The impact of mechanization on crop production in China

ABSTRACT

The rapid development of mechanization has been well reported, but its impact on China’s agricultural production remains unclear. This study first uses a theoretical model to analyse the impact of mechanization on sown areas of different crops. The results show that mechanization has a positive impact on grain crops and a negative impact on non-grain crops. Then using nationally representative provincial-level panel data, the empirical analyses confirm these results. Thus, the sown areas of cotton, oil and sugar crops will be reduced by more than 20% within five years. Consequently, China is expected to depend on international markets to meet the domestic demand for cotton, oil and sugar in the future. Even though mechanization has a positive impact on the sown areas of grain crops, a reduction in the diversity of grain production poses a new threat to the stability of China’s grain production and food security.

KEYWORDS:

• Mechanization
• grain crops
• diversity
• non-grain crops
• China

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• D20
• O10
• Q18

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the financial supports of the National Natural Sciences Foundation in China (71773150) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ According to China Agricultural Machinery Industry Yearbook (China Association of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers 2014),the comprehensive mechanization rate = 0.4*mechanical ploughing rate +0.3*mechanical seeding rate +0.3*mechanical harvesting rate.

² Details are available upon request.:

³ Rising wages are positively correlated with incomes which might have a positive impact on the sown areas of grain crops. The estimated coefficient of wage rate includes this impact.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation in China [71773150].