Abstract
Agricultural input surpluses cause severe environmental pollution and natural resource depletion; thus, the need to improve the utilization efficiency of agricultural inputs has become urgent. For this purpose, a data envelopment analysis was used to analyze the technical efficiency of agricultural inputs for major grain production in 13 grain-producing provinces at a macrolevel; farmers’ behavioral characteristics with regard to input application were subsequently determined at a microlevel. The results indicated that most provinces had lower technical efficiency scores. Liaoning (0.697) and Jiangxi (0.724) had much lower technical scores for rice production; Hebei (0.758), Jiangsu (0.720), Anhui (0.719), Shandong (0.762) and Henan (0.702), which had larger yields, tended to have lower technical efficiency for wheat production. Finally, Neimenggu (1), Liaoning (1), Jilin (0.868) and Heilongjiang (0.976), which had higher maize yields, had much higher technical efficiency scores for maize production. Many provinces were operating on decreasing returns to scale and the need to decrease planting scale systems. The regions with larger grain output or lower technical efficiency scores tended to have higher optimal savings of agricultural inputs. Respondents in the main grain-producing area had higher ages and lower education levels. The respondents lacked knowledge regarding environmental regulations and input safety usage standards. Most farmers thought that it was important to apply agricultural inputs properly, but they continued to operate as they usually did with such behaviors as ignoring instructions or changing the dosages casually. Moreover, the farmers rarely adopted eco-friendly production technologies. Therefore, it is necessary to promote scientific-technical progress, improve technology extension services, highlight market-based decisions, and improve supportive policies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abhilash PC, Singh N (2009) Pesticide use and application: an Indian scenario. J Hazard Mater 165:1–12
Andersen PP, Cohen MJ (2000) Asian food security and the potential role of modern agricultural biotechnology. Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.25.2648.&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 16 Nov 2007
Banaeian N, Zangeneh M (2011) Study on energy efficiency in corn production of Iran. Energy 36:5394–5402
Banker RD, Charnes A, Cooper WW (1984) Some models for estimating technical and scale in efficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Manag Sci 30:1078–1092
Charnes A, Cooper WW, Rhodes E (1978) Measuring the efficiency of decision-making units. Eur J Oper Res 2:429–444
Chauhan NS, Mohapatra PKJ, Pandey KP (2006) Improving energy productivity in paddy production through benchmarking—an application of data envelopment analysis. Energy Convers Manag 47:1063–1085
Cheng GQ (2011) China’s agricultural subsidies (in Chinese). China Development Press, Beijing
Cheng X, Han CH (1992) Sustainable agricultural development in China. World Dev 20:1127–1144
China State Statistical Bureau (CSSB) (2014) China statistical yearbook 2014 (in Chinese). China State Statistical Press, Beijing
Cooper WW, Seiford LM, Tone K (2004) Data envelopment analysis: a comprehensive text with models, applications, references and DEA-solver software. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell
Croll BT (1991) Pesticides in surface waters and ground waters. Water Environ J 5:389–395
Damalas CA, Telidis GK, Thanos SD (2008) Assessing farmers’ practices on disposal of pesticide waste after use. Sci Total Environ 390:341–345
Feng HF (2000) Analysis of circulation and substitution of agricultural inputs in China (in Chinese). Econ Rev 4:31–36
Gao TC (2007) What are the substitutes for high-toxic pesticides in rice? Pract Technol Inf 4:17
Ge JH, Zhou SD (2012) Does factor market distortions stimulate the agricultural non-point source pollution? A case study of fertilizer (in Chinese). Issue Agric Econ 3:92–98
Guo SM, Ma S, Chen YJ (2007) Effect factors on grain product in main grain product areas of China (in Chinese). Res Agric Mod 28:84–87
Hou LL, Sun Q, Mu YY (2012) Impact of agricultural subsidy policy on agricultural non-point pollution: from the perspective of fertilizer demand. J China Agric Univ 13:173–178
Hu XY, Wen B, Shan XQ (2003) Survey of phthalate pollution in arable soils in China. J Environ Monit 5:649–653
Huang JK, Wang XB, Zhi HY, Huang ZR, Scott R (2011) Effect of grain direct subsidies and general direct subsidies (in Chinese). J Agrotech Econ 1:4–12
Kong X, Li B, Lal R, Li K, Bai Y (2013) Soil organic carbon pool under diverse chemical fertilizer management in Huang–Huai–Hai Plains, China. Agric Res 2:68–80
Jiang D, Hengsdijk H, Dai T-B, de Boer W, Jing Q, Cao W-X (2006) Long-term effects of manure and inorganic fertilizers on yield and soil fertility for a winter wheat-maize system in Jiangsu, China. Pedosphere 16:25–32
Jiang GM (2015) Presentation on forum about sustainable agricultural development in China agricultural university (in Chinese). http://www.360doc.com/content/15/1221/09/16436572_521879300.shtml. Accessed 21 Dec 2015
Li HP, Zhang JB (2009) Studies on regional differentiation of non-point source pollution contamination in China agriculture (in Chinese). Chin J Agric Resour Reg Plan 30:8–12
Li Q, Lin GH, He J (2013) A correlation study on farmer’s concurrent business behavior and changes in factors of production: analysis based on a survey of farmers form rural fixed obsewation points (in Chinese). J Nanjing Agric Univ (Soc Sci Ed) 3:27–32
Liang LT, Feng SY, Qu FT (2010) Forming mechanism of agricultural non-point source pollution: a theoretical and empirical study (in Chinese). China Popul Resour Environ 20:74–80
Liu J, Lu XS (2001) Study on sustainable development strategy of China: sustainable utilization of land resource. China Agricultural Press, Beijing
Manna M, Swarup A, Wanjari R, Mishra B, Shahi D (2007) Long-term fertilization, manure and liming effects on soil organic matter and crop yields. Soil Till Res 94:397–409
Matthews GA (2008) Attitudes and behaviours regarding use of crop protection products—a survey of more than 8500 smallholders in 26 countries. Crop Prot 27:834–846
Ministry of Land and Resource of the Peopleʼs Republic of China (2012) The classification and gradation of agricultural land quality (in Chinese). http://www.mlr.gov.cn/xwdt/jrxw/201209/t20120929_1145170.htm. Accessed 29 Sept 2012
Ministry of agriculture of the People’s Republic of China (2002) The ministry of agriculture of the People’s Republic of China announcement, No. 199 (in Chinese). Plant Prot Technol Extension 8: 9
Ministry of Environmental Protection of the National Bureau of Statistics (2013) China statistical yearbook on environment 2013 (in Chinese). China Statistics Press, Beijing
Mohammadi A, Rafiee S, Mohtasebi SS, Mousavi Avval SH, Rafiee H (2011) Energy efficiency improvement and input cost saving in kiwifruit production using Data Envelopment Analysis approach. Renew Energy 36:2573–2579
Mousavi-Avval SH, Rafiee S, Jafari A, Mohammadi A (2011) Improving energy use efficiency of canola production using data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Energy 36:2765–2772
Nakat H, Hirakaw Y, Kawazo M et al (2005) Concentrations and compositions of organochlorine contaminants in sediments, soils, crustaceans, fishes and birds collected from Lake Tai, Hangzhou Bay and Shanghai City region, China. Environ Pollut 133:415–429
Parveen Z, Khuhro MI, Rafiq N (2005) Monitoring of pesticide residues in vegetables (2000–2003) in Karachi, Pakistan. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 71:170–176
Reig-Martínez E, Picazo-Tadeo AJ (2004) Analysing farming systems with data envelopment analysis: citrus farming in Spain. Agric Syst 82:17–30
Shen XD, Xu Y (2009) Problem and development of rice production in Jiangxi Province (in Chinese). Anhui Agri Sci Bull 3:104–105
Stadlinger N, Mmochi AJ, Dobo S, Gyllbäck E, Kumblad L (2011) Pesticide use among small holder rice farmers in Tanzania. Environ Dev Sustain 13:641–656
Wang XB, Li YQ, Cui GH, Wu XH, Yu ML, Ma WX (2010) Review of wheat production in Inner Mongolia and its actuality analysis (in Chinese). Inner Mongolia Agric Sci Technol 6:5–7
Yang XB (2003) Pesticide pollution and food safety control (in Chinese). J Prev Med Inf 19:21–23
Zhang WL, Wu SX, Ji HJ, Kolbe H (2004) Estimation of agricultural non-point source pollution in China in early 21 century (in Chinese). Sci Agric Sinica 37:1008–1017
Zhang X, Huang GH, Lin Q, Yu H (2009) Petroleum-contaminated groundwater remediation systems design: a data envelopment analysis based approach. Expert Syst Appl 36:5666–5672
Zhao JZ, Luo QS, Deng HB, Yan Y (2008) Opportunities and challenges of sustainable agricultural development in China. Philos Trans R Soc B 363:893–904
Zhen L, Zoebisch MA, Chen G, Feng Z (2006) Sustainability of farmers’ soil fertility management practices: a case study in the North China Plain. J Environ Manag 79:409–419
Zhong WK, Hao J, Kong MX, Chen YL (2000) Pesticides residues in food in China (in Chinese). Pesticide 39:1–4
Zhu Z, Chen D (2002) Nitrogen fertilizer use in China—contributions to food production, impacts on the environment and best management strategies. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 63:117–127
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the editor and reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript, as well as the students from the business school at Jiangnan University for providing major input on the survey. We would also like to thank the respondents in the major grain-producing area for their help and cooperation. This study was funded by the National Social Sciences Foundation of China (Grant No. 13BJY102) and Special Project Funded by Basic Scientific and Research Expenses from Central University (JUSRP1502XNC).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, N., Gao, Y., Li, X. et al. Efficiency Analysis of Grain Production Inputs: Utilization in China from an Agricultural Sustainability Perspective. Agric Res 7, 37–50 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-018-0293-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-018-0293-y