Abstract: Based on the DEA method, this paper estimates the agricultural water use efficiency of 11 provinces in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, then Moran’s I index and spatial econometric model are introduced to analyze the spatial correlation and spatial effect within panel data from 1997 to 2015. The results show that: ①During the study period, China’s agricultural water use efficiency of the Yangtze River Economic Belt shows overall stable rise but imbalance characteristics among different areas, and there is a significant positive spatial autocorrelation between regions.②Regression results of spatial econometric model show that there is a significant spatial spillover effect of agricultural water use efficiency among different areas, indicating local agricultural water use efficiency is affected by both adjacent and non-adjacent areas; in addition to the influence of geographical factors, the similar level of economic development and productivity is conducive to the mutual learning of high-efficiency water use patterns, thereby triggering the spatial spillover effect of agricultural water use efficiency, promoting increase of the overall agricultural water use efficiency.③The high proportion of agricultural water used in the total water consumption will significantly reduce agricultural water use efficiency; the construction of water conservancy facilities and the degree of agricultural mechanization will have a significant positive effect on agricultural water use efficiency.