Ziyuan Kexue (Aug 2024)
Impact of urban-rural integration on agricultural ecological efficiency in China and mechanism
Abstract
[Objective] Urban-rural integration is a key factor affecting agricultural ecological efficiency. This paper clarifies the logical relationship between the two and its mechanism, hoping to provide policy enlightenment for promoting the steady improvement of agricultural ecological efficiency and promoting the green development of agriculture. [Methods] Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China’s mainland from 2006 to 2020, the entropy method and Super-NSBM model were used to measure urban-rural integration and agricultural ecological efficiency and their sub-stages, and the spatial distribution of urban-rural integration and agricultural ecological efficiency was compared and analyzed. Then the fixed effect model and threshold effect model were used to analyze the influence of urban-rural integration on agricultural ecological efficiency and its mechanism. [Results] The results show that urban-rural integration could not only effectively promote the improvement of agricultural ecological efficiency, but also significantly promote the agricultural production accumulation stage and the agricultural ecological management stage. Urban-rural integration had an impact on agricultural ecological efficiency mainly through improving technical efficiency. Based on the decomposition of urban-rural integration, the integration of land and capital was the key to improve agricultural ecological efficiency. From the perspective of geographical location heterogeneity and grain production functional area heterogeneity, in the central and western regions, the integrated development of urban and rural areas played a significant role in promoting agricultural ecological efficiency, while the effect in the eastern region was not significant. Compared with major grain-producing areas, urban-rural integration in non-major grain-producing areas can produce a more significant and larger effect on improving agricultural ecological efficiency. With the improvement of the development level of urban-rural integration, the promotion effect of urban-rural integration on agricultural ecological efficiency had a significant threshold effect, that is, the positive impact of urban-rural integration on agricultural ecological efficiency was characterized by diminishing marginal effect. [Conclusion] Rural-urban integration had a positive impact on agricultural ecological efficiency in China, and this impact showed geographical location heterogeneity, grain production functional area heterogeneity, and threshold effect. To this end, the independent development and introduction of green innovative technologies should be encouraged, the application channels of green production technologies should be broadened, and the efficient integration of people, land, and capital should be promoted through the establishment of differentiated urban-rural integrated development systems and mechanisms, in order to realize the coordinated development of green agricultural production and economic growth.
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