Technical Efficiency of Chemical Fertilizer Use and Its Influencing Factors in China’s Rice Production

Abstract

Low technical efficiency and excessive usage of chemical fertilizer in grain production is a problem commonly faced by China and many other developing countries, which leads to serious environment pollution and high environmental governance cost. China is the largest rice producing and consuming country, and several kinds of rice are grown in China and all of which are important edible grain. However, there has been no systematic research on kind difference and provincial difference of technical efficiency of chemical fertilizer use (TEFU) for rice production. Using the data of China’s 22 rice production provinces from the China Agricultural Product Cost-Benefit Compilation and the China Statistical Yearbook, this study measures the TEFU for early indica rice, intermediary indica rice, late indica rice, and japonica rice production by using a stochastic frontier production function (SFPF) model, and then analyzes TEFU’s influencing factors using a Tobit model and conducts the robustness check using a panel data fixed effect model. We found that, on average, TEFU for four kinds of rice production were improved significantly during 1997–2018, increasing by 67.70%, 39.93%, 14.76%, and 21.88%, respectively. TEFU for China’s rice production have significant differences among different kinds and production provinces, and still have large improvement potential. Government’s fiscal support to agriculture, agricultural labor productivity, agricultural mechanization, effective irrigation, and implementation of the “Soil Testing and Formulated Fertilization Program” (STFFP) have significant positive impact on TEFU; and natural disaster and fertilizer price have significant negative impact on TEFU.

Comparison of fertilizer use efficiency in grain production between developing countries and developed countries

“…Generally, the current values of FIs in those eight countries were of three types (value range of about 100–350 kg ha −1 ) with an average of 225 kg ha −1 in the medium type. This result could be considered as the statistical basis of the maximum safe usage of 225 kg ha −1 for chemical fertilizer use, which is recognized by the international community in the field of environmental science 10,27 …”

“…They found that, on average, the TEs for four kinds of rice production in 2018 were 0.651, 0.597, 0.623, and 0.538, respectively. 10 Based on the 4281 farm household survey data from 2004 to 2016 in Jiangsu Province, China, and by using the SFA method, Hu et al 19 found that their technical efficiencies of fertilizer use ranged from 0.84 to 0.99 with an average of 0.95, much higher than other studies. The DEA model was defined as the ratio of multi-output and multi-inputs.…”

“…The reason for choosing these eight countries was that the four developed countries have the most advanced agriculture with the longest histories of chemical fertilizer use and experiences of overuse of fertilizers, whereas China, India, Iran and Turkey are semi or newly industrialized countries with fast growing economies and increasing chemical fertilizer use. They are now facing the environmental problems that once appeared in developed countries 10 . To prevent these newly industrialized countries from recommitting the same error of overuse of fertilizers, the present study aimed to determine the trends and differences of NPK fertilizer allocation and efficiency in these eight countries using an easier method for providing academic references to decision‐makers with respect to fertilizer use in related countries.…”

“…They are now facing the environmental problems that once appeared in developed countries. 10 To prevent these newly industrialized countries from recommitting the same error of overuse of fertilizers, the present study aimed to determine the trends and differences of NPK fertilizer allocation and efficiency in these eight countries using an easier method for providing academic references to decision-makers with respect to fertilizer use in related countries.…”

What Affects the Production Technology of Labor-Intensive Agricultural Industries in the Context of Labor Aging? An Empirical Study Based on the Garlic Production in Lanling

“…The output of rice (0.60) and wheat (1.00) recorded by Aslam and MS through the CCR method can be regarded as the highest productivity to encourage high-yield and appropriate planting methods in specific areas [25]. Sun Zhilu and others used the Tobit model to analyze the influencing factors of TEFU and found that TEFU has significant differences in different varieties and production provinces in rice production in my country [26]. Sapkota, M used the Tobit model to determine the factors affecting corn planting when studying the factors related to the efficiency of corn seed production technology in the central mountainous area of Nepal [27].…”