Spatiotemporal Pattern and Driving Forces of Arable Land-Use Intensity in China: Toward Sustainable Land Management Using Emergy Analysis

Hualin Xie, Jinlang Zou, Hailing Jiang, Ning Zhang and Yongrok Choi
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Hualin Xie: Institute of Poyang Lake Eco-economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China
Jinlang Zou: College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Hailing Jiang: Institute of Poyang Lake Eco-economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China
Yongrok Choi: Department of International Trade, Inha University, Inharo 100, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, Korea

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: The level of arable land-use intensity has important impacts on food security and rural sustainable development. Using the emergy method, we investigate the spatial disparities and driving forces of arable land-use intensity in China from 1999 to 2008 at the national, regional and provincial levels. The empirical results show that chemical fertilizer was the largest component of agricultural inputs and that agricultural diesel oil recorded the highest growth rate. The degree of heterogeneities in arable land-use intensity in China showed a decreasing trend, which resulted mainly from the differences among the eastern, northeastern, central and western regions. The regional disparities in labor, pesticides and plastic sheeting decreased from 1999 to 2008. The per capita annual net incomes of household operations and the agricultural policies had a significant positive correlation with total inputs, fertilizer inputs, pesticide inputs and agricultural plastic sheeting. In addition, the nonagricultural population had a greater impact on agricultural plastic sheeting. Finally, we suggest that there is an urgent need to focus on the effects of chemical fertilizer and pesticide inputs on the ecological environment. Agricultural support policies should be introduced for the poor agricultural production provinces.

Keywords: arable land; land-use intensity; emergy; sustainable land management; food security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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