ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1559625
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Approaches in Soil, Water, and Crop Management for Sustainable Agricultural SystemsView all 11 articles
Regional Differences and Distributional Dynamic Evolution of Science and Technology Innovation Driven Green Development Efficiency in Chinese Agriculture 1
Provisionally accepted
- Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
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Agricultural production in China faces mounting environmental pressures, including resource depletion, chemical pollution, and carbon-intensive practices, which threaten ecological sustainability. Agricultural science, technology and innovation (ASTI) is a key lever for harmonizing agricultural growth and green transformation, but its efficiency remains unevenly distributed across regions. This study assesses the spatiotemporal efficiency of ASTI in promoting green agricultural development across 30 Chinese provinces, aiming to uncover persistent regional disparities and dynamic evolution patterns.Constructing an evaluation model and indicator system for science, technology and innovation driven green development in agriculture, applying the network Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model to measure the level of efficiency, and analysing regional differences and dynamic features through the Theil index, kernel density estimation and spatial Markov methods.This study explores the regional differences and distributional dynamic evolution of the efficiency of Agricultural science and technology innovation (ASTI) driven green development in China. The regional efficiency level of each province from 2013 to 2022 was measured by constructing a network SBM model. The results show a clear regional imbalance, with the eastern region showing higher efficiency due to strong investment in innovation and policy coordination effects, while the central and western regions are lagging behind due to fragmented resource allocation and weak institutional support. There is a clear trend of multi-polarization in the kernel density curve, influenced by spatial agglomeration effects and green infrastructure investments; the spatial Markov transformation highlights path dependence and neighborhood effects, emphasizing the role of cross-regional technology diffusion. The integrated approach validates consistency with empirical realities and provides targeted insights for optimizing synergies between ASTI and agriculture, bridging regional gaps, and promoting a spatially coordinated green transition.
Keywords: technological innovation, Agricultural green development, efficiency measure, Regional disparity, distribution dynamics evolution
Received: 13 Jan 2025; Accepted: 08 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Li and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Min Li, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
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