Vegetable Production Agglomeration In China:Formation Mechanism And Influencing Factors

It is quite a common phenomenon that economic activities agglomerate in space,and this phenomenon exsits not only in the manufacturing and service industries,but also in the agricultural sector.The development of agricultural agglomeration is considerated as an effective way to improve the regional market competiveness,a way to achieve economies of scale for famers in small-scale production and higher production efficiency by optinizing the allocation of resources.With the deepening market reform in the rural China and sustainable agricultural structure adjustment,the vegetable sector has made rapid development and become a new pillar sector of China's agricultural economy,playing a vital role in safeguarding market supply,increasing famers' income and promoting the employment of urban and rural residents as well as the development of regional economy in China.However,the vegetable sector is confronted with many problems and challenges,such as the more and more serious resources and environment restriction,the rapid rising costs and the declining market profits.Therefore,it is important and meaningful to study on the the agglomeration development for vegetable production in China.Based on relevant literature and economic theory,this study uses descriptive statistics,spatial statistical analysis,GIS and other methods to investigate the spatial patterns and dynamic changes of vegetable production in China.Then a theoretical framework is set up to analyze the formation mechanisms of the agglomeration development in vegetable production.On this basis,spatial econometric models are applied in different spatial scales to analyze the underlying forces that determine the evolution of agglomeration in China's vegetable production.Finally,we focus on the mechanism and effects of production agglomeration on the vegetable price volatility.This paper's contents and the related conclusions are as follows:Content 1:the spatial patterns and dynamic changes of vegetable production agglomeration in China.Multiple indicators,such as the revised Gini coefficient and Moran's Index,are used to investigate the spatial patterns and dynamic changes of production agglomeration for the whole vegetables and different vegetable varieties.The results show that:(1)as a whole,vegetable production in China reveals significant geographical concentration features,with Shandong,Hebei and Henan provinces as the agglomeration center.In terms of the dynamic changes,China's vegetable production has become more geographically concentrated.(2)like the overall level,production of the six major vegetable varieties(cabbage,radish,cucumber,eggplant,spinach and celery)in China also show significant geographical concentration features along with obvious varietal difference.For the absolute concentration,spinach ranks first,followed by cucumber,that of eggplant and raddish are relatively low.In terms of the changes,the concentration degree of all the six vegetable varieties show a downward trend.For the relative concentration,raddish and cucumber keep a high levle and that of eggplant is the lowest one.In terms of the changes,an upward tendency is found for all the six varieties.Content 2:formation mechanisms of the agglomeration in vegetable production.Based on the neoclassical trade theory and new economic geography theory(NEG),this paper analyzes the mechanisms of the agglomeration development in vegetable production from three aspects:the foundation,endogenous driving forces,and the external forces.Although it is different from the manufactruing and service industries in many aspects,such as the mobility of production factors,agriculture satisfies the essential requirments for the development of production agglomeration:imperfect competition market,increasing returns to scale and the existence of transportation costs.Therefore,the agglomeration development of vegetable production will follow the general law of the evolution of industrial agglomeration.Based on the general rules of industrial agglomeration and the characteristics of vegetable sector,we set up a theoretical framework on the formation mechanisms of the agglomeration development in vegetable production:the comparative advantage is the foudation of the agglomeration evolution in vegetable production,the increasing returns to scale derived from division and externalities is the endogenous driving forces,the institutional transformation and government policy are the external forces.Content 3:empirical analysis of the key factors that determine the evolution of agglomeration in China's vegetable production.Based on the theoretical framework above,this paper analyzes the key factors that determine the evolution of agglomeration in China's vegetable production(the whole vegetables and ditterent vegetable varieties)in different spatial scales(the provincial level and prefectural level)by spatial econometric models(three different types of spatial weight matrix are considered).The results show that:(1)both comparative advantages and NEG-type mechanisms are drivers of the production agglomeration for the whole vegetables.However,the agglomeration mechanisan in vegetable produciton shows considerable heterogeneity in different spatial scales:the NEG factors(such as the transportation costs and market demand)play a more important roel in larger spatial scale,while the comparative advantages play a more important role in smaller scale.(2)like the whole vegetables,both comparative advantages and NEG-type mechanisms play important roles in the production agglomeration for specific vegetable varieties but with obvious varietal difference.Technology progress,transportation conditions and the market demand have siginificant impact on the production agglomeration for all the three vegetable varieties(cabbage,cucumber and spinach).(3)the infrastruction construction shows siginificant positive externality,while technology process does not.Content 4:the impact of production agglomeration on the vegetable price.Several researchers believe that the agglomeration of China's vegetable prodution is one of the causes of the price volatility in vegetable market.To test this claim,we analyzes the mechanism and effects of the spatial agglomeration of vegetable production on vegetable price volatility theoretically and empirially.The results show that the agglomeration of vegetable production has a significant effect on vegetable price by acting on the transportation costs,supply and demand in the vegetable market,and external environment.More specifically,geographical concentration of vegetable production caused higher cost of transportation,more serious imbalance between vegetable supply and demand in east China,and higher production risk in the major vegetable poducing areas,which exacerbating the vegetable price volatility.What's more,the impact of spatial agglomeration of vegetable production on price volatility reveals great differences across regions:price volatility in the major vegetable producing areas is more intense than that in the major consumer areas;moreover,price volatility in the major producing areas is mainly caused by the seasonal variation while price volatility in the major consumer areas is mainly caused by the trend change.Based on our conclutions,the policy implications are as follows:(1)optimize the spatial distribution of vegetable production and promote the agglomeration development of vegetable production in China.(2)strengthen the construction of transportation infranstructure and improve the vegetable market circulation system.(3)strengthen scientific and technological innovation and promote scientific and technological progress in vegetable production.(4)pay more attention to the risk management of the major vegetable producing areas and improve the market environment.The possible innovation in this paper is as follows:(1)a theoretical framework was set up on the formation mechanisms of the agglomeration development in vegetable production.(2)empirical analysis of the key factors that determine the evolution of agglomeration in China's vegetable production is conducted from different levels(the whole vegetables and the different vegetable varieties)at different spatial scales(the provincial level and prefectural level).And something new is found in this study.(3)different spatial weight matrix(based on geographical distance and economic distance)are taken into consideration in the spatial econometric analysis.