Competitive Advantages Of Shaanxi Wheat Corn Apple And Jujube Based On Emergy Analysis

With the rapid population growth and the development of social economy, the demand for grain and fruit is increasing in China day by day. The important problems of agricultural production that China faces in thesee years are how to make full use of resources in agricultural ecosystem, how to arrange advantageous agricultural belts in accordance with the laws of comparative advantage analysis and how to form competitive industries. Since Shaanxi is one of Chinese main regions produing grain and fruit, fully using unique geography, climate and other natural environmental conditions of Shaanxi province, and utilization of comparative advantages in grains and fruits production are the keys to obtain competitive advantages, improve resources use efficiency, and reduce the costs of agricultural production.In traditional comparative advantage analysis of agricultural products, reasonability of the results of currency evaluation is limited due to the effects by factors like prices and exchange rates. Economic laws of grains and fruits production cannot be denoted by energy analysis effectively because of its inherent deficiencies. Because the emergy is the real wealth, and a bridge linking ecology and economy (Odum 1996), the theory and methods of emergy were employed to analyze the four crop production systems (wheat, corn, apple and jujube) of four counties (Yanchuan, Luochuan, Liquan and Gaoling) in north of the Qinling. Then, according to the comparative advantage analysis based on emergy theory, the comparative advantage of these four counties were analyzed and conclusions more in line with low-carbon sustainable economic development were figured out. The main conclusions are as follow:Firstly, wheat production has a strong comparative advantage in Gaoling and Luochuan, and Gaoling is the most obvious one. The net emergy output ratio of Gaoling, 2.6, is higher than the others. Liquan and Luochuan are 1.28 and 0.54 respectively. The emergy input ratios of Gaoling and Liquan are 9.17 and 7.46 respectively, lower than Luochuan's (15.29, higher than the average level). Gaoling and Liquan bring lower environment loading, 10.9 and 8.01 respectively, while Luochuan's is 15.36. The economic values calculated are: Yanchuan: 2560 RMB/ha, Luochuan: 3560R MB/ha, Liquan: 6280 RMB/ha, Gaoling: 7810 RMB/ha. Therefore, Gaoling has an obvious comparative advantage in wheat production, Liquan the second, Luochuan the third, while wheat in Yanchuan has no comparative advantage.Secondly, according to the analysis results of corn by comparative advantages method, Gaoling, Liquan and Luochuan have obvious comparative advantages in production of corn. And Luochuan has a far higher comparative advantage than the average level in areas north of North Qinling Mountains, while Yanchuan has no comparative advantage. The net emergy output ratios of Gaoling and Liquan are 2.44 and 2.28 respectively, higher than Luochuan's (1.80). The ratio of unit of input of environmental resources to total auxiliary emergy in Luochuan is 4.32, higher than Liquan's and Gaoling's (3.12 and 2.58 respectively). The economic values calculated are: Yanchuan: 2300 RMB/ha, Luochuan: 1260R MB/ha, Liquan: 3030 RMB/ha, Gaoling: 4770R MB/ha. Therefore, the rank of comparative advantage of four crop production countries in north Qinling Mountains is Gaoling> Liquan> Luochuan> Yanchuan.Thirdly, the analysis results of apple by comparative advantages method based on emergy theory showed that all of the four countries have comparative advantages. Liquan has the most obvious comparative advantage followed by Luochuan, Gaoling and Yanchuan from great to little. The rank of solar transformity is Liquan> Yanchuan> Luochuan> Gaoling. In Luochuan and Gaoling, it is lower than the average level but they have lower cost. The net emergy output ratios of apple production system in Yanchuan, Luochuan, Liquan and Gaoling are 2.4, 3.63, 1.32, and 0.26, respectively. It is higher in Luochuan and Yanchuan than the average level in areas north of Qingling which is 1.625. What this shows is that utilization rate of emergy value of apple production in Luochuan and Yanchuan is very high and has an obvious comparative advantage. Of organic emergy input in Luochuan, the contribution ratio of seed emergy input to industry auxiliary emergy input is more than 49%. On the one hand, it shows that Luochuan Apple has a good quality; on the other hand the ratio of purchased emergy to organic emergy is very high with small industry auxiliary emergy input which has little pressure on the environment. So Luochuan has a competitive advantage. The economic values of apple in Yanchuan, Luochuan, Liquan and Gaoling are 21019.60 RMB/ha,121568.62R MB/ha,98784.31 RMB/ha,2239.2 RMB/ha, respectively, and the average level of North Qingling area is 3174.71 RMB/ha. Thus, Luochuan has an obvious comparative advantage followed by Liquan, while counties north of the Qinling Mountains like Yanchuan and Gaoling have no comparative advantage.Fourthly, according to analysis results of jujube by comparative advantages method based on emergy theory, Liquan has the most obvious comparative advantage among the three jujube production countries. Liquan and Gaoling have no comparative advantage. The comparative advantage in Yanchuan is the lowest in that average yield is very small and the cost of emergy input is very high, which reduce the comparative advantage coefficient. However, the contribution ratio of seed emergy input to total emergy input is as much as 49.28%, which is far higher than Liquan and Gaoling (17.83%, 62.13%, respectively). Besides, the ratio of Labor costs to organic emergy in Yanchuan is only 20.3%, far lower than in Liquan or in Gaoling (47.62 and 62.13% respectively). Lower labor costs and less industry auxiliary emergy make the cost of jujube production in Yanchuan relatively low, have little pressure on the environment and improve the utilization of resources. Coupled with good quality and a high fame and fine reputation, so jujube production in Yanchuan has a distinct advantage on the basis of fine quality. The economic value of jujube in Yanchuan is the highest, 2235.29 RMB/ha compared to that of Gaoling or Liquan, 141.96 RMB/ha and 1560.78 RMB/ha respectively. Therefore, Yanchuan has the most obvious comparative advantage in jujube production followed by Gaoling and Liquan.At last, the comparative advantage analysis based on emergy theory showed that: Wheat production has a strong comparative advantage in Gaoling. Apple production has a comparative advantage in Luochuan and Liquan, and it is more obvious in Luochuan where the advantage is being gradually enlarged compared to in Liquan being diminished year by year. Jujube production has a strong comparative advantage in Yanchuan although the output is very low. Extra emergy profits can be obtained by increasing jujube cultivation or by using technology to increase the per unit yield. Based on current crop production layout, a possible adjustment is as the follows: Yanchuan produces jujube, Luochuan produces apple, Gaoling plants wheat, and Liquan produces corn or chooses other plant with more comparative advantages.