China’s Arable Land Investment in the “Belt and Road” Region: An Empirical Study of Overseas Arable Land Resources

Renqu Tian, Zisheng Yang and Qinglong Shao
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Renqu Tian: School of Economics, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming 650221, China
Zisheng Yang: Institute of Land & Resources and Sustainable Development, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming 650221, China
Qinglong Shao: China Center for Special Economic Zone Research, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Arable land resources are essential for food security and sustainable agricultural development, and an objective and comprehensive evaluation of overseas arable land resources is indispensable to the decision-making of various Chinese enterprises. However, overseas arable land resources and factors influencing China’s investment therein have rarely been investigated. In the present study, the authors select eight indexes related to the quantity and quality of arable land and utilize the entropy weighting method and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to comprehensively evaluate arable resources in 48 “Belt and Road” countries for the period 2008–2016. Renewable internal freshwater resources and irrigated farmland area are found to be the primary factors affecting the wealth of arable land resources. Based on this evaluation, the authors conduct empirical tests concerning the main factors affecting the scale of China’s investment in foreign arable land using a panel Tobit model. The results show that Chinese companies tend to invest in countries with high levels of arable land resources and low corruption risk. Based on these findings, this study concludes that Chinese enterprises should engage in joint development with host countries and support the sustainability of long-term investment in cultivated land.

Keywords: arable land resources; foreign direct investment; China; sustainable development; entropy weight method; TOPSIS method; Tobit model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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