How government environmental attention influences agricultural green total factor productivity: evidence from Chinese provincial data

China’s agricultural development is increasingly constrained by resource and environmental factors, making the improvement of green total factor productivity in agriculture and the pursuit of high-quality development imperative. Government environmental attention serves as an important policy prerequisite for green agricultural development. Based on theoretical analysis, this paper empirically examines the impact mechanism and spatial spillover effect of government environmental attention on agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) using Chinese provincial panel data from 2003 to 2022. The empirical results indicate that: (1) government environmental attention significantly improves AGTFP. (2) Government environmental attention promotes the improvement of AGTFP through two pathways—environmental regulation and agricultural green technology innovation. (3) Government environmental attention drives the enhancement of local AGTFP while exerting a negative spillover effect on AGTFP of neighboring provinces. The findings above clarify the relationship between government environmental attention and agricultural green efficiency, providing policy implications for promoting agricultural green, healthy, and sustainable development.