A Study On The Impact Of Agricultural Mechanization On Agricultural Production

In the late 1990 s,agriculture was affected by urbanization and industrialization,which increased the burden of agricultural taxes and fees,suppressed the market value of agriculture,and made agricultural production technology less efficient.In the context of the "new era",Chinese agricultural production and management has experienced a weakening of the competitiveness of agricultural products and difficulties in increasing farmers’ income,one of the important factors being the small scale and high degree of fragmentation of Chinese agricultural operations.Therefore,improving the technical efficiency of food production and promoting large-scale land operation is one of the keys to solve the current problems facing China’s agricultural production and operation.Based on this,this paper selects input and output data in grain production from 2001 to2020 for 31 provinces in China,except Hong Kong,Macau and Taiwan,based on the analysis of the impact mechanism of agricultural mechanization development on the technical efficiency of grain production and land scale operation.The data in this paper are obtained from China Statistical Yearbook,China Rural Statistical Yearbook,National Agricultural Mechanization Statistical Yearbook and other statistical yearbooks,and the missing data are supplemented by referring to the statistical yearbooks of each province.In this paper,empirical analysis will be conducted on the core contents of "the impact of agricultural mechanization on the technical efficiency of grain production" and "the impact of agricultural mechanization on land scale management".Specifically,the study includes:firstly,using the transcendental logarithmic stochastic production frontier function,we measure the level of agricultural mechanization and the technical efficiency of grain production in 31 provinces in China from 2001 to 2020.Second,a spatial econometric model is used to analyze the impact of agricultural mechanization on the technical efficiency of grain production and land scale management using national statistics at the provincial level.The main findings of this paper are as follows:(1)The growth rate of China’s agricultural machinery volume varies among different years zones,and the main types of agricultural machinery and equipment have changed,with large and medium-sized agricultural machinery becoming dominant and small agricultural machinery slowing down and its market tending to be saturated.In addition,among the factors influencing the technical efficiency of grain production in 31 provinces(excluding Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan)in China from 2001 to 2020,the area of grain sown and the number of people employed in the primary industry as well as fertilizer inputs contribute to the technical efficiency of grain production.(2)Large and medium-sized agricultural machinery inputs significantly contribute to the technical efficiency of grain production in the region,while small agricultural machinery has no significant effect on the improvement of the technical efficiency of local grain production.On the contrary,both large and medium-sized agricultural machinery and small agricultural machinery have an enhancing effect on the technical efficiency of food production in other surrounding areas,showing a significant spatial spillover effect.(3)The input of large and medium-sized agricultural machinery significantly promotes land scale operation in the region,and the input of large and medium-sized agricultural machinery has a significant positive spillover effect on the degree of land scale operation in neighboring provinces,but it is smaller than the promotion effect on the local area.On the contrary,the effect of small agricultural machinery on the scale of land operation are not as significant as the effect of large and medium-sized tractors,specifically may be due to the effect of small agricultural machinery in long-distance transport power is insufficient,etc.,not easy to move and other reasons,resulting in the effect of large and medium-sized agricultural machinery.Based on the above findings,the main policy recommendations are as follows: first,improve the level of development of agricultural mechanization,can promote regional food production technical efficiency and land scale operation,will be conducive to respond to China’s future rural population continues to decline in the national agricultural situation,reduce the rural population decline on the adverse impact of agricultural production and operation.Second,to promote cross-regional operation of agricultural machinery,so that the production support service function of agricultural machinery is "shared" between regions,while building the information service system of cross-regional operation of agricultural machinery,smooth the channels of cross-regional operation of agricultural machinery,and improve the allocation and utilization efficiency of agricultural machinery resources.