Based On The Cost Of Production Of Agricultural Inputs Change Of Cultivated Land Use

Cultivated land is a vital strategic resource for sustainable development of Chinawith a vast population and little land per capita. Cultivated land use type (namelyplanting structure of farm crops) has undergone a remarkable change in theinteraction of government behavior for ensuring national food security and individualbehavior for pursuing maximum economic benefits in China, followed closely bycultivated land use input pattern shifting. Accurate information on pattern ofcultivated land use input by crops is important to promote cultivated land sustainableuse and ensure national food security.The crops are divided into cereal crops, legume crops, oil crops, fiber crops,sugar crops and vegetable crops in this paper. Then we estimate cultivated land useinput in China based on the data pertaining to crops sown area and its cost per unitarea, which are respectively gathered from the China Statistical Yearbook andNational Farm Product Cost-benefit Survey. Furthermore, we make comprehensiveanalysis to the change of cultivated land use input and the pattern of cultivated landuse input by crops from1998to2011the typical period of cultivated land protection.Finally, we focus on a research to grain production input and its internal compositionschange in China since the reforms in1978. The main conclusions are as follows:①Cultivated land use input has remarkable temporal and spatial variation from1998to2011in China. The input grow strongle from27.24×1010yuan in1998to37.52×1010yuan in2011, with a rate of37.73%. China has formed the cultivatedland high input area in Shandong and Anhui as the core of Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, thecultivated land low input area in Gansu and Inner Mongolia as the center ofnorthwestern China. And Guangdong becomes the growth pole of cultivated land useinput in the south of China.②The pattern of cultivated land use input between crops in China is changingalong with the development of China’s agriculture, shifting from cereal crops to vegetable crops.Vegetable crops input is higher than cereal crops in1999, and hasbecome the biggest input crop since then. The proportion of cereal crops input tocultivated land use input in China’s main grain producing areas is high, but theproportion in more than half of the major grain producing provinces declines from2001to2011.③At the national level, China s grain production input has grown stronglysince the reforms, increasing from6.59×1010yuan in1978to15.51×1010yuan in2012. The provinces with a grain production higher input are concentrated inHuang-Huai-Hai Plain in1978and Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and northeastern China in2012; meanwhile, Ningxia and Qinghai are the grain production lower inputprovinces.④The proportion of chemical fertilizer to grain production input is the biggest,and the rate of machinery input proportion is the fastest, becoming the second meansof grain production. The provinces with a higher proportion of chemical fertilizer aremainly located in Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and northeastern China, the lower proportionprovinces are concentrated in the southwest of China. And the provinces with a higherproportion of machinery are mainly located in the south Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain,the lower proportion provinces are concentrated in the southwest of China.Based on the findings, several policy recommendations are proposed asfollowing:①The adjustment and optimization of the agricultural means ofproduction should be the important action to increase cultivated land use input anddevelop grain production in China especially in Huang-Huai-Hai Plain.②Thegovernment needs to make agriculture policy on increasing farmer planting incomeand expanding the scale of grain production, in order to encourage initiatives inproducing grain and increase grain production capacity in the China’s main grainproducing areas.