Impact of cultivated land fragmentation on spatial heterogeneity of agricultural agglomeration in China

doi:10.1007/s11442-020-1800-1

Abstract

Abstract:

Systematically revealing the impact of cultivated land fragmentation (CLF) on the geographical agglomeration pattern of agricultural specialization (AS) has positive significance for national agricultural production management. Based on the data of the second national land survey and agricultural production, this study has explored the impact of CLF on spatial heterogeneity of agricultural agglomeration in China by comprehensively using the Theil index, ordinary least square model and geographically weighted regression. Results showed that: (1) the regional differentiation of the CLF in China is obvious, and the cultivated land fragmentation index is generally characterized by increasing pattern from northwest to southeast. (2) Spatially, the development level of AS in China has formed three high-value clusters in the Northeast China Plain, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the middle of the Middle-lower Yangtze Plain; and the low-value contiguous areas centered on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Sichuan Basin and surrounding regions, with significant spatial differences. The contribution of grain crops, economic crops, and vegetables and melon to the level of AS was 74.63%, 9.09%, and 16.28%, respectively, and the pattern of agricultural geographical aggregation dominated by grain crops has primarily taken in shape. (3) CLF is significantly negatively correlated with AS, and every 1% increase in the degree of CLF will result in a decrease of about 0.2% in AS. However, the impact of CLF on the geographic agglomeration of different crop categories or groups varies significantly. Among them, CLF has a prominent impact on the specialization level of grain crops and vegetables and melon. Each 1% increase in the CLF will reduce the specialization level of grain crops by 0.38%, and increase the level of vegetables and melon by about 0.22%. (4) According to the landscape characteristics of cultivated land, the degree of spatial division and agglomeration of cultivated land patches have a significant impact on the formation of geographical agglomeration pattern of AS, and the intensity and direction of influence show significant regional differentiation, while the patch size has no significant impact.

Key words: cultivated land fragmentation, agricultural specialization, regional differentiation, impact

XU Weiyi, JIN Xiaobin, LIU Jing, ZHOU Yinkang. Impact of cultivated land fragmentation on spatial heterogeneity of agricultural agglomeration in China[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2020, 30(10): 1571-1589.

Figures/Tables 9

Table 1

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Table 2

Table 3

Figure 5

Figure 6

References 28

1	Anselin L , 1995. Local indicators of spatial association: LISA. Geographical Analysis, 27(2):93-115.
2	Chen T Z, Li E L, Li W , 2013. Geographical agglomeration of crops and its evolutionary mechanism in Henan Province during 1989-2009. Progress in Geography, 32(8):1237-1245. (in Chinese)
3	Ciaian P, Guri F, Rajcaniova M et al., 2018. Land fragmentation and production diversification: A case study from rural Albania. Land Use Policy, 76:589-599.
4	de Roest K, Ferrari P, Knickel K , 2018. Specialisation and economies of scale or diversification and economies of scope? Assessing different agricultural development pathways. Journal of Rural Studies, 59:222-231.
5	Getis A, Ord J K , 1992. The analysis of spatial association by the use of distance statistic. Geographical Analysis, 24(5):189-206.
6	Gonzalez X, Marey M, Alvarez C , 2007. Evaluation of productive rural land patterns with joint regard to the size, shape and dispersion of plots. Agricultural Systems, 92:52-62.
7	Hartvigsen M , 2014. Land reform and land fragmentation in Central and Eastern Europe. Land Use Policy, 36:330-341.
8	Klasen S, Meyer K M, Dislich C et al., 2016. Economic and ecological trade-offs of agricultural specialization at different spatial scales. Ecological Economics, 122:111-120.
9	Krugman P , 1991. Increasing returns and economic geography. Journal of Political Economy, 99(3):483-499.
10	Latruffe L, Piet L , 2014. Does land fragmentation affect farm performance? A case study from Brittany, France. Agricultural Systems, 129:68-80.
11	Li G D, Qi W , 2019. Impacts of construction land expansion on landscape pattern evolution in China. Acta Geographica Sinica, 74(12):2572-2591. (in Chinese)
12	Liu J, Jin X B, Xu W Y et al., 2019a. Influential factors and classification of cultivated land fragmentation, and implications for future land consolidation: A case study of Jiangsu Province in eastern China. Land Use Policy, 88:104185.
13	Liu J, Jin X B, Xu W Y et al., 2019b. Evaluation of cultivated land fragmentation and guidance of land consolidation at provincial level. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 39(5):817-826. (in Chinese)
14	Liu Z H, Yang P, Wu W B et al., 2016. Spatio-temporal changes in Chinese crop patterns over the past three decades. Acta Geographica Sinica, 71(5):840-851. (in Chinese)
15	Looga J, Jürgenson E, Sikk K et al., 2018. Land fragmentation and other determinants of agricultural farm productivity: The case of Estonia. Land Use Policy, 79:285-292.
16	Minten B, Murshid K A, Reardon T , 2013. Food quality changes and implications: Evidence from the rice value chain of Bangladesh. World Development, 42:100-113.
17	Ntihinyurwa P D, de Vries W T, Chigbu U E et al., 2019. The positive impacts of farm land fragmentation in Rwanda. Land Use Policy, 81:565-581.
18	Porter M E , 1998. Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard Business Review, 76(6):77.
19	Schultz T W , 1951. The declining economic importance of agricultural land. The Economic Journal, 61(244):725-740.
20	Shahe E M, Shilpi F , 2007. The extent of the market and stages of agricultural specialization. SSRN Electronic Journal, doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1005983.
21	Sklenicka P, Janovska V, Salek M et al., 2014. The Farmland rental paradox: Extreme land ownership fragmentation as a new form of land degradation. Land Use Policy, 38:587-593.
22	Song X Q, Huang Y, Wu Z F et al., 2015. Does cultivated land function transition occur in China? Journal of Geographical Sciences, 25(7):817-835.
23	Wang W H, Zhu H Y , 2017. Household farmland area and regional specialization: An empirical analysis at provincial level. Acta Geographica Sinica, 72(2):269-278. (in Chinese)
24	Wang W H, Zhu H Y , 2018. Main limiting factor of the regional specialization of agricultural land use in China. Journal of Natural Resources, 33(3):361-371. (in Chinese)
25	Wu N L, Qiao J J, Li X J , 2017. The spatial diffusion of agricultural specialized production under government promotion: A case study of mushroom production in Xixia county. Geographical Research, 36(8):1557-1569. (in Chinese)
26	Yang L, Liu M C, Min Q W et al., 2018. Specialization or diversification? The situation and transition of households’ livelihood in agricultural heritage systems. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 16(6):455-471.
27	Yang Q Q, Liu Q, Yin S et al., 2019. Vulnerability and influencing factors of rural transportation environment in Qinling-Daba mountainous areas: A case study of Luonan county in Shaanxi province. Acta Geographica Sinica, 74(6):1236-1251. (in Chinese)
28	Zhou Y H, Lv C, Zhou D , 2012. Analysis of the influencing factors of the formation of main vegetable production areas in China: A case study of Shouguang in Shandong Province. Geographical Research, 31(4):687-700. (in Chinese)

Dependent variable	CLF		Landscape characteristics of cultivated land
	CLF		APS		ED		AI
	Regression coefficient	t	Regression coefficient	t	Regression coefficient	t	Regression coefficient	t
SHHI	-0.208^***	-3.702	0.104^*	1.667	-0.077	-1.37	-0.168^***	-3.123
SHHI of grain crops	-0.382^***	-6.078	0.057	0.793	-0.199^***	-3.056	0.065	1.054
Cereal	-0.259^***	-4.070	0.033	-0.463	-0.207^***	-3.164	0.057	-0.114
Soybeans	-0.120^***	-3.838	0.057	1.597	-0.039^***	-3.151	0.030^***	2.649
Tubers	-0.003	-0.275	0.033^**	2.346	0.026	1.095	0.034	1.095
SHHI of economic crops	-0.044	-1.429	0.017^**	0.497	-0.025	-0.79	-0.06^**	-1.995
Oil-bearing crops	-0.013	0.873	0.004	0.251	-0.010	-0.623	-0.023	-1.612
Cotton	-0.050	-1.876	0.019	0.636	-0.025	-0.93	-0.044^*	-1.692
Sugar crops	0.009	1.036	-0.003	-0.300	0.006	0.7	0.009	1.037
Tobacco	0.001	0.840	-0.002	-1.613	-0.001	-0.957	0.000	0.372
Tea	0.009	2.646	-0.001	-0.189	0.005	1.451	-0.002	-0.646
SHHI of vegetables and melon	0.218^***	7.120	0.030	0.879	0.147^***	4.778	-0.174^***	-5.983
Vegetables	0.166^***	7.425	0.022	0.882	0.115^***	5.099	-0.111^***	-5.143
Melon and fruit crops	0.052^*	2.799	0.008	0.371	0.031^*	1.653	-0.063^**	-3.477

Dependent variable	Cultivated land fragmentation				Landscape characteristics of cultivated land
Dependent variable	Bandwidth	Sigma	AICc	R²	Bandwidth	Sigma	AICc	R²
SHHI	5.223	0.09	-624.568	0.426	6.598	0.09	-639.02	0.473
SHHI of grain crops	5.223	0.10	-554.977	0.470	6.598	0.10	-551.917	0.486
Cereals	5.223	0.10	-539.595	0.424	6.598	0.10	-525.532	0.423
Soybeans	5.223	0.05	-1004.853	0.416	6.598	0.05	-970.156	0.378
SHHI of vegetables and melon	5.223	0.05	-993.151	0.432	6.598	0.05	-1009.978	0.482
Vegetables	5.223	0.04	-1163.867	0.375	6.598	0.04	-1195.699	0.455

[1]	TAN Xuelan, OUYANG Qiaoling, AN Yue, MI Shengyuan, JIANG Lingxiao, ZHOU Guohua. Evolution and driving forces of rural functions in urban agglomeration: A case study of the Chang-Zhu-Tan region [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(8): 1381-1395.
[2]	Wenjuan HOU, Jiangbo GAO. Simulating runoff generation and its spatial correlation with environmental factors in Sancha River Basin: The southern source of the Wujiang River [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(3): 432-448.
[3]	Lin HUANG, Yuhan ZHENG, Tong XIAO. Regional differentiation of ecological conservation and its zonal suitability at the county level in China [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2018, 28(1): 46-58.
[4]	Yuanjing QI, Tao LIU, Jingjuan JIAO. Implementation methods and economic impacts of national node strategies [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2017, 27(3): 348-364.
[5]	Xianyan WANG, VANDENBERGHE Jef, Huayu LU, VAN BALEN Ronald. Climatic and tectonic controls on the fluvial morphology of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau (China) [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2017, 27(11): 1325-1340.
[6]	Xinfang YU, Xin ZHAO. Impact analysis of the Journal of Geographical Sciences during 2009-2015 [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2016, 26(12): 1785-1791.
[7]	Hui TIAN, Yongchao LAN, Jun WEN, Huijun JIN, Chenghai WANG, Xin WANG, Yue KANG. Evidence for a recent warming and wetting in the source area of the Yellow River (SAYR) and its hydrological impacts [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2015, 25(6): 643-668.
[8]	Mette V. ODGAARD, Peder K. BøCHER, Tommy DALGAARD, Jesper E. MOESLUND, Jens-Christian SVENNING. Human-driven topographic effects on the distribution of forest in a flat, lowland agricultural region [J]. , 2014, 24(1): 76-92.
[9]	HOU Guangliang, LAI Zhongping, XIAO Jingyi, E Chongyi. Reconstruction of cultivated land during mid- Holocene in the middle and lower reaches of Yellow River and human impact on vegetations [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2012, 22(5): 933-945.
[10]	XIAO Fengjin, YIN Yizhou, LUO Yong, SONG Lianchun, YE Dianxiu. Tropical cyclone hazards analysis based on tropical cyclone potential impact index [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2011, 21(5): 791-800.
[11]	XU Zengrang, CHENG Shengkui, ZHEN Lin. Interregional coal flow and its environmental loads transfer in Shanxi Province [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2011, 21(4): 757-767.
[12]	LI Zijun, LI Xiubin, XU Zhimei. Impacts of water conservancy and soil conservation measures on annual runoff in the Chaohe River Basin during 1961–2005 [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2010, 20(6): 947-960.
[13]	ZHONG Wei, XUE Jibin, PENG Xiaoying, ZHAO Yinjuan. Dryness-wetness change and regional differentiation of flood-drought disasters in Guangdong during 1480-1940AD [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2005, 15(3): 286-292.
[14]	YIN Shuyan, HUANG Chunchang, LI Xinyan. Historical drought and water disasters in the Weihe Plain [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2005, 15(1): 97-105.
[15]	ZHU Huiyi, LU Changhe, LI Xiubin. Land use studies in China [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2004, 14(Z): 69-73.