Evolution and Coordination of Cultivated Land Multifunctionality in Poyang Lake Ecological Economic Zone

Abstract

This study had three objectives: (1) to consolidate poverty alleviation achievements and connect them with the current rural vitalization strategy; (2) to inaugurate agricultural modernization development in rural areas of the Poyang Lake Ecological Economic Zone, an important grain production area in China, during the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan in China (2021–2025); and (3) to assess the ecological function area and economic development highland in Jiangxi Province. This study aimed to examine cultivated land multifunctionality (economic, social, and ecological functions) and explore its evolution and coordination in the context of increasingly serious contradiction between man and land in China. This study established an index system based on a mechanical model to evaluate cultivated land multifunctionality, the spatiotemporal pattern of multifunctionally cultivated land, and the coordination among sub-functions in different periods. Its results were as follows: (1) the cultivated land’s multifunctional value generally increased from 2016 to 2020, with spatial characteristics of highland surrounding a lake; (2) the cultivated land functions’ coordination values were generally better in 2020 than in 2016, showing a generally positive development trend; (3) changes in cultivated land function were concentrated in Quadrants Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅵ; and (4) the ecological function had the advantage in the study areas. Study conclusions were as follows: (1) the development of cultivated land multifunctionality has achieved notable successes through the significant benefits of an ecological economy; (2) the coordination of the cultivated land’s economic, social, and ecological functions has increased dramatically; (3) the ecological significance in the Poyang Lake Ecological Economic Zone, whose ecological economy was flourishing, was outstanding; and (4) most importantly, it supports implementing the rural vitalization strategy in the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan in China.