Development Evaluation On Modern Agriculture In Western China

The modern agricultural development of western China has experienced a historicalperiod, however, the situation does not look very optimistic. Through empirical analysis andassessment of the modern agriculture, this research finds out the bottleneck of agriculturaldevelopment in western regions. To facilitate the agricultural development, we proposeseveral means, such as promoting modernization of the production agricultural conditions,improving the level of agricultural informatization, building agricultural science andtechnology parks, etc.The research includes two important issues: first, establishing the evaluation system forthe western agricultural development that will assess the development level and theinfluencing factors like production conditions, agricultural technologies, agriculturalinformatization and industrial organizations. Second, this research will find out the meanswhich can break the bottlenecks and holistically boost the modern agriculture development.The policy-makers need to optimize the production conditions, agricultural technologies,agricultural informatization and industrial organizations, only through which we can enhancethe level of agricultural production and the modern agriculture development in whole.This study used the methods of combining normative analysis and empirical analysis toexplore the modern agricultural development status and the influencing factors in westernregion. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, by introducing a number ofeconometric models such as multiple indicators composite index (AHP), factor analysis, grayrelevance analysis, CD production function, Porat's method, etc. I analysed and evaluated theoverall level of western modern agricultural development, agricultural production conditions,technological level, the level of informatization, industrialization, performance of agriculturalscience and technology parks, agricultural performance. My findings are given below:(1) Evaluating the modern agricultural development in western China. i. The agriculturalinputs increased year by year, but still in its infancy; the structure of agricultural inputelements in western regions is irrational, scores of the three heavily weighted index, the levelof agricultural mechanization, effective irrigation rate and per capita arable land are partiallylow. ii. The agricultural outputs varies much, however, reach the stage of modern agriculturedevelopment. From the secondary indicators, grain yields, labor productivity and landproductivity, all of them reach to a higher level. iii. The rural development level is increasing slowly and just staying in the stage of breaking the ice. The main reason might be the lowlevel of urbanization and poor income of farmers. iv. The sustainable development sees a slowgrowth but still at the starting point. The forest coverage rate witnessed a boom, which grewby25%in2009, and the compliance rate was83.33%, but the inter-regional growth isimbalanced.(2) The assessment of agricultural production conditions. The findings show that theproduction conditions in Sichuan province are much better, then the situations are better inGuangxi, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu. The worse conditions are seen inChongqing, Guizhou, Ningxia and Qinghai while the worst is in Tibet. The findings from thegray relevance analysis of production conditions and economic development demonstrateelectrification is vital, followed by the mechanization of agriculture and chemical technology.Irrigation has minimum impact.(3) Assessment of agricultural informatization. Using Porat's method and taking databetween1999and2009for example, the results show that the level of informatizaiton is onlyin its infancy; by using correlation analysis, I find the relation between agriculturalinformatization and agricultural outputs is significant.(4) Measuring on the contribution rate of agricultural technical progress. The results ofthe average growth rate of agricultural material consumption, arable land, the contributionshare of agricultural labor input show that agriculture is still in the stage of transition fromtraditional agriculture to modern agriculture in Shaanxi. The low level of agricultural scienceand technology is a key constraint.(5) Two effective models of industrial management to adapt to modern agriculturaldevelopment of western regions:"market+agricultural cooperatives+farmers" and"governments+agricultural science and technology parks+enterprises+farmers". Thisresearch investigated the main model of benefits distribution in China's agriculture, obtainedthe distribution of benefits of industrialization of the western region. From the long termdevelopment perspective, the cooperatives and joint-stock models can be more effective.(6) Evaluating the performance of typical agricultural science and technology parks in thewestern region. i. Demonstration effects: the best is Shaanxi Yangling Agricultural Scienceand Technology Park, followed by Yunnan Honghe Science and Technology Park, InnerMongolia Chifeng Science and Technology Park, Ningxia Wuzhong Science and TechnologyPark, Gansu Dingxi Science and Technology Park, Guizhou Guiyang Science and TechnologyPark, Qinghai Xining Science and Technology Park. ii. Capital effect: the top one is InnerMongolia Chifeng Science and Technology Park, followed by Guizhou Guiyang Science andTechnology Park, Shaanxi Yangling Science and Technology Park, Qinghai Xining Science and Technology Park, Yunnan Honghe Science and Technology Park, Ningxia WuzhongScience and Technology Park, Gansu Dingxi Technology Park. iii. Social effect: the greatest isQinghai Xining Science and Technology Park, successively Shaanxi Yangling Science andTechnology Park, Inner Mongolia Chifeng Science and Technology Park, Ningxia WuzhongScience and Technology Park, Gansu Dingxi Technology Park, Guizhou Guiyang Science andTechnology Park and Yunnan Honghe Science and Technology Park. iv. Comprehensiveanalysis: Shaanxi Yangling Science and Technology Park is the strongest one, the next placeis Inner Mongolia Chifeng Science and Technology Park, then followed by Qinghai XiningScience and Technology Park, Ningxia Wuzhong Science and Technology Park, GuizhouGuiyang Science and Technology Park, Yunnan Honghe Science and Technology Park andGansu Dingxi Technology Park.(7) Empirical analysis on the performance of modern agriculture development. Thefindings show the best performance is of Inner Mongolia, successively followed byChongqing, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan, Guangxi, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Xinjiang, Qinghaiand Gansu.