Cropland abandonment in China: Patterns, drivers, and implications for food security

Abstract

Grasping cropland abandonment patterns in China can help protect croplands, thereby ensuring the perpetuation of nationwide food security. However, the pattern of long-term cropland abandonment at the national scale remains limited. Here, we investigate the spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of cropland abandonment across China during 1990–2019 by integrating continuous long-term series of land cover, natural factors, and socioeconomic data. We find that the mean abandoned cropland area is 2.34 × 104 km2 per year. The spatial pattern of cropland and natural factors are prime drivers of cropland abandonment, but there is a substantial variation across agricultural regions. Further analysis suggests that annual food loss due to cropland abandonment is about 7.94 billion kilograms, which could feed 19.85 million people. These findings allow for a better understanding of the spatial heterogeneity and driving forces of cropland abandonment patterns, and inspire to govern global cropland abandonment and formulate relevant policies.