Exploring the Dynamic Coupling Relationship between Agricultural Economy and Agro-Ecological Environment in Semi-Arid Areas: A Case Study of Yulin, China

Xiuping Yang, Dacheng Zhang, Qiqi Jia, Wentao Zhang and Tianyou Wang
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Xiuping Yang: School of Economics and Management, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
Dacheng Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
Qiqi Jia: School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Wentao Zhang: School of Chemical Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Tianyou Wang: School of Philosophy and Literature, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: The rapid expansion of agricultural areas in semi-arid China over the past decades has aggravated the imbalance of the agroeconomy and agroecological environment. To further understand the coupling relationship between the two, this paper, taking Yulin as a case, develops an integrated index system for evaluation of the agricultural economy and the agroecological environment, and a model of the coupling coordination degree for evaluation of the dynamic coupling relationship between the two. Based on that, we have investigated the coupling coordination by comparing the differences of the development index of the two sub-systems at different periods. Subsequently, we further clarified the internal interaction and coupling relationship between the two sub-systems with a cross-impact analysis. The results suggested that the weights of ecological environmental conditions and agricultural development input are respectively0.5908 and 0.3570. From 1997 to 2016, a high-level interactive coupling existed between the agroecological environment and agricultural economy, and the coupling coordination degree of the two sub-systems grew slowly. Overall, the degradation of the agroecological environment impeded the coordinated development of the agricultural economy and the level of coupling coordination improved from basic coordination in the beginning to superior coordination in the end. The agricultural economy grew rapidly, at the expense of the degradation of the agroecological environment. Furthermore, more attention should be paid to improving agricultural development input for promoting economic and ecological benefits, and coupling coordination degree of the two sub-systems. These findings are important for boosting sustainable development of the agricultural economy in semi-arid areas.

Keywords: agro-ecological environment; agricultural economy; semi-arid area; coupling coordinated degree model; Yulin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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