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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security

Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1523721

Water Footprint-Based Evaluation of Ecological Efficiency in China's Grain Production and Its Driving Factors

Provisionally accepted
Lili Gu Lili Gu *Xintong Dong Xintong Dong Jing Yin Jing Yin
  • Jilin Agriculture University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China

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

    Water scarcity has increasingly become a critical challenge for the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. Investigating the eco-efficiency of China's grain production (ECGP) through the water footprint (WF) lens is essential for gaining deeper insights into the current state of grain production and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. In this paper, the CROPWAT model was used to measure the water footprint (WF) of China's provinces, to evaluate the ECGP with the food production function based on the WF, and to explore the main influencing factors of the ECGP. The study found that (1) the green water footprint of grain production (WFGPgreen) dominates the WFGP in China, and the WFGP shows an overall fluctuating growth trend. In contrast, the grey water footprint of grain production (WFGPgrey) begins to decline after reaching the peak, especially after the implementation of the "Zero Growth Action Plan for Fertilizers and Pesticides," significantly reducing the WFGP. The three phases of change in the ECGP, namely, "high-level decline period, adjustment period in the trough, and rebound and stabilization period," show that China has gradually shifted from an initial model of high inputs and low efficiencies to a sustainable development model oriented towards green agriculture. ECGP varies significantly among the seven major regions of China, with the northeastern region being an area of high eco-efficiency in food production, probably mainly due to its more centralized pattern of food production. (3) The level of economic development, urbanrural income disparity, scale-up level, irrigation rate of grain fields, and grain yield per unit area significantly affect ECGP.

    Keywords: water footprint of grain production, eco-efficiency of grain production, grey water footprint of grain production, seven regions in China, Super-efficient SBM model

    Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 02 Apr 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Gu, Dong and Yin. 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: Lili Gu, Jilin Agriculture University, Changchun, 130118, Jilin Province, 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.

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