Rapid economic development following the 1978 reforms is well reflected in agricultural land use changes in China. By investigating the magnitude of changes in agricultural land use intensity across regions in a geographical perspective, in terms of the intensity indicators defined, explanation for the regional disparity is provided. An important implication is that economic comparative profit drives farmers to increase the intensity level for agricultural production in the western provinces at present but not forever. Lower incentive for raising agricultural land use intensity may more seriously threaten food security than the shrinking farmland area or lower technological potential.
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Li et al. (2003) studied this question.