Resilience or efficiency? Strategic options for sustainable development of agricultural systems in ecologically fragile areas of China

Tianmin Tao; Libang Ma; Xiang Wang; Shanshan Wu; Zhihao Shi; Xijuan Cui

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163411

Resilience or efficiency? Strategic options for sustainable development of agricultural systems in ecologically fragile areas of China

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 10:881:163411. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163411. Epub 2023 Apr 11.

Authors

Tianmin Tao¹, Libang Ma², Xiang Wang¹, Shanshan Wu¹, Zhihao Shi¹, Xijuan Cui¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
² College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Resource Environment and Sustainable Development of Oasis, Lanzhou 730070, China; Institute of Urban and Rural Development and Collaborative Governance of Northwest, Lanzhou 730070, China. Electronic address: malb0613@nwnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37044348
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163411

Abstract

Sustainable development of agricultural systems is crucial for ensuring global food security, and resilience and efficiency are important topics for sustainable development of agricultural systems. Therefore, it is important to study the coupling and coordination relationship between agricultural system resilience and agricultural production efficiency, and explore the sustainable development model of agricultural system accordingly. Using statistical data from 2000 to 2020, we constructed a system of indicators for sustainable development of agricultural systems, and assessed the coordination status and interaction of agricultural system resilience and agricultural production efficiency in 49 county-level administrative units in the Loess Hilly Region Gansu Section (LHRGS) of China with the help of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, bivariate Moran's I index, and geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results show as follows: (1) The level of resilience of the LHRGS agricultural system and the level of agricultural production efficiency shows a continuous upward trend and a robust growth state. (2) High-value areas of the LHRGS agricultural system resilience are concentrated in counties with better resource endowment, and high-value areas of agricultural production efficiency are distributed in regions with stronger innovation capacity, and there is a moderate level of coupling relationship between them. (3) The sustainable development capacity of the agricultural system is gradually improving, but there is a certain degree of heterogeneity between agricultural system resilience and agricultural production efficiency. (4) Agricultural input factors have significant effects on the sustainable development of the agricultural systems, and significant spatial differences are found in the effects of different agricultural input factors on the sustainable development of agricultural systems. Based on the findings of this study, policy recommendations for the sustainable development of agricultural systems in ecologically fragile areas are proposed.

Keywords: Agricultural production efficiency; Agricultural sustainability; Agricultural system resilience; Coupling coordination; Loess Hilly Region Gansu Section.