Urbanization and the Change of Fertilizer Use Intensity for Agricultural Production in Henan Province

Abstract

China's urbanization has resulted in significant changes in agricultural land use. However, understanding of the linkages between urbanization and fertilizer use intensity is limited. Using county-level panel data for Henan Province, 1995Province, -2008 and panel econometric models, we investigate the impact of urbanization and other socioeconomic factors on fertilizer use intensity, with a focus on the two key processes related to urbanization-shrinking agricultural land area and increasing urban wages. Our results show that declining agricultural land per capita is associated with greater fertilizer use intensity. Urban wages is positively correlated with fertilizer use intensity. We also find that GDP per capita and per capita expenditure of government for agriculture both positively contribute to the increase of fertilizer use intensity, which is consistent with expectations. Our results imply that other than land conversion, urbanization contains some positive influences on land use sustainability. However, on the other hand, urbanization contributes to agriculture-based environmental pollution by increasing the level of fertilizer use in agricultural production.

Will China's fertilizer use continue to decline? Evidence from LMDI analysis based on crops, regions and fertilizer types

“…Urban land use continued to increase, while agricultural land development slowed. Therefore, increasing the intensity of fertilizer application became a universal way to ensure food security [ 49 , 50 ]. However, the contribution of these two effects decreased, which indicated that the growth rate of fertilizer application decreased.…”

Carbon Storage Change Analysis and Emission Reduction Suggestions under Land Use Transition: A Case Study of Henan Province, China

“…According to the latest statistics, the total carbon emissions in Henan Province increased by more than 25% from 2006 to 2015 [ 24 ]. Many studies have measured the fate of carbon emissions caused by LUCC in Henan province [ 9 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], but these tend to focus on carbon emissions within an administrative region at provincial, municipal or county level. This has left the analysis of carbon emission effects caused by LUCC along natural boundaries (such as basin boundaries) generally understudied.…”

Spatial-Temporal Differentiation Analysis of Agricultural Land Use Intensity and Its Driving Factors at the County Scale: A Case Study in Hubei Province, China

“…In terms of the methods of characterizing agricultural land use intensity, research showed that: (i) a new system has been constructed using farm accounting network data that include land use, socio-economic factors, local climate, and government subsidies to calculate the unit land cost input [ 4 ]; (ii) Polynomial regression models have been applied to detect the spatial distribution of agricultural intensity in France in order to provide an important reference for the implementation of related agricultural policies [ 5 ]; and (iii) Some scholars still use indicators of the inputs or outputs to measure agricultural intensification based on traditional agricultural statistics. Indicators of inputs include fertilizers, intercropping levels [ 6 , 7 ], nitrogen input (for arable land and permanent grassland), livestock unit density and pesticide amounts (herbicide, insecticide, and flame-retardant herbicide and insecticide) [ 8 , 9 ], while indicators of the outputs include cereal and animal husbandry products [ 10 ], which have only been applied to analyze the characteristics of agricultural land use and their informative significance, rather than focusing on the innovation of characterization methods [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Despite the development of remote sensing science, few scholars have used remote sensing images to characterize agricultural land use intensity dynamically and in real time [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”