the pandemic pivot to online food purchasing are a fertile area for future research in China and elsewhere.
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    Comprehensive food system planning for urban food security in Nanjing, China
    (MPDI, 2021) Zhong, Taiyang; Si, Zhenzhong; Crush, Jonathan
    Food system planning is important to achieve the goal of �zero hunger� in the UN�s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2016). However, discussion about comprehensive planning for food security is scarce and little is known about the situation in Chinese cities. To narrow this gap, this study collected and analyzed four medium-term plans and two annual plans for the �vegetable basket project� in Nanjing, China. This study examines the strategies for urban food security in Nanjing to shed light on how the city developed a comprehensive approach to food system planning over the past three decades. The evolution of incremental food system planning in Nanjing provides valuable lessons for other cities facing food security challenges and shortages of financial resources. Reducing food insecurity is an ongoing challenge for the city governments in the Global South and comprehensive planning is a useful tool for addressing the challenge of urban food insecurity.
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    Emergency food supplies and food security in Wuhan and Nanjing, China, during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from a field survey
    (Wiley, 2021) Zhong, Taiyang; Crush, Jonathan; Si, Zhenzhong
    Detailed empirical work on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security is scant. Local management of food security has received little attention.This article describes emergency food policies in Wuhan and Nanjing, China during lockdown in 2020 and their implications for household food security in the two cities.Policy documents and background data describe the emergency measures. Online surveys of residents of two Chinese cities were used to gauge household food security.
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    Pathways to food insecurity: Migration, hukou and Covid?19 in Nanjing, China
    (Wiley) Crush, Jonathan; Xu, Fei; Zhong, Taiyang
    The COVID?19 pandemic has issued significant challenges to food systems and the food security of migrants in cities. In China, there have been no studies to date focusing on the food security of migrants during the pandemic. To fill this gap, an online questionnaire survey of food security in Nanjing City, China, was conducted in March 2020. This paper situates the research findings in the general literature on the general migrant experience during the pandemic under COVID and the specifics of the Chinese policy of hukou. Using multiple linear regression and ordered logistic regression, the paper examines the impact of migration status on food security during the pandemic. The paper finds that during the COVID?19 outbreak in 2020, households without local Nanjing hukou were more food insecure than those with Nanjing hukou. The differences related more to the absolute quantity of food intake, rather than reduction in food quality or in levels of anxiety over food access. Migrants in China and elsewhere during COVID?19 experienced three pathways to food insecurity�an income gap, an accessibility gap, and a benefits gap. This conceptual framework is used to structure the discussion and interpretation of survey findings and also has wider potential applicability.
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    Urban food insecurity and the impact of China�s affordable food shop (AFS) program: a case study of Nanjing City
    (Applied Geography, 2023) Zhong, Taiyang; Crush, Jonathan; Song, Yaya
    Food subsidies are widely implemented as part of government policies globally to mitigate food insecurity amongst the urban poor. Subsidies to retail outlets are one a type of supply-side subsidy designed to make food more affordable to low-income consumers. China�s Affordable Food Shop (AFS) program introduced by the central government in 2011 and implemented by municipal governments is one example. To date, there has been little research examining the effectiveness of the AFS program despite more than a decade of implementation. This paper presents a case study of the program�s effectiveness in Nanjing which was one of the first Chinese cities to introduce the program which grew very rapidly in the years that followed. In early 2020, the Nanjing program was closed which raises important questions about its effectiveness and impact. We show that food insecurity in Nanjing is generally low but that increased food insecurity is associated with lived poverty, lower income, and unaffordability of staple foods. Food insecurity is not mitigated by proximity to an AFS Program shop. The paper argues that the program had various deficiencies and a limited effect in reducing food insecurity and increasing food accessibility. These included inappropriate targeting, program redundancy, and competition from supermarkets and public markets. In the circumstances, the decision by the city government to close the program is understandable.