Promoting grain production through high-standard farmland construction:Evidence in China

Food security is a strategic priority for a country’s economic development.In China,high-standard farmland construction(HSFC)is an important initiative to stabilize grain production and increase grain production capacity.Based on panel data from 31 sample provinces,autonomous regions,and municipalities in China from 2005–2017,this study explored the impact of HSFC on grain yield using the difference-in-differences(DID)method.The results showed that HSFC significantly increased total grain production,which is robust to various checks.HSFC increased grain yield through three potential mechanisms.First,it could increase the grain replanting index.Second,it could effectively reduce yield loss due to droughts and floods.Last,HSFC could strengthen the cultivated land by renovating the low-and medium-yielding fields.Heterogeneity analysis found that the HSFC farmland showed a significant increase in grain yield only in the main grain-producing areas and balanced areas.In addition,HSFC significantly increased the yields of rice,wheat,and maize while leading to a reduction in soybean yields.The findings suggest the government should continue to promote HSFC,improve construction standards,and strictly control the“non-agriculturalization”and“non-coordination”of farmland to increase grain production further.At the same time,market mechanisms should be used to incentivize soybean farming,improve returns and stabilize soybean yields.

Arrangement of High-standard Basic Farmland Construction Based on Village-region Cultivated Land Quality Uniformity

As an important constitute of land consolidation, high-standard basic farmland construction is an important means to protect the quantity, quality and ecological environment of cultivated land. Its target not only lies in the increase of cultivated land quantity, but also the improvement of cultivated land quality, agricultural production conditions and ecosystem environments. In the present study, the quality evaluation method and construction arrangement of cultivated land were explored to facilitate the process of decision-making and implementation for high-standard basic farmland construction(HSBFC) with administrative village as the unit. Taking the land comprehensive improvement project area in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province as a case study, the whole process of the study comprised of three steps: 1) establishment of the evaluation model of cultivated land quality uniformity based on regional optimum cultivated land quality, and construction of the uniformity evaluation index system from the aspects of soil fertility quality, engineering quality, spatial quality and eco-environment quality, according to the new concept of cultivated land quality; 2) calculation of cultivated land quality uniformity by grading indicators, assigning scores and weighting sums, exploring the local homogenization characteristics of regional cultivated land quality through spatial autocorrelation analysis, and analyzing the constraints and transformative potential of barrier factors; 3) arrangement of HSBFC according to the principle of concentration, continuity and priority to the easy operation. The results revealed that the value of farmland quality uniformity for the administrative villages in the study area was between 7.76 and 21.96, and there was a difference between various administrative villages. The regional spatial autocorrelation patterns included High-High(HH), Low-Low(LL), High-Low(HL) and Low-High(LH). These indicate that regional cultivated land quality has local homogenization characteristics. The most restrictive factors in the study area were the medium and low transformation difficulty indexes, including soil organic matter content, farmland shelterbelt network density, field regularity and scale of the field. In addition, there were also high transformation difficulty indicators in some areas, such as sectional configuration. The project area was divided into four partitions: major construction area, secondary construction area, general construction area, and conditional construction area. The cultivated land area of each subarea was 1538.85 ha, 1224.27 ha, 555.93 ha, and 1666.63 ha, respectively. This comprised of 30.87%, 24.56%, 11.15% and 33.42% of the total project area, respectively. The evaluation model and index system could satisfy the evaluation of farmland quality and diagnosis of obstacle factors to facilitate the subsequent construction decision. The present study provides reference for the practice of regional HSBFC, and a new feasible idea and method for related studies.

Assessment of High-standard Farmland Construction Effectiveness in Liaoning Province During 2011–2015

At present, the large-scale construction of high-standard farmland in China has improved the quality of cropland and crop production and enhanced the eco-environmental security. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of high-standard farmland construction in Liaoning Province of China during the 12 th five-year period(2011–2015), through on-the-spot investigations and remote sensing monitoring, this study assessed the construction effectiveness of ten typical sampling projects in Liaoning Province and then presented practical suggestions. The main conclusions were as follows. 1) The ranges of increase in productivity of the ten sampling projects in Liaoning Province all surpassed the goal of 1500 kg/ha. 2) Among all sampling project areas, the levels of productivity stability of nine sampling projects were higher than that of the surrounding farmland in a severe drought year. However, the productivity stability of the high-standard farmland construction project in Faku County, Yiniupu Town, declined by 1.04% compared with the surrounding farmland. 3) Except for the high-standard farmland construction project in Dengta City, Dengta Irrigation Region, the productivity uniformity of the other nine sampling projects increased by 3.30%–88.10%. 4) Eight of the ten sampling projects belonged to Class 1, and two projects belonged to Class 2, showing that the effectiveness of high-standard farmland construction in Liaoning Province was quite good.There were some suggestions for high-standard farmland construction in the future. All departments should strengthen cooperation and formulate corresponding protection and development strategies suitable for local conditions. Additionally, lasting management mechanisms should also be established. Using remote sensing monitoring to assess the high-standard farmland construction effectiveness during the 12 th five-year period could provide experience and decision-making support for high-standard farmland construction in the future.

高标准基本农田建设精细评估——以临夏县北塬地区为例

高标准基本农田建设是土地整治的重要组成部分,以临夏县北塬地区为例,从基本农田的自然地理、土地利用、基础设施与区域发展条件4方面遴选出9个指标,构建高标准基本农田综合评价指标体系,对北塬地区高标准基本农田的建设进行精细评估。将临夏县北塬地区基本农田分为基本具备高标准条件区、稍加整治(改造)区、全面整治区3种类型,其面积分别占全部整治面积的38.99%,31.12%和29.88%。研究结果可为临夏县北塬地区高标准基本农田建设提供科学依据。