Coupling Agricultural Carbon Emission Efficiency and Economic Growth: Evidence from Jiangxi Province, China

Lulu Yang, Xieqihua Liu, Xiaolan Kang, Yuxia Zhu, Chaobao Wu, Bin Liu and Wen Li ()
Additional contact information
Lulu Yang: College of Economic and Management, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Xieqihua Liu: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao 999078, China
Xiaolan Kang: School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Yuxia Zhu: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao 999078, China
Chaobao Wu: School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Bin Liu: Research Center for “Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers”, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Wen Li: School of Humanities and Public Administration, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-28

Abstract: Exploring the law and evolution mechanism of coupling and coordination between agricultural carbon emission efficiency (ACE) and agricultural economic growth (AEG) can provide a reference basis for agricultural low-carbon transformation. This study takes 11 cities in Jiangxi Province as the research object; measures the level of ACE based on the panel data from 2008 to 2022; and analyzes the development and influencing factors of the coupling and coordination between ACE and AEG by using the coupling coordination degree model, the Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition method, and the Tobit regression model. The results reveal the following: (1) The overall ACE in Jiangxi Province displays a significant upward trend, with the average efficiency value increasing from 0.172 to 0.624, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 72.43%. Nonetheless, there remains clear regional heterogeneity, characterized by lower efficiencies in Central and Southern Jiangxi compared to the higher efficiencies found in Northern and Western Jiangxi. (2) Despite gradual improvements in regional coordination, the Central and Southern Jiangxi regions still lag Northern and Western Jiangxi in terms of the linked coordination between ACE and AEG, symptoms of which had been previously misaligned. (3) The results of Dagum’s Gini coefficient decomposition show that inter-regional disparities are the main source of overall disparities, with a contribution of 37.43%, which is higher than the synergistic effect of intra-regional disparities and hyper-variable densities, corroborating the core contradiction of uneven development across regions. (4) The Tobit model reveals that government investment, industrial structure optimization, urbanization, and educational attainment exert a significant positive influence on promoting coupling coordination. To establish a scientific basis for achieving a low-carbon agricultural transformation and equitable AEG in Jiangxi Province, this research recommends bolstering regional cooperation, fostering innovations in agricultural science and technology, optimizing the industrial structure, and enhancing farmers’ awareness of low-carbon practices. This study expands the theoretical system of agricultural low-carbon transition in terms of research methods and scales to provide a scientific basis for agricultural provinces to realize agricultural low-carbon transition and balanced economic development.

Keywords: agricultural carbon efficiency; agricultural economic growth; coupling coordination; regional disparities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4246/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4246/ (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:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4246-:d:1651062

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 ().