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Introduction The agroforestry economy provides a crucial pathway to global poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and the synergistic development of rural revitalization. Family-run forests, forestry cooperatives, and leading enterprises are increasingly becoming the main drivers in the operation of agroforestry, each playing a significant role. Methods This study selected the organizations managing agroforestry in Fujian Province for a case study and employed the Data Envelopment Analysis and Tobit Regression Model to quantitatively measure their relative operational efficiency. The paper also explored the impact mechanisms of factors such as organizational legitimacy, density, and niche on operational efficiency. Results (1) The operational efficiency of agroforestry management organizations in the same region exceeds that of traditional households, demonstrating the advantages of organized management. (2) The study found that government subsidies do not significantly enhance operational efficiency, suggesting that subsidy policies may have issues with timeliness and fail to reflect the actual needs of production activities promptly, thus affecting the effectiveness of capital factors. (3) Organizational legitimacy has a significant positive effect on improving operational efficiency, outweighing the influence of organizational niche and density. (4) The organizational niche is also confirmed to have a positive impact on operational efficiency. Discussion (1) It is essential to strengthen institutional development and the promotion of a contract spirit to foster the in-depth development of organized management. (2) A diversified subsidy mechanism is recommended to reduce the time lag in providing farmers with financial subsidies and enhance the timeliness and effectiveness of subsidy policies. (3) The importance of enhancing organizational legitimacy is emphasized, by leveraging the intermediary role of farmer experts to strengthen legitimacy. (4) The training of organizational legal representatives and the rural financial service system should be improved to broaden each organization's niche, thereby further enhancing the operational efficiency of agroforestry management organizations.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.