ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Water-Smart Food Production
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1608329
Coupling Coordination of Agricultural Water-Economy Systems in China: Evidence from High-Stress Hydrological Zones in a Major Grain-Producing Province
Provisionally accepted
- Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
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This study develops two comprehensive evaluation indices-the Agricultural Water Resources Utilization Index and the Agricultural Economic Development Index-to assess the coupling coordination of the agricultural water-economic system in Henan Province. Built upon a four-dimensional structural framework, this indicator system marks a significant advancement in indicator refinement and objectivity. This study aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), examining the critical trade-offs between agricultural water use and agricultural economic growth in Henan Province, China's major grain-producing region (SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation). Based on 19 years of municipal-level panel data from Henan Province, this study employs methods such as the coupling coordination degree model and Moran's I index to assess agricultural economic development and agricultural water resources utilization, and to explore their directions for synergistic development. The results indicate that, although the overall trends in agricultural economic development and agricultural water resource utilization have improved, the momentum for further agricultural economic growth is weak, and the subsystems of agricultural water resources show contradictory changes. Consequently, despite some improvements, the coupling coordination level between the two remains relatively low and unstable. Spatially, the improvement in coordination levels shows a south > central > north trend, leading to a shift in the coordination pattern from southeast > northwest to south > central > north. Regions with low coordination levels are concentrated in the north, while those with high coordination levels are mainly in the south. To facilitate the smooth implementation of the United Nations Development Goals in China, it is imperative to establish measures such as a spatiotemporal-based agricultural water resources-economy coordinated governance system.
Keywords: sdgs, Agricultural water resources, Agricultural economy, Coupling coordination, Spatio-temporal differentiation, Sustainable management
Received: 08 Apr 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang. 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: Yang Yang, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
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