Analysis on the Agricultural Green Production Efficiency and Driving Factors of Urban Agglomerations in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River

Abstract

As one of the main grain-producing areas in China, urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River plays an important role in the development of agricultural production for China’s grain supply. The existing studies about agricultural production efficiency lack of regional coordination analysis at both macro and micro levels, and only few studies consider the impact of agricultural production environment pollution and other undesirable outputs. Based on the input–output index system of agricultural green production, Slacks-based model (SBM) was adopted to measure the agricultural green production efficiency of 31 prefecture level cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River from 2008 to 2018, and the Tobit model of panel fixed effect was used to analyze the driving effect of external factors that affect the agricultural green production efficiency of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. At the same time, the research methods at both macro and micro levels provide ideas for the research of transregional production efficiency. The results showed that: (1) the agricultural green production efficiency of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze river is relatively low, with 2009 and 2013 as the inflection points, showing a stable trend of rise and decline; (2) The green agricultural production efficiency of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River presents the spatial distribution characteristics of “high in the west and low in the east”. The regional efficiency difference is obvious, the gap gradually expands, develops from the equilibrium to the polarization; (3) Urbanization development and government intervention has a significant restraining effect on the improvement of agricultural green production efficiency, and opening to the outside world produces a remarkable influence on the improvement of agricultural green production efficiency, however, economic development and industrial structure have little impact on the improvement of agricultural green production efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to increase investment in technological innovation, promote agricultural transformation and upgrading, promote rational factors allocation and promote coordinated development of agriculture based on regional production differences.

Efficiency Analysis of Scientific and Technological Innovation in Grain Production Based on Improved Grey Incidence Analysis

“…It is found that the type of basic ability of scientific and technological innovation indicators and transformation ability of scientific and technological achievements are the main indexes categories that affect grain output. This is highly consistent with the conclusion of most researchers that "agricultural science and technology innovation is the main driving force to promote agricultural development [42][43][44], and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements is an important factor affecting grain production efficiency [45][46][47][48]". It also shows that increasing the input of the investment of basic resources of scientific and technological innovation, effective allocation of resources, accelerating scientific and technological innovation and improving transformation rate of scientific and technological achievements are crucial for improving grain outputs and ensuring grain security.…”

Measurement of Agricultural Green Development Level in the Three Provinces of Northeast China Under the Background of Rural Vitalization Strategy

“…Some researchers used the entropy method to evaluate the level of agricultural green development in Anhui province ( 11 ), major grain-producing regions of China ( 12 ), Qinghai Province ( 13 ), and Jiangsu Province ( 14 ). Wang et al ( 15 ) based on the input-output index system of agricultural green production, Slacks-based model (SBM) was adopted to measure the agricultural green production efficiency of 31 prefecture-level cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River from 2008 to 2018, and the Tobit model of panel fixed effect was used to analyze the driving effect of external factors that affect the agricultural green production efficiency of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. To evaluate the agricultural green development of China, Tu ( 16 ) used data envelopment analysis (DEA) research ideas and methods to calculate the agricultural green development index, analyzing the level of China's agricultural green development from both static and dynamic aspects, and based on variable coefficients semi-parametric estimation, analyzed the important determinants of agricultural green development and the influence of regional heterogeneity on agricultural green development.…”

Economic competitiveness vs. green competitiveness of agriculture in the European Union countries

“…507-516). Studies regarding sustainable development also include those by Wang et al (2021), who, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), assessed the eco-efficiency of agricultural production. Thus, based on the review of literature, it can be concluded that an approach to evaluating and measuring competitiveness changed in time, which points to a need for continued research in order to present the complexity of this economic phenomenon from various perspectives (Roszko-Wójtowicz & Grzelak, 2020, pp.…”