Research On The Impact Of Urbanization On The Technical Efficiency Of Grain Production In China

Urbanization is an inevitable stage of China’s modernization, as well as the source of enlarging China’s domestic demands and boosting development. To actively and steadily promote urbanization is of great significance for the addressing of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” issues and promoting the transformation from traditional to modern agriculture. However, urbanization turns out to be a “double-edged sword” for food production. On the one hand, urbanization promotes the progress of food production technology, the gathering of production factors, transforming of food production methods and migration of rural surplus labors. On the other hand, the negative impact of urbanization emerges. With the rapid development of urbanization, there is an intensified trend of non-agricultural population, non-food farmland, polluted land and water resources, as well as “aging and weakening” farmers. During the process of urbanization, basic elements like labor and land is inevitably drained to nonagricultural field. To improve food production technology, food productivity and technical production efficiency can offset the negative impacts brought by the reduction of factor inputs. During the accelerating urbanization process, what is the trend of technical efficiency of China’s grain production? What is the reason for the loss of technical efficiency in food production? What are the differences among various functional areas of food production? What is the relationship between urbanization and technical efficiency of food production? Promotion or inhabitation? What is the influencing path of urbanization on technical efficiency of food production? Is there any difference from the macro or micro levels? To answer these questions, this study focuses on a detailed analysis from these aspects. It is important for improving food productivity, promoting the coordinated development of urbanization and food production.The main contents composing of 8 chapters and conclusions are as follows.Part I: Chapters 1 and Chapter 2. Chapter 1 includes the background, purpose, meaning, ideas, methods and potential innovations of this research. Also, it defines and clarifies two core concepts of this study, “urbanization” and “technical efficiency”. Chapter 2 explains relevant theoretical basis and reviews literatures on urbanization and technical efficiency, which has laid the foundation for this study.Part II: Chapter 3 depicts the current situation of urbanization and development of grain production in China. The status quo of urbanization in China is analyzed from four aspects: population urbanization, land urbanization, economic urbanization and resource problems. Also, the current situation of input factors such as labor and land, and environmental pollution problems are analyzed.Part III: In Chapter 4 the technical efficiency of China’s grain production is measured and analyzed. On this basis, the spatial trends, inter-provincial differences and dynamic evolution of technical efficiency are analyzed in major grain producing areas, sales areas and balance areas. Surplus investment in food inputs and outputs is further calculated to analyze the causes of technical efficiency loss of food production.Part IV: In Chapter 5, the relationship between urbanization and technical efficiency of food production is analyzed. The urbanization is divided into three subsystems, population urbanization, land urbanization and economic urbanization. Then the comprehensive development of China’s urbanization was calculated and analyzed from different functional areas. On this basis, both “promotion” and “inhabitation” relationships between urbanization and technical efficiency of food production are analyzed from qualitative and quantitative perspectives.Part V: Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. From both macro and micro perspectives, urbanization is divided into population, land and economic urbanization from three dimensions. Then the impact of urbanization on technical efficiency is analyzed. In the macro-level analysis, the study period is divided into four stages, the time difference of the impacts of urbanization on technical efficiency is analyzed. Also, environmental variables are introduced into the calculating framework of technical efficiency of food production. The influence of urbanization on technical efficiency under environmental constraints is analyzed. Based on the microscopic level, using the randomly surveyed data of Farmers from 17 towns and 48 villages, this paper analyzed the impact of urbanization on the technical efficiency of food production.Conclusions are as follows:1) Overall, the technical efficiency and total factor productivity of food production have shown a upward trend in fluctuation, but there are differences among three functional areas.2) From nationwide perspective, the reason for technical efficiency loss is mainly on input factors of food production inputs, other than insufficient outputs. Excessive mechanical and labor inputs are two major reasons for technical efficiency loss. Reasons vary among different functional areas and provinces.3) The development level of urbanization in each subsystem has uptrend during the study period. The uptrend of land urbanization is the largest, followed by economic urbanization and population urbanization at last. There is a relationship of mutual promotion and restraint between urbanization and technical efficiency. The impact of the long-run equilibrium relationship on short-term relations differs in functional areas. In general, there is a positive relationship between urbanization and technical efficiency, and gradually moving towards a stable level.4) On the macro level, there are time differences among impacts of population, land and economic urbanization on technical efficiency of food production. Under the environmental constraints, population urbanization contributes to technical efficiency improvement in food sales areas and balance production area it is vice versa in the major grain producing areas. Land and economic urbanization are not conductive to the improvement of environmental technical efficiency nationwide and functional areas.5) On the micro level, there exists a 32% improving room for the technical efficiency of sampled farmers under the existing technology and input-output level. Population and economic urbanization is conducive to advancing the technical efficiency food production, while land urbanization is not.