Does Agricultural Mechanization Improve the Green Total Factor Productivity of China’s Planting Industry?

Abstract

Agricultural mechanization is an important factor to improve the green total factor productivity of the planting industry, which is the key way to realize the sustainable development and high-quality development of agriculture. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2001 to 2019, this paper uses the stochastic frontier analysis method of the output-oriented distance function to measure the green total factor productivity of China’s planting industry based on net carbon sinks, and empirically studies the impact of agricultural mechanization on the green total factor productivity in China’s planting industry. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) Agricultural mechanization can promote the planting green total factor productivity significantly, and this basic conclusion is still robust after using instrumental variables and sub sample regression. (2) The path of agricultural mechanization on planting green total factor productivity is mainly reflected in technology progress and spatial spillover, while the mechanisms of operation scale expansion, factor allocation optimization and technical efficiency change are not significant. (3) With the improvement in the mechanization level, the promotion effect of mechanization on planting GTFP will become clearer. Given these findings, the paper adds considerable value to the empirical literature and provides various policy and practical implications.