ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Agricultural Productive Services and Ecological
Efficiency of Cultivated Land Use: Evidence from
Hunan Province, China
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1
School of Business, Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology, Loudi 417000, Hunan, China
2
School of Mathematics and Finance, Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology,
Loudi 417000, Hunan, China
3
Business School, Hunan First Normal University, Changsha 410205, Hunan, China
Submission date: 2023-04-24
Final revision date: 2023-12-21
Acceptance date: 2024-01-20
Online publication date: 2024-04-11
Publication date: 2024-06-27
Corresponding author
Faming Zhou
Business School, Hunan First Normal University, Changsha 410205, Hunan, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(5):5127-5140
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ABSTRACT
Agricultural productive services are fundamental in transforming the paradigm of agricultural development
and exert a significant impact on farmers’ behavior in managing their arable land. This paper employs the
slack-based measure of the super-efficiency model, known as the Super-SBM model, incorporating unexpected
output to gauge the eco-efficiency of cultivated land use (ECLU). Utilizing panel data from Hunan Province
spanning the years 2007 to 2020, this study unveils the following key findings: (1) Across various quantile levels,
agricultural productive services exhibit a substantial capacity to enhance ECLU, with coefficients ranging from
0.070 to 0.156. (2) The impact of agricultural productive services on ECLU is constrained by both farmers’
income levels and the scale of cultivated land, revealing a dual threshold effect. As income levels rise, the
corresponding coefficient increases progressively, from 0.0771 to 0.1147, and ultimately to 0.1571. Similarly,
with the expansion of cultivated land, the coefficient increases from 0.1152 to 0.1443, and ultimately peaks
at 0.1694. (3) The enhancement of ECLU through agricultural productive services is achieved by reducing
the input of environmental factors and mitigating undesirable outputs. (4) Agricultural productive services
indirectly facilitate labor transfer, accounting for 10.8% of the overall effect. Consequently, it is imperative to
continually enhance the agricultural socialized service system, bolster financial support, and implement policies
that foster the development of agricultural productive services to realize sustainable cultivated land utilization.