Regional Disparities, Spatial Agglomeration and Dynamic Evolution of Planting Industry Eco-Efficiency in China

Based on the current practice of the “dual carbon” strategy and the promotion of green and high-quality development of the planting industry, it needs to clarify the current situation, spatio-temporal patterns and dynamic evolution features of planting industry eco-efficiency, so as to provide references for accelerating the green and low-carbon transformation of planting industry.

Based on the scientific reconstruction of the evaluation index system, firstly, the SBM-Undesired model was employed to measure planting industry eco-efficiency in China and analyze its current characteristics. Then, the Dagum Gini coefficient was used to clarify the regional differences of planting industry and the causes, and next, the spatial autocorrelation model was used to analyze its spatial agglomeration characteristics. Finally, this paper used kernel density estimation and Markov chain method to investigate the characteristics of its dynamic evolution.

From 2005 to 2023, the overall planting industry eco-efficiency in China was significantly improved, with the average value of provincial efficiency as high as 87.95% and has gradually evolved from the initial obviously regionally differences to a new pattern of “higher level and simultaneous progress”. Specifically, among the three major functional areas, the increase of planting industry eco-efficiency from high to low was the main grain selling area, the main producing area, and the balanced production and sales area, respectively. The overall difference of planting industry eco-efficiency in China has been greatly reduced and moved towards uniformity. The sources of regional differences were mainly attributed to hypervariable density, followed by intra-group differences, and inter-group differences. Since 2009, the planting industry eco-efficiency in China has exhibited spatial agglomeration characteristics and also obviously spatial clustering characteristics. The number of high-high-agglomeration provinces has increased, while the number of low-low-agglomeration provinces has decreased, showing a good development trend of the overall spatial agglomeration pattern. With the passage of time, planting industry eco-efficiency in the whole country and in three functional areas has all been in a rising trend and has gradually changed from multipolar to unipolar. At the same time, the eco-efficiency level was relatively stable, with the characteristics of “club convergence”. In consideration of spatial factors, the stability of the ecological efficiency level of planting industry in each province was affected, but high-level provinces could usually release positive spillover effects.

The overall planting industry eco-efficiency in China has significantly improved, but there were some differences in different functional areas. The overall difference has shown an obvious downward trend, and the main source of the difference was lied in the hyper-variable density. The eco-efficiency also showed certain spatial dependence and heterogeneity. There were similarities and differences in the dynamic evolution characteristics of planting industry eco-efficiency in China and in three functional areas. It needed to establish and improve the policy support system, clarify the key influencing factors, strengthen regional exchanges and mutual assistance, and build a risk prevention mechanism, so as to ensure the planting industry eco-efficiency at a high level.