Agricultural Production In China Research Articles

Five-year plan and agricultural productivity in China

PurposeChina's economy has transformed from a high-speed growth phase to a high-quality development phase. The agriculture sector has grown substantially since the economic reform in 1978. Considering the five-year plan (FYP) as a collection of policies, this study explores the relationship between the FYP and agricultural total factor productivity (TFP).Design/methodology/approachThis study uses 31 provincial-level panel data of the five FYPs from 1996 to 2020. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to compute Malmquist productivity indexes. The authors analyze the temporal and spatial changes and convergences of China's agricultural TFP, and investigate the impact of economic planning on China's agricultural TFP and its regional difference.FindingsThere is a slow but upward growth trend in China's agricultural TFP. The technical change has played a leading role in the growth of China's agricultural TFP. The agricultural TFP of all provinces has shown a “catch-up” effect and is developing toward their respective steady-state levels. The regional difference in productivity growth among the eastern, central and western regions exists. Test results show that the FYP has a positive effect on the agricultural TFP, and the effect has obvious regional heterogeneity. The FYP also plays a positive role in the gross value of agricultural output, and the impact effect is greater than that on the improvement of agricultural productivity.Originality/valueThere are many forms of industrial policy in China, among which the FYP is the guiding document of industrial policy, which makes a systematic plan for industrial development in the subsequent five years. The development objectives, guidelines and overall deployment for agriculture in the FYP not only describe the general context of China's agricultural development but also show the key ideas of agricultural development. Therefore, this study explores its impact on agricultural quality development from the perspective of FYP. The results provide evidence for examining the governance performance of the government and the objective evaluation and restraint of the FYP. As agriculture moves toward the stage of high-quality development, the Chinese government should strengthen the critical guiding role of the FYP and pay attention to quality indicators such as technical progress, efficiency improvement and regional coordination in the formulation of the FYP.

Green production information transparency and online purchase behavior: Evidence from green agricultural products in China

The “lemon effect,” which is the result of information asymmetry and barriers to trust, poses serious challenges to the sustainable development of green agricultural products. Therefore, enhancing consumers’ trust is critical to maintain sustainable purchasing behavior. Information transparency has been widely attention as a marketing tool, and previous research related to agricultural products has focused on the visible information. Based on signaling theory, this study takes an invisible information perspective and empirically investigates how production information transparency of green agricultural products affects consumer trust and online purchasing behavior. The results of structural equation modeling analysis show that production technology information transparency and production means information transparency have different effects on the dimensions of consumer trust (in competence and benevolence). Moreover, trust in competence has a significant positive impact on trust in benevolence; they both have significant impacts on consumers’ online green purchase behavior. The results of this study contribute to signaling theory and the product transparency literature, and offer significant implications to practitioners of the green agricultural sectors.

Research Status and Development Trend of Intelligent Mechanized Pepper Harvesting

Since the reform and opening up, the mechanization level of China's agricultural production has been significantly improved. Intelligent mechanization of agricultural production is an inevitable trend for future social development. It is based on intelligent equipment, with data and knowledge as the core elements to enable the deep integration of modern science and technology with agriculture. This enables digital perception, intelligent decision making, and precise operation of the whole agricultural production process, further improving labor productivity, land output rate and resource utilization rate. This paper introduces the development status of agricultural production in China and abroad with pepper harvesting, analyzes the necessity of changing China's agricultural production to intelligent mechanized production, summarizes the opportunities and challenges in intelligent mechanization, and accordingly puts forward the development direction and development route of China's agricultural production. To promote the transformation of China's agricultural production mode from mechanization to wisdom, this paper puts forward countermeasure suggestions such as strengthening the construction of agricultural machinery equipment R&D and innovation system, strengthening the construction of agricultural machinery promotion system, strengthening the construction of agricultural machinery socialization service system, and accelerating the construction of wisdom agriculture demonstration area.

Three Rights Separation reform and its impact over farm’s productivity: A case study of China

In recent years, China introduced the new “Three Rights Separation” land reforms which has fostered the agricultural productivity in the country. Using data from China Labour Force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), the current study aims to examine the impact of the “Three Rights Separation” of contracted land on agricultural productivity in China. The PSM method is primarily used for impact evaluation. The estimated results show that the farms' management rights registration and certification, and the three rights significantly increased the agricultural productivity and income. However, the impact effect caused by uncoordinated policy mechanisms and relatively slow application of right recognition did not significantly increase farmers’ agricultural production income. Having access to formal financial institutions and specializing in the production of crops directly correlated with a positive marginal effect on agricultural production and household’s income.

Non-Destructive Detection of Moldy Walnuts Based on Hyperspectral Imaging Technology.

Walnuts with their shells are a popular agricultural product in China. However, mildew from growth can sometimes be processed into foods. It is difficult to visually determine which walnuts have mildew without breaking the shells. A non-destructive method for detecting walnuts with mildew was studied by combining spectral data with image information. A total of 120 “Lüling” walnuts with shells were used for the mildew experiment. The characteristics of the spectral data from six surfaces of all samples were collected in the range of 370–1042 nm on days 0, 15, and 30. The spectrum was pretreated using SNV, and the feature bands were extracted using PCA and modeled using a support vector machine (SVM). The results show that the overall classification accuracy was 93%, with an of accuracy of 100% for INEN walnuts (normal internally and externally). The accuracy for IMEM walnuts (mildew internally and externally) reached 87.29%. There was an accuracy of 78.6% for IMEN walnuts (mildew internally and normal externally). The non-destructive detection of mildewed walnuts can be undertaken using hyperspectral imaging technology, which provides a new technique for exploring the mechanisms of walnuts with mildew.

Research on the community marketing model of digital agricultural products in China under the global new crown epidemic (COVID-19)

With the rapid development of China's digital economy and a new generation of information technology, coupled with the steady promotion of China's Belt and Road and the dual strategy of rural revitalization, has brought new opportunities and development to China's agricultural and rural economy. Especially in recent years, the emergence of innovative digital e-commerce models has brought new challenges to today's agricultural e-commerce, and people are constantly exploring digital business models that meet the requirements of the times and market trends. Based on this, by elaborating the definition of community marketing, analyzing the development trend and advantages of the current digital community marketing model, and putting forward some suggestions to optimize the current digital agricultural products community marketing model outlook, aiming to promote the development of rural revitalization in the new era of China with certain socio-economic significance.

Research on the community marketing model of digital agricultural products in China under the global new crown epidemic (COVID-19)

With the rapid development of China's digital economy and a new generation of information technology, coupled with the steady promotion of China's Belt and Road and the dual strategy of rural revitalization, has brought new opportunities and development to China's agricultural and rural economy. Especially in recent years, the emergence of innovative digital e-commerce models has brought new challenges to today's agricultural e-commerce, and people are constantly exploring digital business models that meet the requirements of the times and market trends. Based on this, by elaborating the definition of community marketing, analyzing the development trend and advantages of the current digital community marketing model, and putting forward some suggestions to optimize the current digital agricultural products community marketing model outlook, aiming to promote the development of rural revitalization in the new era of China with certain socio-economic significance.

Viral Metagenomics Reveals Diverse Viruses in Tissue Samples of Diseased Pigs.

The swine industry plays an essential role in agricultural production in China. Diseases, especially viral diseases, affect the development of the pig industry and threaten human health. However, at present, the tissue virome of diseased pigs has rarely been studied. Using the unbiased viral metagenomic approach, we investigated the tissue virome in sick pigs (respiratory symptoms, reproductive disorders, high fever, diarrhea, weight loss, acute death and neurological symptoms) collected from farms of Anhui, Jiangsu and Sichuan Province, China. The eukaryotic viruses identified belonged to the families Anelloviridae, Arteriviridae, Astroviridae, Flaviviridae, Circoviridae and Parvoviridae; prokaryotic virus families including Siphoviridae, Myoviridae and Podoviridae occupied a large proportion in some samples. This study provides valuable information for understanding the tissue virome in sick pigs and for the monitoring, preventing, and treating of viral diseases in pigs.

Problems and Countermeasures of China’s International Trade in Agricultural Products under the “Belt and Road Initiative”

To make China’s international trade in agricultural products develop more quickly and steadily, in this study, through the analysis of the development of international trade and the import and export of agricultural products under the strategy of “The Belt and Road (B&R),” in terms of agricultural products, the problems about the international trade in China are discussed. The results show that under the influence of “B&R,” China has established economic cooperation with many countries along the route. Even facing fierce international competition, it can promote the deep development of China’s international trade. Based on the discussion of the problems affecting the development of international trade of agricultural products in China, combined with the problems faced by the international development, in this study, the corresponding countermeasures are given, aiming to provide ideas for its future development. Therefore, the analysis of the development of international trade of agricultural products in China under the strategy of “B&R” has positive significance for finding the factors that affect the development of China’s agricultural products in international trade and also promoting the steady development of China’s international trade in agricultural products.

Reducing agricultural nitrogen use: A price endogenous partial equilibrium analysis in the Yangtze River Basin, China

The overuse of nitrogen fertilizers in agricultural production in China, resulting in negative impacts on the environment, has become a serious issue. Thus, reducing agricultural nitrogen use has become one of the top priorities for achieving the sustainable development goals of the Chinese agricultural sector. Searching for effective approaches to reduce nitrogen use is essential to agricultural and environmental sustainability. In this study, we selected the Yangtze River Basin as the research area, owing to its critical role in Chinese agricultural production, and established a price endogenous partial equilibrium model to simulate the effect of nitrogen use reduction from nitrogen use optimization (NUO) and nitrogen use efficiency improvement (NUE+). Based on agricultural datasets in 2019, simulation results revealed that 1) NUO helped reduce nitrogen use and nitrogen loss by 6.99% and 7.50%, respectively; if changes in the acreage are considered, then the reduction effect will be less significant; 2) nitrogen use decreased continuously with NUE+, and the reduction rate was 7.85%, 15.38%, 22.65%, and 28.02% under the NUE+10%, NUE+20%, NUE+30%, and NUE+40% scenarios, respectively, and nitrogen loss was highly sensitive; and 3) the crop heterogeneity indicated that cereals are regarded as nitrogen-overuse crops and more sensitive to nitrogen use reduction under the NUE+ scenarios than oil crops. Accordingly, in this study, we suggested that practical NUO and NUE+ policies and incentives are necessary, and flexible adjustment strategies for crop-planting structures, such as enlarging the acreage for cereals, may be useful in reducing nitrogen use in the Yangtze River Basin.

Predicting the potential geographical distribution of Ageratina adenophora in China using equilibrium occurrence data and ensemble model

Invasive alien plants (IAPs) pose a significant threat to the ecological environment and agricultural production in China. Ageratina adenophora is one of the most aggressive IAPs in China and poses serious ecological and socioeconomic threats. Estimating the distribution pattern of A. adenophora in China can provide baseline data for preventing damage by this weed. In the present study, based on the equilibrium occurrence data of A. adenophora in China and related environmental variables, we used an ensemble model to predict the distribution pattern of A. adenophora in China under climate change. Our findings indicated that true skill statistic (TSS), area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), and Cohen’s Kappa (KAPPA) values for the ensemble model were 0.925, 0.993, and 0.936, respectively. The prediction results of the ensemble model were more accurate than those of the single models. Temperature variables had a significant impact on the potential geographical distribution (PGD) of A. adenophora in China. The total, high, and moderate suitability habitat areas of A. adenophora in China were 153.82 × 104, 92.13 × 104, and 21.04 × 104 km2, respectively, accounting for 16.02, 9.60, and 2.19% of the Chinese mainland area, respectively. The PGD of A. adenophora in China under the current climate is mainly located in southwestern and southeastern China, which are located in the tropical and subtropical zone. The high-suitability habitat areas of A. adenophora decreased under the future climate scenarios, mainly by changing to moderately suitable habitats in Southwest China. The geographical distribution of A. adenophora in southwestern China is currently saturated and will spread to southeastern China under climate change in the future. More attention should be paid to early warning and monitoring of A. adenophora in southeastern China to prevent its further spread.

Construction of Agricultural Products of e-Commerce Ecological Network System under the Background of “Internet Plus”

The rapid development of Internet technology promotes the ecological renewal of traditional industries. China’s 14th Five-Year Plan clearly proposes to vigorously develop the Internet industry. Farmers are still the mainstay of China’s population, and “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” have always been highly valued by the party and the state. However, the rural economy has always been a weak link in China’s economy, and agricultural products often have problems such as increasing production but not increasing income, relying on the weather, and having difficulties in sales. The root causes are the slow development of rural areas, farmers’ economic awareness and lack of economic information. The Internet has broken this existing situation with the idea of flat network, breaking through the restrictions of traditional agricultural products trading channels, enabling farmers to directly connect with the market, and effectively improving trading profits. Firstly, this paper points out the influence of the Internet on the global economy and industry and further summarizes the development of e-commerce. Then, the advantages and characteristics of e-commerce are explained, and the theoretical basis and present situation of e-commerce development of agricultural products in China are expounded. Finally, the paper puts forward the imagination of China’s e-commerce system of agricultural products, focuses on accelerating the standardization and systematization of agricultural products, and puts forward some suggestions and measures for the ecological evolution guarantee of agricultural products e-commerce. This paper is a research on the integration of agricultural products and ecological construction of e-commerce under the background of “internet plus.” It is aimed at offering suggestions and suggestions for promoting agricultural product sales and rural development and promoting rural economic development, which is of great help to China’s poverty alleviation cause and an effective way to achieve common prosperity.

Can Agricultural Productive Services Promote Agricultural Environmental Efficiency in China?

Agricultural productive services are important paths to realize the development of green agriculture, while the effect of agricultural productive services on the agricultural environment and its influencing mechanism are not yet clear. With the panel data of agricultural production in China from 2004 to 2019, by using multi-output stochastic frontier analysis with an output-oriented distance function, this study investigates agricultural environmental efficiency based on net carbon sinks. Then, this study explores the effect of agricultural productive services on agricultural environmental efficiency and its mechanisms by adopting ordinary least squares regression with fixed-effect panel model, causal steps approach, and spatial econometric method. The main findings are as follows: Firstly, agricultural productive services enhance agricultural productivity and agricultural environment by optimizing inputs and increasing outputs, and thus improve agricultural environmental efficiency. This result holds steadily after using instrumental variables to deal with endogeneity, changing the measurement of the dependent and independent variables, and subdividing the sample. Secondly, the pathways of agricultural productive services affecting agricultural environmental efficiency are mainly reflected in technology progress, planting structure adjustment, factor allocation optimization, and spatial spillover. Thirdly, due to the law of diminishing marginal returns, the impact of agricultural productive services on agricultural environmental efficiency is more significant when the level of agricultural productive services is relatively low. To improve agricultural environmental efficiency, we suggest implementing different productive service strategies in different regions, strengthening information integration, and improving infrastructure.

The Identification and Applicability of Regional Brand-Driving Modes for Agricultural Products

The regional brand-driven construction of agricultural products has taken shape in China. At present, the status quo entails the homogenization of the brand-driven mode of construction, making it a serious phenomenon in China. In addition, the misalignment between the brand-driven mode and resource conditions in some areas not only causes a waste of resources but also leads to a lack of competitiveness and premium capacity for agricultural products within the brand, which cannot increase farmers’ income. This article constructs a theoretical model of the brand-driven mode and uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method to identify effective brand-driven modes and explore their applicable environmental conditions. This research can provide theoretical guidance for the local development of regional brands of characteristic agricultural products. The results of the driving mode validity analysis show that the four brand-driven modes, resource-dependent, technology-induced, culture-driven, and industry-based, are the main construction paths for regional brands of agricultural products in China. Among them, the effectiveness of the resource-dependent and technology-induced modes is the highest, reaching 0.90 or more. The results of the applicability analysis show that the resource-dependent mode is suitable for farming areas with well-developed supporting policies and infrastructure and good economic development. In addition, the use of the technology-induced mode requires local farmers to have a high level of education and a high-quality base.

Do Livelihood Strategies Affect the Livelihood Resilience of Farm Households in Flooded Areas? Evidence From Hubei Province, China

Hubei Province, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is a complex area of fragile ecological environment and traditional agricultural production in China. With the further intensification of the impact of global warming, flood disasters have brought a more severe threat to the sustainable development of farmers’ livelihoods. This paper therefore examines the livelihood resilience of farmers with different livelihood strategies in the region by constructing a livelihood resilience evaluation system based on three target levels: buffering capacity, Adaptation and restoration, and using a contribution model to identify the main contributing factors affecting the livelihood resilience of fa rmers. The following three conclusions were found: (1). The overall level of livelihood resilience of farmers in flood-affected areas in Hubei Province is not high, and the difference in livelihood resilience indices between farmers with different livelihood strategies is large; (2). Farming-led farmers and part-time balanced farmers can better adapt to external shocks brought about by floods; (3). The main contributing factors affecting the livelihood resilience of various types of farmers have Convergence.

Does the Expansion of Farmers’ Operation Scale Improve the Efficiency of Agricultural Production in China? Implications for Environmental Sustainability

China’s agricultural development urgently needs dynamic transformation and green transformation, from a traditional extensive mode of production to a moderately intensive mode of production that meets the requirements of the new era, with efficiency improvement as the guide to promote green, low-carbon, and sustainable development. Based on the micro-data of farmers in Hunan province from 2015 to 2020, this paper uses the data envelopment analysis method to measure the cost efficiency of rapeseed production and then decompose the cost-efficiency. The Tobit model is used to analyze the influencing factors and cost-efficiency differentials. First, there is considerable room for improvement in the overall cost efficiency of Chinese rapeseed production. The technical efficiency (TE), allocation efficiency (AE), and cost efficiency (CE) of rapeseed production in the survey area are 0.869, 0.701, and 0.609, respectively. Second, allocative efficiency is an important factor affecting the improvement of cost efficiency. The expansion of farmers’ operation scales does not necessarily improve their allocative efficiency, but increases their input of chemical fertilizer and other elements, which may lead to agricultural non-point source pollution. This is not conducive to sustainable environmental development. Third, the relationship between the cost efficiency of crop production and farmers’ operation scale is of an “inverted U-type” curve. That is to say, with the expansion of farmer operation scale, cost-efficiency shows an “increasing first and decreasing later” trend peaking at (6.67,13.33) hm2. Fourthly, the distinguishing factors which affect cost efficiency show obvious similarities while reserving differences. Finally, we also suggest countermeasures and suggestions from the perspective of R & D investment, industrial support, regional exchange and cooperation, reasonable input of resource factors, and awareness of agricultural green production to promote green and low-carbon development of the rapeseed industry in China.

Financial Support for Agriculture, Chemical Fertilizer Use, and Carbon Emissions from Agricultural Production in China.

In the past 15 years, China has emitted the most carbon dioxide globally. The overuse of chemical fertilizer is an essential reason for agricultural carbon emissions. In recent years, China has paid more and more attention to financial support for agriculture. Therefore, understanding the relationship between chemical fertilizer use, financial support for agriculture, and agricultural carbon emissions will benefit sustainable agricultural production. To achieve the goal of our research, we selected the panel data of 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2000 to 2019 and employed a series of methods in this research. The results demonstrate that: the effect of chemical fertilizer consumption on agricultural carbon emissions is positive. Moreover, financial support for agriculture has a significantly positive impact on reducing carbon emissions from agricultural production. In addition, the results of causality tests testify to one−way causality from financial support for agriculture to carbon emissions from agricultural production, the bidirectional causal relationship between chemical fertilizer use and financial support for agriculture, and two−way causality between chemical fertilizer use and agricultural carbon emissions. Furthermore, the results of variance decomposition analysis represent that financial support for agriculture will significantly affect chemical fertilizer use and carbon emissions in the agricultural sector over the next decade. Finally, we provide several policy suggestions to promote low−carbon agricultural production based on the results of this study. The government should uphold the concept of sustainable agriculture, increase financial support for environmental−friendly agriculture, and encourage the research and use of cleaner agricultural production technologies and chemical fertilizer substitutes.

Vulnerability Assessment and Spatio-Temporal Dynamics Analysis of Agricultural Flood in China

Flood is one of the main problems faced by agricultural production in China. The research of agriculture’s floods vulnerability is the premise of scientifically dealing with floods. Based on the vulnerability assessment framework of “sensitivity-exposure-adaptability,” this paper selects 14 evaluation indicators from three aspects: sensitivity, exposure, adaptability, and the index weights which are determined by the entropy weight method to evaluate the sensitivity, resilience, and vulnerability of flood In terms of time, China’s overall flood vulnerability shows a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. From a spatial point of view, the number of highly vulnerable areas is relatively small which are mainly concentrated in Henan, Hubei, Anhui and other provinces, and most areas of the country are at low and mild levels. From the factor analysis model, the main contributing factors of agricultural flood exposure, sensitivity and adaptability are soil erosion control area, forest coverage rate, total reservoir capacity and total power of agricultural machinery. Therefore, controlling soil erosion, increasing forest coverage, further improving water conservancy facilities and strengthening agricultural mechanization level are the keys to reduce vulnerability of agricultural floods.

Study on the Impact of Agricultural Digitization on the Output of Agricultural Products in China

With the popularization of the Internet and the promotion of Rural Revitalization Strategy, agricultural digitization has attracted the attention of many scholars. The study of agricultural digitization has important theoretical and practical significance for the development of agriculture. This paper selects the time series data from 2012 to 2020 and takes the agricultural output value as the explanatory variable. The number of agricultural broadband access users, Internet penetration and optical cable line length are selected as the statistical indicators of agricultural digitization. The entropy method is used to weight the three statistical indicators, and finally a weighted index is obtained as the main explanatory variable. At the same time, the total power of agricultural machinery, effective irrigation area and net amount of chemical fertilizer application were selected as explanatory variables. This paper analyzes the impact of agricultural digitization on the output of agricultural products in China by using row linear regression method. Finally, it summarizes the impact of agricultural digitization on agricultural gross output value, and puts forward corresponding policy suggestions.

Research on Improving Online Purchase Intention of Poverty-Alleviation Agricultural Products in China: From the Perspective of Institution-Based Trust.

Poverty alleviation by consumption is a powerful way to help the poor people get rid of poverty, which plays a significant role in China's rural revitalization. However, the achievement of poverty alleviation by consumption mostly depends on government procurement, and the enthusiasm of customers to participate is low, facing the severe challenge of poor sustainability. Helping the poor is the most common motivation for customers to buy poverty-alleviation agricultural products (PAAP). However, as the negative events of poverty alleviation such as “tragic marketing” constantly appear in news reports, customers' trust in sellers has been seriously damaged. The psychological protection system for fear of being cheated hinders customers' purchase intention. Therefore, we believed that trust is an important factor in enhancing customers' purchase intention of PAAP. Customers buy PAAP mainly through online channels, and institution-based trust is the most important way to generate trust in online channels. Thus, this study investigated the institutional mechanisms that affect customers' trust in the sellers of PAAP and discussed the influence of trust on the online purchase intention of PAAP. Data were obtained through a questionnaire survey and tested empirically. The results showed that the effectiveness of the user feedback mechanism, platform supervision mechanism, product traceability mechanism, and product certification mechanism can enhance customers' purchase intention by enhancing their trust. Individual trust tendency positively regulated the relationship between the effectiveness of institutional mechanisms and consumer trust. The conclusion can not only provide new theoretical guidance for the practice of poverty alleviation by consumption in China but also offer new ideas for the poverty alleviation undertakings in other countries.