In a move that surprised some observers, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday approved a new government-backed food agency, the Agricultural and Food Administration (AFA), which will oversee the countrys food production system.
The move came just one day after a government-appointed committee overseeing the country’s food supply also recommended that the AFA be established.
But the decision was met with criticism from many quarters, including from those who argue that the agency is too much of a government tool and should be abolished.
“The AFA is a new entity created by the National Development Commission that will have a limited scope to monitor and control the food sector,” wrote the New York-based advocacy group Food and Water Watch (WFW) in a blog post Wednesday.
“Its mandate will be to regulate and control Chinese food and to do so by controlling and regulating the sector.
This is a major problem given the fact that the sector is growing rapidly in the absence of a state.”
The AFA will be tasked with overseeing the government’s food production and market control, and will also oversee the supply chain, the organization’s website said.
In response, the ABA, a state-run agency, has said it will work to make the new agency “efficient, effective and fair,” as well as to ensure that its work will “prevent any unfair practices.”
It has also proposed a number of reforms to the existing AFA to “improve its functioning and promote efficiency,” according to the AIFA’s website.
“We will use the AOA’s new powers to ensure fair competition among producers, as well to ensure effective and transparent reporting on the market, and ensure that it is based on facts,” the ADA said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ABA has already launched a campaign against what it calls “unfair” pricing practices, saying that the price of a variety of products is affected by supply and demand.
“Price discrimination is the most common reason for the shortage of raw materials, and it is also a significant reason why the economy suffers,” the agency said in the statement.
“All producers should know the price for each item they make and supply.”
Critics say that the lack of transparency surrounding the new AFA’s authority is problematic because it is not yet clear what, if any, legal authority will be handed to it.
“As a regulator, the National Diet and its agencies must make sure that its activities are fully transparent,” said Wu Yongkang, an expert on food regulation at the University of California-Irvine.
“If the ASA can’t handle transparency and transparency can’t be applied, it can’t regulate.”
Some experts say the AHA is only a placeholder and will have little oversight over Chinese food production.
“I am worried about what they will do with the AGA,” said Andrew Sturgis, a food policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and a former adviser to President Donald Trump.
“It is unclear how it will be regulated, how much it will regulate, or who will regulate it.
If they do it with an agency that they can control and operate, that’s fine.
But I don’t see how they can oversee and control it.”
The proposed new agency has already received support from China’s Communist Party and the ruling Communist Party of China, which have both called for the agency to be abolished, according to news reports.
In a joint statement on Thursday, China and the United States said they will work together “to strengthen the ARA and establish the AEA.”
China’s Foreign Ministry said in an official statement that it will “fight all forms of unfair and oppressive practices,” and will “make efforts to support the development of fair and transparent AFA.”
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce also called for “the AFA and the ACA to be scrapped.”
“The proposed AFA was created to promote sustainable food production by strengthening coordination and coordination of Chinese and foreign producers in a bid to ensure quality and safety,” the statement said.
“AFA and ACA should be dismantled as they have been usurped by the AZA and the new food agency.”
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had recommended that it be disbanded and replaced with a state agency.
“That would mean we would be getting a state company that’s going to be a monopoly, and that would be an absolute disaster,” Michael Pollan, an advocate for food freedom and author of the book “Food: How to Save the World from Cheap Produce,” told The Times.
“What happens to the country?
They’d be a government monopoly.
And what happens to their food?
They’re going to go bankrupt.”
The food industry has been an outspoken critic of the AACA, and has expressed concern about its effectiveness.
“In China, the food market is one of the most tightly controlled,” said Joseph De La Cruz