An Empirical Study on Spatial–Temporal Dynamics and Influencing Factors of Tea Production in China

Abstract

Revealing the characteristics of spatial–temporal dynamics and influencing factors is important for optimizing the spatial distribution of tea production. Taking prefecture-level cities as the basic spatial unit, this study uses the Herfindahl index and exploratory spatial data analysis to reveal the spatial–temporal dynamics of China’s tea production from 2000 to 2015. A theoretical analysis framework is established and a spatial econometric model is used to explore its influencing factors. The results show a U-shaped trend in the degree of tea spatial agglomeration, which gradually declined during 2000–2010, and rapidly increased during 2011–2015. The proportion of tea production shifted from the eastern region to the central and western regions, and spatial distribution coverage expanded to the north. Tea production had significant spatial correlation, and spatial agglomeration characteristics were exhibited for similar values (high or low). Tea production had a significant spatial spillover effect. Natural resources, labor cost, specialized production, and policies all affected the spatial–temporal dynamics of tea production somewhat, but the effects of traffic conditions and technological level were insignificant. Finally, this study proposed optimizing four aspects of the tea spatial layout: regional cooperation, comprehensive suitability evaluation of tea cultivation, spatial agglomeration, and distinctive local brands.

An empirical study on spatial–temporal dynamics and influencing factors of apple production in China

“…Among them, the PGRS has a significant negative impact on the agglomeration of apple production layout, which is consistent with the expected direction of H9, indicating that the PGRS and other food security policies have promoted the continuous expansion of grain area and produced an extrusion effect on apple production [38,39]. Apple advantageous regional planning policy has had a significant positive impact on the agglomeration of apple production layout, which is consistent with the expected direction of H10, indicating that apple advantageous regional planning guided apple production to the Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay dominant areas and was conducive to the agglomeration of apple production layout [18]. 4.…”

“…Natural disasters caused by changes in climate factors, such as temperature and rainfall, directly affect apple yield and quality [18,28], which in turn affect apple production efficiency and farmers' enthusiasm. China's apple production areas are widely distributed, and the climatic conditions vary greatly among provinces [33].…”

“…The impact of technological progress on apple production layout is mainly reflected in the apple yield level. The progress of apple production technology is conducive to the improvement of apple production efficiency and economic benefits [18]. However, due to the differences in the levels of production technology innovation and promotion in various provinces, the apple's comparative income with other crops has changed, which in turn affects the apple production layout.…”

“…In summary, first, most studies focused on the time series changes, geographical aggregation characteristics, and influencing factors of crops, including grain [28,29], vegetables [30], tea [18,20], and peanut [31]. However, the understanding of the spatial pattern of China's apple production is still very limited.…”

Study on Temporal and Spatial Variation Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Land Use Efficiency in Xi’an, China

“…In terms of space, urban land use efficiency in China is generally high in the east and low in the central and western regions. In the eastern region, there is a phenomenon of high-value agglomeration, and in the central and western regions, there is a pattern of central periphery [36][37][38]. The conclusion of this study also showed that the large-scale expansion and sprawl of the city led to changes in urban spatial structure and affected the input scale of all kinds of land, thus affecting the land use efficiency, leading to an imbalance in land use efficiency in different areas of the city.…”