Evaluating the Efficiency of Regional Agricultural Water use in Yellow River Basin, by using DEA Method

Abstract

China is expected to expand its food supply in order to meet the increasing food demand of its growing population. The Yellow River basin, one of the important agriculture production bases in China, has increased agricultural production supported by improvements in productivity. However, water shortages have become more severe and the excessive use of agricultural water may worsen the problem. Therefore, the effective use of water resources is needed to achieve sustainable development of food production. We apply the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the efficiency of agricultural water use in the Yellow River basin. We also identified the determinant factors affecting the water efficiencies using the Tobit model. Finally, some implications for the sustainable agricultural production in the Yellow River basin were evaluated.