Abstract:

Lvliang and Taihang, two concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken areas in Shanxi Province, are the main targets for poverty alleviation of China. In this paper, 21 state-level special poverty-stricken counties in 4 cities of these areas were taken as the research objects. The agricultural economic data of the study areas from 2008 to 2018 were obtained from the Statistical Yearbook of Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Statistics and the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council. The principal component analysis method was used to evaluate the agricultural economic development, in order to explore the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of agricultural economic development and their relationship with poverty in concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken areas in Shanxi. The results show that there are regional differences in the agricultural economic development level between Lvliang and Taihang, and the agricultural economic development has been improved with the passage of time. However, farmers’ extensive use of backward agricultural machinery in agricultural production has reduced their enthusiasm for production, resulting in a decrease in the total agricultural output value. The application of excessive chemical fertilizer in agricultural planting has led to poor soil quality and crop yield decrease, and further aggravated poverty. Therefore, when targeted poverty alleviation is carried out in concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken areas, it is necessary to “implement policies according to local conditions and time”, change the traditional backward agricultural production mode in these areas, and take a green, inclusive and sustainable agricultural economic development road.

Key words: Contiguous Poverty-stricken Areas, Sustainable Agriculture, Principal Component Analysis, Shanxi Province, Agricultural Economy