Meaning of 粗放 in this sentence

[alexamies]

Can anyone tell me what the meaning of 粗放 is in this sentence? Is it one or two words? I can't find it as one word in the dictionaries that I have looked at.

与此同时，随着对外开放的不断拓展和外贸增长方式仍然粗放等问题的存在，当前外贸顺差过大、外汇储备过多已成为影响宏观经济健康发展的突出问题。

Thanks

Alex

[roddy]

It's one word. Basically it means increasing production by expanding, rather than increasing efficiency and productivity. Ie, if you want to increase wheat harvests 10% you plant wheat on 10% more land, rather than taking measures to reduce waste or using a more productive strain. Building masses of low-tech power stations rather than a smaller number of more efficient ones.

In the context of foreign trade I'd probably expect it to mean something like increasing income by exporting more lumber, rather than processing the same amount of lumber into higher-value products.

I think.

[alexamies]

Thanks. That explanation makes sense. I ended up finding it listed as one word in a dictionary and the English word given was 'extensive'.

[889]

Wenlin -- which has a dictionary that's sometimes surprisingly extensive -- defines the phrase as an agricultural term meaning "increase land use to expand production," as Roddy indicated. It also says the phrase can be used as an attribute meaning "free and easy."