Can the ecological protection red line policy promote food security? --Based on the empirical analysis of land protection in China

Xu Ming^*

• Southwest University of Political Science & Law, Chongqing, China

Currently, China's food security is confronted with multiple pressures such as farmland degradation and ecological constraints. As an important factor affecting the ecological environment of grain, strictly adhering to the ecological protection red line provides an important institutional guarantee for ensuring grain production capacity. This paper selects panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2005 to 2023 as research samples, and uses the DID model and quantile model to explore the promoting effect of the ecological conservation red line policy (ERP) on food security (FS). Empirical research shows that the ecological conservation red line policy has significantly promoted food security, and the promoting effect is higher in the western region, less significant in the eastern region, while the opposite effect occurs in the central region. The quantile model indicates that the promoting effect of the ecological protection red line policy is the strongest in areas with a higher level of food security. Furthermore, land transfer (LT) and land reclamation (LR) have strengthened this benefit, proving its mediating effect. Research suggests that government departments should enhance policy coordination and institutional guarantee for the control of ecological red lines, combine policy regulation with ecological compensation mechanisms, optimize land transfer and the capacity for multiple cropping of cultivated land, promote the construction of sustainable grain production capacity, prevent and defuse food security risks, and achieve the goal of curbing land non-agriculturalization while ensuring ecological security, further safeguarding China's national security.