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Managing fragmented croplands for environmental and economic benefits in China

Nature Food volume 5, pages 230–240 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cropland fragmentation contributes to low productivity and high abandonment risk. Using spatial statistics on a detailed land use map, we show that 10% of Chinese croplands have no potential to be consolidated for large-scale farming (>10 ha) owing to spatial constraints. These fragmented croplands contribute only 8% of total crop production while using 15% of nitrogen fertilizers, leading to 12% of fertilizer loss in China. Optimizing the cropping structure of fragmented croplands to meet animal food demand in China can increase animal food supply by 19%, equivalent to increasing cropland proportionally. This crop-switching approach would lead to a 10% and 101% reduction in nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions, respectively, resulting in a net benefit of US$ 7 billion yr−1. If these fragmented croplands were relocated to generate large-scale farming units, livestock, vegetable and fruit production would be increased by 8%, 3% and 14%, respectively, and reactive nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 16% and 5%, respectively, resulting in a net benefit of US$ 44 billion yr−1. Both solutions could be used to achieve synergies between food security, economic benefits and environmental protection through increased agricultural productivity, without expanding the overall cropland area.

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Fig. 1: Distribution and nitrogen budget of fragmented croplands.
Fig. 2: Fragmented cropland distribution intersected by different types of land use.
Fig. 3: Optimizations of fragmented cropland uses under different scenarios.
Fig. 4: Changes in the nitrogen budget under different scenarios.
Fig. 5: Changes in GHG emissions under different scenarios.
Fig. 6: Cost and benefit of managing fragmented croplands under different scenarios.

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Data availability

Data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary information files. Land use and digital elevation model data were extracted from an online database. Nitrogen cycle data were derived from the Agricultural Pollution Source Census of China in 2017. Records of harvest area and yield of cropland are from the Agricultural Statistics Yearbook 2018. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

B.G. acknowledged funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42325707 and 42261144001) and National Key Research and Development Project of China (2022YFE0138200). O.P. acknowledged funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42361144855).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Ouping Deng, Jiakun Duan, Jianming Xu & Baojing Gu

  2. College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China

    Ouping Deng, Jiangyou Ran & Shuai Huang

  3. Key Laboratory of Investigation and Monitoring Protection and Utilization for Cultivated Land Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources, Chengdu, China

    Ouping Deng

  4. Unit for Environment and Sustainability at the German Aerospace Centre’s Project Funding Agency, DLR Projekttraeger, Bonn, Germany

    Stefan Reis

  5. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Jiabao Zhang

  6. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yong-Guan Zhu

  7. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China

    Yong-Guan Zhu

  8. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Jianming Xu & Baojing Gu

  9. Policy Simulation Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Baojing Gu

Authors
  1. Ouping Deng
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Contributions

B.G. conceived the study. O.D. and J.R. conducted the future modelling and identified the fragmented croplands. O.D. and S.H. estimated the nitrogen cycle. J.D. compiled raw data from the agricultural pollution census. O.D. and B.G. wrote the first draft, and S.R., J.Z., Y.-G.Z. and J.X. revised the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Baojing Gu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information

Nature Food thanks Xiaolong Wang, Yan Xu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Method, Notes, Figs. 1–11 and Tables 1–3.

Reporting Summary

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

The area of country-level large-scale cropland (≥10 ha) and fragmented cropland (<10 ha), as well as the yields, fertilizer use and nitrogen loss from these two types of cropland.

Source Data Fig. 2

The area of fragmented cropland at the country level that intersects with grassland, built-up land and forest land, respectively.

Source Data Fig. 3

The differences in yields between national and county scales across various scenarios.

Source Data Fig. 4

National nitrogen budget under different scenarios and differences in nitrogen loss across scenarios at the county level.

Source Data Fig. 5

National GHG emissions from the full-chain production of fragmented cropland and differences in GHG emissions across scenarios at the county level.

Source Data Fig. 6

National cost and benefit of managing fragmented croplands under different scenarios.

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Cite this article

Deng, O., Ran, J., Huang, S. et al. Managing fragmented croplands for environmental and economic benefits in China. Nat Food 5, 230–240 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-00938-7

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