A Study On Citrus Production Efficiency In China

China is one of the world's major citrus producers,and has a long history and rich experience in citrus cultivation.In the 40 years since the reform and opening up,China's citrus planting area has been greatly improved.Although the output per unit area is also increasing,the former has increased more than the latter,resulting in an increase in the total citrus output.The increase in planting area and excessive dependence on scale effects indicate that China's current citrus production is inefficient and management methods are backward,and there is still great room for improvement in citrus production efficiency.Therefore,this paper studies the production of citrus in China,with a view to discovering how to improve technical efficiency and promote technological progress,so as to achieve the purpose of stabilizing citrus production in China and tapping the potential of citrus production.Based on the related concepts of efficiency and production efficiency,technical efficiency,and technological progress,this paper analyzes the situation on citrus planting in China's top ten citrus producing regions from 1978 to 2017 by using statistical analysis,including the climatic factors of the citrus growing period in the efficiency loss function,and then uses the stochastic frontier production function model and cluster analysis method with the input-output panel data of citrus production in 7 main citrus producing areas to carry out technical efficiency,influencing factors of technical efficiency loss,technological progress rate,and output elasticity of each input element.We analyzed the reasons for technological progress in some production areas via comparing the differences between provinces(cities).The results show that(1)Hunan,Hubei,Jiangxi,Fujian,Guangdong,and Guangxi are the dominant provinces for citrus production in China,and the status of citrus production in China is basically in line with the national citrus industry plan.Most of the main citrus producing areas in China have technical efficiency losses,with an average technical efficiency level of about 0.767.There is still much room for improvement in the current citrus unit area output level;there is still a significant level of technical efficiency in citrus production between regions Regional differences.(2)The scale returns of citrus production in China's main citrus producing areas are increasing.Among the various input factors of citrus production,the average output elasticity of labor input is positive and largest,which is much higher than the output elasticity of pesticide inputs and farm manure inputs,which are also positive.However,the output elasticity of fertilizer input is continuously negative,which is not conducive to the goal of increasing the efficiency of citrus,and it also indicates that increasing labor input,pesticide input and farmer-manure input in the process of citrus production is an important way to improve the technical efficiency of citrus production.(3)Various factors have different effects on the technical efficiency of citrus production.The factor of farmers' per capita net income has no significant positive effect on reducing the efficiency loss of citrus production,while the increase of financial expenditure on agriculture has an obvious positive effect on the technical efficiency of citrus production.The average daily temperature and average monthly sunshine days in the growing period of citrus had positive effects on improving the production efficiency,but the effect of average daily temperature was not significant.The average number of days of monthly precipitation during the growth period of citrus caused significant efficiency loss.(4)Since 2003,the technological progress of citrus production in China has not been satisfactory,and the level of technological progress has been rising and falling,and there is great potential for improvement.Among them,only the citrus production in Guangdong Province has made relatively obvious technological progress.There is still much room and potential for citrus production.At this stage,research and development on citrus production and management technologies are urgently needed.Finally,some suggestions were put forward,such as expanding citrus planting area moderately,using agricultural fertilizer rationally,increasing financial support to agriculture,liberating surplus labor force in rural areas,and strengthening pest control.