Spatiotemporal Evolution of Cultivated Land Non-Agriculturalization and Its Drivers in Typical Areas of Southwest China from 2000 to 2020

Cultivated land resources are crucial to food security and economic development. Exploring the spatiotemporal pattern of cultivated land non-agriculturalization and its drivers is a prerequisite for cultivated land conservation. This paper used GlobeLand30 data to reveal the spatial and temporal pattern, the shift of the gravity center and the drivers of cultivated land non-agriculturalization by employing spatial analysis, gravity center model and the geographical detector model. The results show a dramatic increase in the non-agriculturalization of cultivated land in the period of 2010-2020 compared to 2000-2010. Spatially, the cultivated land non-agriculturalization mainly occurred in areas with high urbanization levels, such as eastern Sichuan Province and western Chongqing Municipality, while the cultivated land non-agriculturalization in other areas was small-scale and spatially scattered. Furthermore, the speed of cultivated land non-agriculturalization showed spatial unevenness, and the gravity center of cultivated land non-agriculturalization shifted towards the northeast at a distance of 123.21 km. The cultivated land non-agriculturalization was affected by GDP per capita, population density, GDP per unit of land and total retail sales of social consumer goods. The key drivers for the cultivated land non-agriculturalization in the study area were the continuous expansion of urban space and the large-scale cultivation of economic fruit trees. The government should promote small-scale machinery suitable for agricultural cultivation in the mountainous and hilly areas of Southwest China, and appropriately develop economic fruit groves and livestock farming to reduce the phenomenon of cultivated land non-foodization.

Automated summary

This study used GlobeLand30 data to analyze the spatial and temporal pattern and drivers of cultivated land non-agriculturalization in China. The results showed a significant increase in the non-agriculturalization of cultivated land, especially in areas with high levels of urbanization. The gravity center of non-agriculturalized land shifted towards the northeast. Key drivers of cultivated land non-agriculturalization included GDP per capita, population density, GDP per unit of land, and total retail sales of social consumer goods. Urban expansion and large-scale cultivation of economic fruit trees were identified as major contributors to cultivated land non-agriculturalization.