Total-Factor Cultivated Land Efficiency in China

The paper utilizes data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a newly proposed total-factor cultivated land efficiency (TFCLE) index to analyze cultivated land use efficiencies of 31 cantons in China from 1999 through 2008. The results indicate that the national TFCLE is 0.649, which shows 35.1 percent of improvement. In terms of geographical distribution, the uppermost category including Beijing, Hainan, Xinjiang, and Qinghai is the lowest one. The TFCLE of coastland is higher than Hinterland's. Then, after advanced analysis of our results, the paper concludes that enhancing the capacity of preventing natural disaster in agriculture, increasing invest in agricultural machinery and R & D, and raising the multiple crop index are advised to improve the cultivated land use efficiencies.