High-quality agricultural development in the central China: Empirical analysis based on the Dongting Lake area

High-quality agricultural development constitutes the primary point for forthcoming agricultural and rural endeavors. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics and obstacle factors of the high-quality agricultural development in central China, and the Dongting Lake area was taken as a case. Statistical data, land use data, and other data were adopted, and GIS spatial analysis and mapping technologies, obstacle model, and entropy weight method were used. The research results indicated that: 1) The comprehensive index has increased from 0.4290 in 2010 to 0.4717 in 2020. The change rates of the subsystem ranked from the highest to the lowest were as follows: cultural construction (36.25 %), ecological environment (15.18 %), social security (4.42 %), and material output (2.63 %). 2) The composite index has changed from higher in the west and lower in the east to a unconspicuous spatial difference. The material production index has shifted from higher in the north and lower in the south to a scattered distribution. The social security index has changed from higher in the west and lower in the east to higher in the northwest southeast and lower in the centre. The ecological environment index was higher in the west and lower in the east. The cultural construction index was higher in east and west and lower in the centre. 3) The top 4 obstacle factors were the high-quality development platforms, the agricultural driving force of per cultivated land, the number of agricultural geographical indication and the grain yield of per cultivated land. At the same time, the material output was the biggest obstacle. It is recommended to focus on the agricultural cultural resources in the eastern and western parts. This study can provide guidance and methodological references for similar studies, as well as scientific references for the sustainability of agriculture and optimization of related policies.