Coordinated development efficiency between cultivated land spatial morphology and agricultural economy in underdeveloped areas in China: Evidence from western Hubei province

Suitable spatial morphology of cultivated land is a basic requirement for sustaining agricultural economic development in mountainous areas. Coordinated development efficiency of cultivated land spatial morphology and agricultural economy (CECA) is of great practical significance to measure the efficiency of cultivated land use, and thereby promote regional rural revitalization. However, few studies to date have focused on coordinated development efficiency between cultivated land use and agricultural economy in mountainous areas from the perspective of cultivated land spatial morphology. Thus, the present study explores CECA with this focus using the data envelopment analysis method, and analyzes the key influencing factors via a geographical detector model in 16 counties in western Hubei province. The results show the following: (1) CECA exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity that is high in the south of the study area and low in the north; (2) scale efficiency is the primary limiting factor for CECA; (3) the insufficient output of cultivated land use mainly restricts CECA in the south of the study area, while individual county in the north suffered from input redundancy and insufficient output; and (4) population density in the southern region has the most significant effect on CECA, and gross domestic product has the greatest impact in the northern region. The results contribute to the derivation of specific measures by which to promote cultivated land use efficiency and sustainable development of the social economy.