Eco-efficiency evaluation of oasis agriculture in arid region: A case study based on LCA+DEA method of seed maize production in Northwest China
Abstract
Improving eco-efficiency, which will balance the economic and environmental performances, is the key to crack the double constraint of limited water resources and fragile ecological environment carrying capacity of agricultural production in arid areas. This study investigates the eco-efficiency of seed maize production in the city of Zhangye, which is the largest producer of seed maize in the northwestern arid region of China, by using Data Envelopment Analysis and life cycle assessment to integrate economic and environmental performances. The results show the environmental acidification index of this area in 2016 was 1.2079-1.3978 times larger than the world per capita level, which was most caused by nitrogen fertilizer. Water consumption was close to the world average level. The environmental comprehensive index was lower than the world per capita level in 2000 but was higher than that in other Chinese regions. For across farm size categories, the eco-efficiency of small farms was highest, followed by medium-sized and then large farms. A production efficiency evaluation showed that only 11.11%-13.89% of households achieved relatively efficient production. A regression analysis showed that the amount of labor was proportional to its total efficiency score. Our results suggest restrictions on fertilizer use, e.g. fertilizer tax, should be considered to reduce the environmental impacts. Measures for increasing farmer knowledge of efficient production practices are also helpful to improve eco-efficiency.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMGC21F1297Z
- Keywords:
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- 1632 Land cover change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1809 Desertification;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 4323 Human impact;
- NATURAL HAZARDS;
- 4329 Sustainable development;
- NATURAL HAZARDS