An Economic Analysis on Regional Change of Mutton Production in China——Transfer from Natural Layout to Economic Layout

The paper analyzes the influence factors of regional variation for mutton production based on the historical facts of change of production area during 1990-2008. The results show that mutton production in China is gradually to switch to rural areas on the whole which is low economic development level, non-farming lagging and rich in feed resources. Natural resources, regional economic development level, non-agricultural industries development and support of government policy are key factors leading to the change. It also shows that under the conditions of market economy, mutton production in China has initially transferred from natural layout to economic layout. Therefore, from the view of the whole industry development, the government should implement the industrial support policies which are different in regions, and encourage the economically developed areas to invest in advantageous areas of sheep production, to achieve the concordant interaction between production and market