Topographical Characteristics of Agricultural Potential Productivity during Cropland Transformation in China

Yuejiao Li, Xiaohuan Yang, Hongyan Cai, Linlin Xiao, Xinliang Xu and Luo Liu
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Yuejiao Li: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiaohuan Yang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Hongyan Cai: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Linlin Xiao: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xinliang Xu: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Luo Liu: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Terrain, an important limiting factor in land use change, strongly influences agricultural productivity. This study investigated the topographical characteristics of agricultural potential productivity of cropland transformations in China during the first decade of the 21st century, and explored the impacts of cropland transformations with different terrains on agricultural potential productivity as it relates to China’s national food supply. The results showed the production potential of cropland loss was much greater than that of cropland gain in most regions, and topographical characteristics of croplands losses and gains actually impacted the agricultural potential productivity in China. The losses in agricultural potential productivity was serious in regions with good terrain conditions, where the slope is lower than 5°, and the elevation is below 100 m, especially in the middle and lower Yangtze region and the Huang-Huai-Hai region. The situation for cropland loss with better quality, and expanded the worse was severe in China, and this is expected to negatively influence sustainable agricultural development in the future. This study suggests that researchers focus not only on the total area of expanded cropland but also on cropland quality, such as the different terrain conditions of the croplands, to avoid a loss in national agricultural productivity caused by the process of cropland transformation.

Keywords: China; agricultural potential productivity; cropland loss; cropland gain; topographical elements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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