Abstract:
Using 2010 to 2013 data from Changde City in Hunan Province, this paper seeks to build an evaluation index system and evaluate the comprehensive efficiency of agricultural standardization zones by factor analysis. Factors selected for this research include 6 qualitative indictors and 15 quantitative indicators from seven perspectives including organization and management, logistic services, long-term impact mechanism, economic return, technological progress, quality control, social and economic welfares. Results showed that the developments were unbalanced among different agricultural standardization demonstration zones. Among the examined regions, Hanshou County, Dingcheng District, and Anxiang County were ranked pretty high with the comprehensive benefit scores of 0.902 5, 0.331 5, and 0.320 6 respectively; while Jin County, Linli County, and Li County were ranked at the bottom with the comprehensive benefit scores of -0.374 4, -0.365 2, and -0.351 4 respectively. In order to promote the further development of the agricultural standardization demonstration zones, the following suggestions can be considered: to provide more policy support, to improve the mechanism of investment, to increase the investment in infrastructure construction, to adjust the agricultural industry structure, to promote agricultural industrializing operation, to encourage innovation in management practices to protect environment, to increase the production of green products, and to incentivize the adoption of agricultural standardization in production.