Spatiotemporal Pattern of Cultivated Land Pressure and Its Influencing Factors in the Huaihai Economic Zone, China

Cultivated land pressure represents a direct reflection of grain security. Existing relevant studies rarely approached the spatiotemporal pattern of cultivated land pressure or the spatial heterogeneity of its influencing factors from the level of economic zones.Taking the Huaihai Economic Zone(HEZ), China for case analysis, this study investigated the spatiotemporal pattern of cultivated land pressure in diverse periods from 2000 to 2018 based on a modified cultivated land pressure index and spatial correlation models. On this basis, it explored the influencing factors of the spatial differentiation of cultivated land pressure in the late stage of the study using geographical detector as well as multi-scale geographically weighted regression model. The results indicated that: 1) in the study period, the global cultivated land pressure index of the study area decreased gradually, but cultivated land pressure increased locally in a significant way, especially in the central and southern Shandong Province;2) the spatial pattern of cultivated land pressure manifested global clustering features. Hot and secondary-hot spots presented a narrowing and clustering trend, whereas cold and secondary-cold spots manifested a spreading and clustering trend;3) average slope, the proportion of non-grain crops, population urbanization rate, and multiple cropping index have significant effects on the spatial differentiation of cultivated land pressure. The former three factors were positively correlated with cultivated land pressure, and the last factor was negatively correlated with cultivated land pressure;and 4) the amount of cultivated land has increased in the central and southern Shandong Province through land consolidation which, nonetheless, failed to improve the grain production. In regards to major grain producing areas similar to the HEZ in China, the authors suggest that great importance should be given to the balance of the quality and quantity of cultivated land, the optimization of agricultural production factors and the rational control of non-grain crops, thus providing a powerful guarantee for grain security in China.

Exploration on Temporal-spatial Difference of Cultivated Land Pressure and Influence Factor Analysis: A Case Study of Guangxi

Based on related statistical data during 1980-2014,change rule of Guangxi cultivated land pressure level was studied. Taking each municipal administrative division as evaluation unit,temporal-spatial change trend of cultivated land pressure level was explored by establishing pressure index model of cultivated land,and principal component analysis was used to explore the driving force of cultivated land pressure. Results showed that from 1980 to 2014 in Guangxi,cultivated land pressure was at level one in 12 years,level two in 19 years and level three in 4 years; mean of cultivated land pressure in each city during 2005-2014 was taken as average level of cultivated land pressure in the city,in which cultivated land pressure values of Chongzuo City,Baise City,Laibin City,Liuzhou City,Fangchenggang City,Nanning City,Hechi City and Guigang City were all lower than average level in Guangxi at the same period. Driving factors of cultivated land pressure index mainly contained urbanization rate,Engel coefficient of rural households(ECRH),per capita cultivated land area,total population and rural per capita net income(RPFI).

Land pressure and adaptation in the mountainous region of northern China： An empirical analysis of 21 small watersheds

Land pressure and adaptation are the main factors determining environmental degradation in most of China＇s mountainous regions. Little attention so far has been paid to the adaptation strategies based on evaluation of land pressure in these regions. We evaluated the grain production pressure and economic development pressure for 21 small watersheds undergoing soil conservation measures in the northern mountainous region of China, compared the evaluation results with actual production for each of the watersheds, and analyzed the adaptation strategies. The results imply that land pressure was spatially heterogeneous among the sample watersheds, but there was a balancing trend between land pressure and productive capacity for each watershed. Under rising pressure, these watersheds developed a variety of adaptation strategies such as labor migration, increasing fruit and nut production, and expanding rural tourism if possible. These strategies result from evolution of the market economy in China, and persistent development of the national economy determines the variation of environment in these mountainous regions.

Spatial Pressure Distribution of Cultivated Land and the Analysis of Food Safety in Kunming City,China

The social and economical condition,cultivated land resources and general situation of grain production of research area are introduced.According to relevant data of cultivated land of Kunming City in 2006,taking the minimum per capita cultivated land and index model of cultivated land pressure,and combining with two conditions of per capita grain demand which are 300 kg and 400 kg,the comparative research method was used to calculate and analyze the minimum per capita cultivated land and index model of cultivated land pressure.The results show that when per capita grain demand-Gr is 300 kg,the per capita cultivated land in Kunming City has regional differences,reflects different regular patterns of spatial distribution,and presents obvious and typical radial distribution.Urban area of Kunming has the lowest point and be taken as the center,per capita cultivated land decreases progressively from suburban to the periphery;when per capita grain demand-Gr is 400 kg,under the same consumption level,cultivated land pressures of each county in Kunming City are different,and so are the driven factors;when per capita grain demand-Gr is 300 kg or 400 kg,the indexes of cultivated land pressure in Kunming are all greater than 1,cultivated land pressure is enormous,the indexes of cultivated land pressure of each county(district) have two conditions-greater than 1 and less than 2,and the reasons differ from one another.Combining with the spatial distribution characteristics of the cultivated land and food and the situation of industrial development,the countermeasures and suggestions are put forwarded to make full use of back-up cultivated land,to plan the distribution of industrial structure in each county(district) of Kunming City as a whole,to dispose cultivated land resources reasonably and so on.

Monitoring the Cultivated Slope Land in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area Based on Remote Sensing and GIS

By means of combining auto-extraction with manual interpretation, the current distribution information about cultivated land is obtained. The distribution information of 1992 is extracted from the dynamic polygons of 2002. The monitoring mini-system of the cultivated slope land is established. In the system, detailed surveys, focused on the resources of cultivated slope land, are carried out. The results indicate that the area of the cultivated slope land is very large. Meanwhile, there are lots of cultivated steep slopes with gradient above 35°. The areas of steep land cultivated had been slowly reduced from 1992 to 2002. At the same time, the pressures of returning farm land to forestry are great in all counties. The conflicts between population growth, insufficient grain supply and stagnant economic development sharpen increasingly. It is inevitable to improve the agricultural structure.

Competition for land resources:driving forces and consequences in crop-livestock production systems of the Ethiopian highlands

Introduction:Ethiopia has made efforts to tackle the challenges of low crop and livestock productivity and degradation of land resources through various rural development strategies.However,increasing demands for food,animal feed,fuel,and income-generating activities are putting pressure on the land.In this paper,we describe the production pressure and competition between crop and livestock production,quantify rates of land-use/cover(LULC)changes,and examine driving forces and consequences of land conversion.Methods:The study was conducted in Gudo Beret watershed,North Shewa Zone of Amhara region,Ethiopia.It used a combination of methods including remote sensing,household interviews,field observations,focus group discussions,and key informant interviews.Supervised and unsupervised image classification methods were employed to map LULC classes for 31 years(1984–2016).Results:The results of satellite remote sensing revealed that 51%of the land in the study area was subject to accelerated land conversions.The household survey results indicated that feed resources and grain production pressures were 1.43 and 1.34 t ha^(−1) respectively.The observed annual changes in plantation and settlement areas were 2.6%and 2.9%.This was mainly at the expense of bushland and grazing land systems.Cropland increased(0.4%year^(−1))while grazing land reduced(3.5%year^(−1))under contrasting dynamics and competitive changes.An increase in human and livestock populations and farm expansion were major drivers of land conversion that adversely affected household livelihoods and the natural ecosystem.The consequences of these pressures resulted in a lack of animal feed,low crop-livestock productivity,and a reduction in natural vegetation coverage.Conclusions:We suggest that sustainable land resource management,more integrated crop-livestock production,and the use of productivity-enhancing technologies could play a role in managing competition for land resources.