Chinese Agriculture for “Green and Grain” Productivity Growth: Evidence from Jiangsu Province

Lijiu Zhao, Tao Jin (), Lintao Qin and Zaijun Li
Additional contact information
Lijiu Zhao: Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Tao Jin: Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Lintao Qin: Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Zaijun Li: Research Institute of Central Jiangsu Development, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-14

Abstract: China is striving to leverage the power of science and technology to green its agriculture and simultaneously enhance grain productivity. To assess the performance dynamics of the dual agricultural mission, this study presents the green growth rate of agriculture using the DEA-based Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) indicator, together with the growth rate of grain yields, and applies it to the case of Jiangsu, a major grain-producing province with a well-developed economy. It is found that Jiangsu’s agriculture has generally performed well during the implementation of the two major national strategies addressing green development and grain security, especially in northern Jiangsu, which is a major grain-producing area. In contrast, the phased fluctuations in green growth in agriculture in southern Jiangsu are more pronounced, with negative green growth even occurring during the green agriculture movement. Much of the volatility in agricultural green growth at the provincial, subregional and municipal levels is generated by the effects of the movement of the green technology frontier, which is led by the best practitioners. Accordingly, the possibility of improving the weak state of the catch-up effect on green growth is explored from the perspective of the Chinese government-led agricultural science and innovation system; it also traces the green agricultural initiatives in the main grain-marketing areas that have failed to deliver the expected green growth, and recommends a review of such policies and a refinement of the GTFP Index tool for assessing sustainable green growth.

Keywords: green development in agriculture; grain security; frontier movement effect; catch-up effect; Chinese government-led agricultural science and innovation system; Malmquist–Luenberger Productivity index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16780/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16780/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16780-:d:1299092

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().