Ecological efficiency of hog scale production under environmental regulation in China: based on an optimal super efficiency SBM-Malmquist-Tobit model.

Qianrong Wu,Lanzhuang Xu,Xianhui Geng

doi:10.1007/s11356-021-16712-2

Abstract

China's hog production is facing the dual pressures of the market and environment. A systematic analysis of the ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) of hog cultivation is of great significance for the development of sustainability and distribution optimization in the industry. This paper investigates the eco-efficiency of hog production and the determinants of eco-efficiency in China using panel data (2004-2018). An optimal super efficiency slacks-based measure (SBM)-Malmquist-Tobit model is adopted for hog production analysis, and the empirical results show a great variation in eco-efficiency across provinces, ranging from 0.557 to 1.19 with a mean value of 0.937 in 2018. The predominant production area of hogs is found being transferred from north to south, with small- and medium-scale predominant production areas shifted from East China to Southwest China, and large-scale predominant production areas shifted from North China to South Central China. Another finding is that eco-efficiency increased by the improvement of technical efficiency. In addition, the Tobit regression results show that rural economic development, the government's investment in environmental control, the market advantage index, and transportation conditions had positive effects on the eco-efficiency; meanwhile, the forbidden policy for livestock cultivation in certain areas, the structure of the hog breeding industry, the density of slaughtered fattened hogs, and the prices of hogs had negative effects on the eco-efficiency.

Highlights

China is the world’s largest pork consumer and hog producer
The eco-efficiency was significantly lower than the total factor productivity (TFP); the eco-efficiency of east and south-central China rose, which may be attributable to regional differences in the average level of the undesired output
We tested the impact of the undesired output on the eco-efficiency by using the proportion of undesired output/desired output to measure the differences of the undesired output across provinces

Summary

Introduction

The development of the hog-breeding industry is of great significance to stimulating rural economic growth, ensuring the market supply, and promoting the stability of social development. Compared with 2018, China’s domestic pork production was reduced by 21.25% in 2019. After the occurrence of COVD-19 in 2020, China’s domestic pork production is further reduced by 3.3%, which led to a sharp increase in pork prices (the data are from the China Statistical Yearbook, NBSC 2005–2020, and the Ministry of Agriculture and rural areas information website of the People’s Republic of China). Data show that the number of scale farms with more than 500 slaughtered fattened hogs rise to 215,502 in 2017 (China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Yearbook, AHVYEBC 2018). China’s hog production is undergoing a great transformation from small backyard, household-based farms towards large-scale breeding zones (Qiao et al 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion