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An Emergy and Decomposition Assessment of China’s Crop Production: Sustainability and Driving Forces

Author

Listed:
  • Zuoxi Liu

    (Key Laboratory of Clean Energy of Liaoning, School of Energy and Environment, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, China)

  • Yongyang Wang

    (Key Laboratory of Clean Energy of Liaoning, School of Energy and Environment, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, China)

  • Shanshan Wang

    (Department of Quality Control, Liaoning Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenyang 110005, China)

  • Huijuan Dong

    (China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
    School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China)

  • Yong Geng

    (China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
    School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China)

  • Bing Xue

    (Key Laboratory of Pollution Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China)

  • Jiaming Gu

    (Key Laboratory of Clean Energy of Liaoning, School of Energy and Environment, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, China)

  • Run Dong Li

    (Key Laboratory of Clean Energy of Liaoning, School of Energy and Environment, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, China)

  • Tianhua Yang

    (Key Laboratory of Clean Energy of Liaoning, School of Energy and Environment, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, China)

Abstract

With a growing demand for crop products in China, a great deal of local resources and industrial inputs are consumed including agricultural machineries, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and energies, which results in many environmental issues such as resource depletion, water pollution, soil erosion and contamination, and CO 2 emissions. Thus, this study evaluated the trend of sustainability of China’s crop production from 1997 to 2016 in terms of emergy and further explored the driving forces using decomposition analysis methods. The results showed that the total emergy used ( U ) increased by 50% from 7.82 × 10 23 in 1997 to 1.17 × 10 24 solar emergy Joule (sej) in 2016. Meanwhile, the values of the emergy sustainability index ( ESI ) were all smaller than one with a declining trend year by year, indicating that China’s crop production system is undergoing an unsustainable development pattern. From the results of the ESI decomposition, the renewable resource factor ( R / GDP ) and land use factor ( L / A ) are two key factors impeding the sustainable development of the crop production system. Therefore, the increased capacity of renewable resources and enough labor forces engaged in crop production will be the key strategies for its sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Zuoxi Liu & Yongyang Wang & Shanshan Wang & Huijuan Dong & Yong Geng & Bing Xue & Jiaming Gu & Run Dong Li & Tianhua Yang, 2018. "An Emergy and Decomposition Assessment of China’s Crop Production: Sustainability and Driving Forces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:3938-:d:179122
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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