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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1429687
This article is part of the Research Topic Towards Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger: Exploring the Dynamic Relationships between Food Pricing, Agriculture, and Food Security View all 24 articles

How Free Trade Pilot Zones Enhance Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity? -Theory and Evidence from China

Provisionally accepted
Huasheng Zeng Huasheng Zeng 1Long Cheng Long Cheng 1Guoqun Ma Guoqun Ma 2*Yuxi Luo Yuxi Luo 2
  • 1 Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Given the dual constraints of limited resources and environmental concerns, achieving green development in agriculture helps to enhance national food security, resource security, and ecological security. Utilizing panel data sourced from 30 provinces within China, spanning the years from 2001 to 2021, this paper employs the super-efficiency Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model and the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index to measure agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). It utilizes methods such as the stepwise Differences in Differences (DID), mediation effect models, and moderating effect models to systematically explore the impact of the implementation of Free Trade Pilot Zones (FTPZs) on AGTFP and its mechanisms of action. The study finds: (1) Establishing FTPZs significantly boosts AGTFP, indicating a profound positive influence; (2) The promotional effect of FTPZs on AGTFP is stronger in the eastern and central regions, as well as in major grain-producing areas; (3) FTPZs may enhance AGTFP by promoting the effect of agricultural structure upgrading, i.e., a transmission mechanism exists from FTPZs to the agricultural structure upgrading effect to AGTFP; (4) The agricultural scale effect plays a positive moderating role in the impact of FTPZs on AGTFP. Therefore, it is advisable to optimize agricultural measures related to FTPZs, promote agricultural structural upgrading and scale enhancement, adapt strategies to local conditions to advance green agricultural development, and thereby promote the coordinated development of FTPZs and AGTFP.

    Keywords: Agricultural green total factor productivity, Free Trade Pilot Zone, Differences in differences, Agricultural Structure Upgrading Effect, agricultural scale

    Received: 08 May 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zeng, Cheng, Ma and Luo. 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: Guoqun Ma, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.