Analysis of the impact of China's cropland requisition-compensation balance on changes in farming distance: from the perspective of quantity and slope balance

A longer farming distance often leads to the abandonment of cropland by households with limited farming capacity, thereby reducing the stability of cropland utilization. China's cropland requisition-compensation balance policy, which initially targeted only construction-occupied cropland, has now been expanded to cover all types of land occupation, achieving large-scale requisition-compensation balance. However, the impact of this policy on changes in farming distance remains unclear. Based on land use, DEM, rural residential area, and administrative division data, this study identifies the occupied and supplemented cropland parcels. It calculates the cropland quantity balance index and the slope gap between occupied and supplemented cropland, respectively assessing the balance status in terms of quantity and slope. Additionally, it measures the surface farming distance and employs correlation analysis to explore the impact of quantity and slope balance in cropland requisition-compensation on changes in farming distance.

Nationwide, small-scale requisition-compensation quantity balance of cropland was consistently achieved, while large-scale quantity balance was only attained during the period of 2010–2015. The slope of construction-occupied cropland was significantly lower than that of supplemented cropland, with an even greater slope gap observed in mountainous areas. Changes in farming distance exhibited significant differences between requisition-compensation balanced areas and unbalanced areas. In areas with small-scale requisition-compensation quantity balance of cropland, the shortening of farming distance was more pronounced, yet reducing the slope of compensated cropland to a level lower than that of construction-occupied cropland often required sacrificing a certain degree of farming distance. Large-scale requisition-compensation quantity balance of cropland exerted a mild inhibitory effect on the shortening of farming distance during 2010–2015, whereas it facilitated the reduction of farming distance in other periods. In most areas where the slope of supplemented cropland was lower than that of all occupied cropland, the effect of reducing farming distance was significant. The impact of cropland requisition-compensation balance on farming distance displayed distinct regional variations across different agricultural zones. This study further summarizes the pathways of farming distance changes in different types of regions and proposes corresponding recommendations for cropland utilization to promote the enhancement of cropland use stability.