Region selection and efficiency improvement for apple production using an indicator system based on cost-effective factors

ABSTRACT

Balanced and coordinated allocation of production factors is crucial for promoting the apple industry. We constructed a cost-ecological 21-indicator system for apple production in China based on labour cost, opportunity cost, fertilizer machinery input, natural resource, meteorological factor, ecological pressure and topography. The Hurst Index was used to analyse spatial changes in apple production in 617 counties of six provinces from 1999 to 2019. Grey correlation and TOPSIS models were adopted for optimal region selection and efficiency improvement. The areas supporting significant and sustained growth in apple production were concentrated in the eastern edge of Gansu, the northern, central and southern parts of Shaanxi, the western and central parts of in Henan, the northern, central and southern parts of Shanxi, the northern, central and southern parts of Hebei and the western, central and eastern parts of Shandong, covering 197 counties. Fertilizer machinery input was the key factor to improving apple production efficiency in Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi and Henan. The optimal regions were distributed in northern and southern Hebei, eastern and western Shandong, central and southern Shanxi, western Henan, central and northern Shaanxi and northeastern and southern Gansu. Compared with Shandong, the optimal factor allocation in Shaanxi is particularly favourable for optimal region selection, and the development momentum is remarkable despite a small county scale. Apple production has expanded westwards and northwards both between and within provinces over the past 21 years.

KEYWORDS:

• Apple production
• optimal factor allocation
• optimal region selection
• TOPSIS closeness

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the previous version of this paper.

Data availability statement

The data used in this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71933005] and a General Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71773089].

Notes on contributors

Jing Wang

Jing Wang is a PhD candidate at Northwest A&F University. The major is agriculture and forestry economic management, engaged in spatial layout and optimization research of apple production area. During my doctoral study I published research results on the spatio—temporal evolution and driving mechanism of apple production layout in China in the Journal of Food and Energy Security. The previous study focused on the research of ecological restoration. A number of papers related to this research have been published in journals such as the Transaction of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, Acta Ecologica Sinica, Arid Zone Research and Resources and Environment in the Yangtze River Basin. At present, there are three SSCI articles on Apple production layout under submission.

Tianjun Liu

Tianjun Liu is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Economics and Management at Northwest A&F University. He is currently the minister (director) of the Talent Work Department (High—level Talent Office) of the Party Committee of Northwest A&F University, the director of the West Development Research Institute, a new think tank for colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province and the deputy director of the Rural Revitalization Strategy Research Institute of Northwest A&F University. His research interests include agricultural economic theory and policy, regional economy and industrial development, farmer entrepreneurship, cultivation and opening of agricultural markets, etc. It has made remarkable achievements in the field of Apple's industrial system. He has presided over more than 20 provincial and ministerial level projects, including key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation, general projects, humanities and social science projects of the Ministry of Education and national soft science projects. In recent years, he has published nearly 16 representative academic papers.