Spatio-Temporal Pattern and Spatial Disequilibrium of Cultivated Land Use Efficiency in China: An Empirical Study Based on 342 Prefecture-Level Cities

Abstract

As an important resource for human survival and development, the utilization efficiency of cultivated land is directly related to national food security and social harmony and stability. Based on the stochastic frontier production function, this paper estimated the cultivated land use efficiency of 342 prefecture-level administrative regions in China from 2003 to 2019 and used spatial autocorrelation analysis and the Gini coefficient decomposition model to explore the spatial agglomeration and spatial disequilibrium of cultivated land use efficiency in China. The results showed the following: (1) Overall, the efficiency of cultivated land use in China has steadily improved since 2003, but the overall level remains low. The use efficiency of cultivated land decreases in the order of eastern, northeastern, western, and central regions, and the use efficiency of cultivated land in the central region increased the fastest. (2) From the perspective of the spatial dimension, the cultivated land use efficiency in urban areas of China has a multi-core structure of “high in the south and low in the north, high in the east and low in the west” and an obvious spatial differentiation pattern. At the same time, the spatial aggregation characteristics of cultivated land use efficiency have become more prominent with the passage of time. (3) There are obvious regional differences in cultivated land use efficiency in China, showing a downward trend as a whole, and the gap between regions is the main source of spatial non-equilibrium, followed by the super-variable density and the gap within regions. Revealing the temporal and spatial changes in cultivated land use efficiency is helpful to understand the present situation of cultivated land use and to formulating effective land use policies.