ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Efficiency of Agricultural Land Use
in Mountainous Areas: Mathematical Modeling
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1
School of Geography and Tourism, Huizhou University, Huizhou, P.R. China
2
Department of Computational Methods in Continuum Mechanics, Saint Petersburg State University,
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
3
Institute of Regional Economics and Inter-Budgetary Relations, Financial University under the Government
of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation
4
Department of Physical and Socio-Economic Geography, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution
of Higher Education “National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University” (National Research Ogarev Mordovia
State University), Saransk, Russian Federation
5
Department of Computer-Aided Design and Engineering Calculation Systems, Russian State Agrarian University
- Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow, Russian Federation
6
Department of Cadastre and Geoengineering, Kuban State Technological University, Krasnodar, Russian Federation
7
Department of Geodesy, Kuban State Agrarian University, Krasnodar, Russian Federation
Submission date: 2023-05-03
Final revision date: 2023-08-09
Acceptance date: 2023-10-02
Online publication date: 2023-12-28
Publication date: 2024-02-09
Corresponding author
Eugeny Kolpak
Department of Computational Methods in Continuum Mechanics, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(2):1669-1679
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ABSTRACT
This study aims to quantify the spatial changes in farmland and model the efficiency of their use
in mountainous territories, considering climate, topographical characteristics, and the development
of exogenous geological processes. The main factors affecting land-use efficiency were assessed using
qualitative and quantitative fact-finding, correlation analysis, and Geographic Information Systems
tools. Accordingly, 14 major influencing factors were identified. A correlation and regression analysis
was performed to resolve the modelling task. Using the correlation analysis methodology, the impact
of each factor on the required indicator was quantified. The model developed shows that the land
structure and production volume mainly influence land-use efficiency in agriculture. This finding
fits well with pan-European studies. There is an annual trend towards more efficient use of farmland.
In general, mountainous regions may provide high indicators of agricultural production under conditions
of warm climate, sufficient moisture content, soil fertility and/or moderate fertilization, control
of erosion processes, and predominance of low hypsometric heights. The developed model allows
for optimizing the utilization of land resources, improving soil fertility and crop yields, and finding
the right decisions for preventing the development of unfavourable processes.